The Sources and Analogues of 'A Midsummer-Night's Dream'/Nymphidia

Nymphidia: The Court of Fairy

 * Old Chaucer doth of Topas tell,
 * Mad Rab'lais of Pantagruel,
 * A later third of Dowsabel,
 * With such poor trifles playing;
 * Others the like have laboured at,
 * Some of this thing and some of that,
 * And many of they know not what,
 * But that they must be saying.


 * Another sort there be, that will
 * Be talking of the Fairies still,
 * Nor never can they have their fill,
 * As they were wedded to them;
 * No tales of them their thirst can slake,
 * So much delight therein they take,
 * And some strange thing they fain would make,
 * Knew they the way to do them.


 * Then since no Muse hath been so bold,
 * Or of the later, or the old,
 * Those elvish secrets to unfold,
 * Which lie from others' reading,
 * My active Muse to light shall bring
 * The Court of that proud Fairy King,
 * And tell there of the revelling:
 * Jove prosper my proceeding!


 * And thou, Nymphidia, gentle Fay,
 * Which, meeting me upon the way,
 * These secrets didst to me bewray,
 * Which now I am in telling;
 * My pretty, light, fantastic maid,
 * I here invoke thee to my aid,
 * That I may speak what thou hast said,
 * In numbers smoothly swelling.


 * This palace standeth in the air,
 * By necromancy placed there,
 * That it no tempests needs to fear,
 * Which way soe'er it blow it;
 * And somewhat southward toward the noon,
 * Whence lies a way up to the moon,
 * And thence the Fairy can as soon
 * Pass to the earth below it.


 * The walls of spiders' legs are made
 * Well mortised and finely laid;
 * He was the master of his trade
 * It curiously that builded;
 * The windows of the eyes of cats,
 * And for the roof, instead of slats,
 * Is covered with the skins of bats,
 * With moonshine that are gilded.


 * Hence Oberon him sport to make,
 * Their rest when weary mortals take,
 * And none but only fairies wake,
 * Descendeth for his pleasure;
 * And Mab, his merry Queen, by night
 * Bestrides young folks that lie upright
 * (In elder times, the mare that hight),
 * Which plagues them out of measure.


 * Hence shadows, seeming idle shapes,
 * Of little frisking elves and apes
 * To earth do make their wanton scapes,
 * As hope of pastime hastes them:
 * Which maids think on the hearth they see
 * When fires well-near consumed be,
 * There dancing hays by two and three,
 * Just as their fancy casts them.


 * These make our girls their sluttery rue,
 * By pinching them both black and blue,
 * And put a penny in their shoe
 * The house for cleanly sweeping;
 * And in their courses make that round
 * In meadows and in marshes found,
 * Of them so called the Fairy Ground,
 * Of which they have the keeping.


 * These when a child haps to be got
 * Which after proves an idiot
 * When folk perceive it thriveth not,
 * The fault therein to smother,
 * Some silly, doating brainless calf
 * That understands things by the half,
 * Say that the Fairy left this aulfe
 * And took away the other.


 * But listen, and I shall you tell
 * A chance in Fairy that befell,
 * Which certainly may please some well
 * In love and arms delighting,
 * Of Oberon that jealous grew
 * Of one of his own Fairy crew,
 * Too well, he feared, his Queen that knew
 * His love but ill requiting.


 * Pigwiggen was this Fairy Knight,
 * One wondrous gracious in the sight
 * Of fair Queen Mab, which day and night
 * He amorously observed;
 * Which made King Oberon suspect
 * His service took too good effect,
 * His sauciness and often checkt,
 * And could have wished him starved.


 * Pigwiggen gladly would commend
 * Some token to Queen Mab to send,
 * If sea or land him aught could lend
 * Were worthy of her wearing;
 * At length this lover doth devise
 * A bracelet made of emmets' eyes,
 * A thing he thought that she would prize,
 * No whit her state impairing.


 * And to the Queen a letter writes,
 * Which he most curiously indites,
 * Conjuring her by all the rites
 * Of love, she would be pleased
 * To meet him, her true servant, where
 * They might, without suspect or fear,
 * Themselves to one another clear
 * And have their poor hearts eased.


 * "At midnight the appointed hour,
 * And for the Queen a fitting bower,"
 * Quoth he, "is that fair cowslip flower
 * On Hipcut hill that bloweth;
 * In all your train there's not a fay
 * That ever went to gather may
 * But she hath made it, in her way;
 * The tallest there that groweth."


 * When by Tom Thumb, a Fairy Page,
 * He sent it, and doth him engage
 * By promise of a mighty wage
 * It secretly to carry;
 * Which done, the Queen her maids doth call,
 * And bids them to be ready all:
 * She would go see her summer hall,
 * She could no longer tarry.


 * Her chariot ready straight is made,
 * Each thing therein is fitting laid,
 * That she by nothing might be stayed,
 * For naught must be her letting;
 * Four nimble gnats the horses were,
 * Their harnesses of gossamere,
 * Fly Cranion her charioteer
 * Upon the coach-box getting.


 * Her chariot of a snail's fine shell,
 * Which for the colours did excel,
 * The fair Queen Mab becoming well,
 * So lively was the limning;
 * The seat the soft wool of the bee,
 * The cover, gallantly to see,
 * The wing of a pied butterflee;
 * I trow 'twas simple trimming.


 * The wheels composed of crickets' bones,
 * And daintily made for the nonce;
 * For fear of rattling on the stones
 * With thistle-down they shod it;
 * For all her maidens much did fear
 * If Oberon had chanced to hear
 * That Mab his Queen should have been there,
 * He would not have abode it.


 * She mounts her chariot with a trice,
 * Nor would she stay for no advice,
 * Until her maids that were so nice
 * To wait on her were fitted;
 * But ran herself away alone,
 * Which when they heard, there was not one
 * But hasted after to be gone,
 * As she had been diswitted.


 * Hop and Mop and Drop so clear,
 * Pip and Trip and Skip that were
 * To Mab, their sovereign, ever dear,
 * Her special maids of honour;
 * Fib and Tib and Pink and Pin,
 * Tick and Quick and Jill and Jin,
 * Tit and Nit and Wap and Win,
 * The train that wait upon her.


 * Upon a grasshopper they got
 * And, what with amble and with trot,
 * For hedge nor ditch they spared not,
 * But after her they hie them;
 * A cobweb over them they throw,
 * To shield the wind if it should blow;
 * Themselves they wisely could bestow
 * Lest any should espy them.


 * But let us leave Queen Mab awhile
 * (Through many a gate, o'er many a stile,
 * That now had gotten by this wile),
 * Her dear Pigwiggen kissing;
 * And tell how Oberon doth fare,
 * Who grew as mad as any hare
 * When he had sought each place with care
 * And found his Queen was missing.


 * By grisly Pluto he doth swear,
 * He rent his clothes and tore his hair,
 * And as he runneth here and there
 * An acorn cup he greeteth,
 * Which soon he taketh by the stalk,
 * About his head he lets it walk,
 * Nor doth he any creature balk,
 * But lays on all he meeteth.


 * The Tuscan poet doth advance
 * The frantic Paladin of France,
 * And those more ancient do enhance
 * Alcides in his fury,
 * And others Ajax Telamon,
 * But to this time there hath been none
 * So bedlam as our Oberon,
 * Of which I dare assure ye.


 * And first encount'ring with a Wasp,
 * He in his arms the fly doth clasp
 * As though his breath he forth would grasp
 * Him for Pigwiggen taking:
 * "Where is ny wife, thou rogue?" quoth he;
 * "Pigwiggen, she is come to thee;
 * Restore her, or thou diest by me!"
 * Whereat the poor Wasp quaking,


 * Cries, "Oberon, great Fairy King,
 * Content thee, I am no such thing:
 * I am a Wasp, behold my sting!"
 * At which the Fairy started;
 * When soon away the Wasp doth go,
 * Poor wretch was never frighted so;
 * He thought his wings were much too slow,
 * O'erjoyed they so were parted.


 * He next upon a Glow-worm light
 * (You must suppose it now was night),
 * Which, for her hinder part was bright,
 * He took to be a devil,
 * And furiously doth her assail
 * For carrying fire in her tail;
 * He thrasht her rough coat with his flail;
 * The mad King feared no evil.


 * "Oh!" quoth the Glow-worm, "hold thy hand,
 * Thou puissant King of Fairy-land!
 * Thy mighty strokes who may withstand?
 * Hold, or of life despair I!"
 * Together then herself doth roll,
 * And tumbling down into a hole,
 * She seemed as black as any coal;
 * Which vext away the Fairy.


 * From thence he ran into a hive:
 * Amongst the bees he letteth drive,
 * And down their combs begins to rive,
 * All likely to have spoiled,
 * Which with their wax his face besmeared,
 * And with their honey daubed his beard:
 * It would have made a man afeared
 * To see how he was moiled.


 * A new adventure him betides;
 * He met an Ant, which he bestrides,
 * And post thereon away he rides,
 * Which with his haste doth stumble,
 * And came full over on her snout;
 * Her heels so threw the dirt about,
 * For she by no means could get out,
 * But over him doth tumble.


 * And being in this piteous case,
 * And all be-slurried head and face,
 * On runs he in this wild-goose chase,
 * As here and there he rambles;
 * Half blind, against a molehill hit,
 * And for a mountain taking it,
 * For all he was out of his wit
 * Yet to the top he scrambles.


 * And being gotten to the top,
 * Yet there himself he could not stop,
 * But down on th' other side doth chop,
 * And to the foot came rumbling;
 * So that the grubs, therein that bred,
 * Hearing such turmoil overhead,
 * Thought surely they had all been dead;
 * So fearful was the jumbling.


 * And falling down into a lake,
 * Which him up to the neck doth take.
 * His fury somewhat it doth slake;
 * He calleth for a ferry;
 * Where you may some recovery note,
 * What was his club he made his boat,
 * And in his oaken cup doth float,
 * As safe as in a wherry.


 * Men talk of the adventures strange
 * Of Don Quishott, and of their change,
 * Through which he armed oft did range,
 * Of Sancha Pancha's travel;
 * But should a man tell everything
 * Done by this frantic Fairy King,
 * And them in lofty numbers sing,
 * It well his wits might gravel.


 * Scarce set on shore, but therewithal
 * He meeteth Puck, which most men call
 * Hobgoblin, and on him doth fall
 * With words from frenzy spoken:
 * "Ho, ho," quoth Hob, "God save thy grace!
 * Who drest thee in this piteous case?
 * He thus that spoiled my sovereign's face,
 * I would his neck were broken!"


 * This Puck seems but a dreaming dolt,
 * Still walking like a ragged colt,
 * And oft out of a bush doth bolt,
 * Of purpose to deceive us;
 * And leading us makes us to stray,
 * Long winter's nights, out of the way;
 * And when we stick in mire and clay,
 * Hob doth with laughter leave us.


 * "Dear Puck," quoth he, "my wife is gone:
 * As e'er thou lov'st King Oberon,
 * Let everything but this alone,
 * With vengeance and pursue her;
 * Bring her to me alive or dead,
 * Or that vild thief Pigwiggen's head;
 * That villain hath defiled my bed,
 * He to this folly drew her."


 * Quoth Puck, "My liege, I'll never lin,
 * But I will thorough thick and thin,
 * Until at length I bring her in;
 * My dearest lord, ne'er doubt it.
 * Thorough brake, thorough briar,
 * Thorough muck, thorough mire,
 * Thorough water, thorough fire;
 * And thus goes Puck about it."


 * This thing Nymphidia overheard,
 * That on this mad King had a guard,
 * Not doubting of a great reward
 * For first this business broaching;
 * And through the air away doth go,
 * Swift as an arrow from the bow,
 * To let her sovereign Mab to know
 * What peril was approaching.


 * The Queen, bound with Love's powerful'st charm,
 * Sate with Pigwiggen arm in arm;
 * Her merry maids that thought no harm,
 * About the room were skipping;
 * A humble bee, their minstrel, played
 * Upon his hautboy; every maid
 * Fit for this Revels was arrayed,
 * The hornpipe neatly tripping.


 * In comes Nymphidia, and doth cry,
 * "My sovereign, for your safety fly,
 * For there is danger but too nigh;
 * I posted to forewarn you:
 * The King hath sent Hobgoblin out,
 * To seek you all the fields about,
 * And of your safety you may doubt
 * If he but once discern you."


 * When, like an uproar in a town,
 * Before them everything went down;
 * Some tore a ruff, and some a gown,
 * 'Gainst one another justling;
 * They flew about like chaff i' th' wind;
 * For haste some left their masks behind;
 * Some could not stay their gloves to find;
 * There never was such bustling.


 * Forth ran they, by a secret way,
 * Into a brake that near them lay;
 * Yet much they doubted there to stay,
 * Lest Hob should hap to find them;
 * He had a sharp and piercing sight,
 * All one to him the day and night;
 * And therefore were resolved by flight
 * To leave this place behind them.


 * At length one chanced to find a nut,
 * In th' end of which a hole was cut,
 * Which lay upon a hazel root,
 * There scattered by a squirrel
 * Which out the kernel gotten had;
 * When quoth this Fay, "Dear Queen, be glad;
 * Let Oberon be ne'er so mad,
 * I'll set you safe from peril.


 * "Come all into this nut," quoth she,
 * "Come closely in; be ruled by me;
 * Each one may here a chooser be,
 * For room ye need not wrastle:
 * Nor need ye be together heapt";
 * So one by one therein they crept,
 * And lying down they soundly slept,
 * And safe as in a castle.


 * Nymphidia, that this while doth watch,
 * Perceived if Puck the Queen should catch
 * That he should be her over-match,
 * Of which she well bethought her;
 * Found it must be some powerful charm,
 * The Queen against him that must arm,
 * Or surely he would do her harm,
 * For throughly he had sought her.


 * And list'ning if she aught could hear,
 * That her might hinder, or might fear,
 * But finding still the coast was clear,
 * Nor creature had descried her;
 * Each circumstance and having scanned,
 * She came thereby to understand
 * Puck would be with them out of hand;
 * When to her charms she hied her.


 * And first her fern-seed doth bestow,
 * The kernel of the mistletoe;
 * And here and there as Puck should go,
 * With terror to affright him,
 * She nightshade straws to work him ill,
 * Therewith her vervain and her dill,
 * That hindreth witches of their will,
 * Of purpose to despite him.


 * Then sprinkles she the juice of rue,
 * That groweth underneath the yew;
 * With nine drops of the midnight dew,
 * From lunary distilling:
 * The molewarp's brain mixed therewithal;
 * And with the same the pismire's gall:
 * For she in nothing short would fall,
 * The Fairy was so willing.


 * Then thrice under a briar doth creep,
 * Which at both ends was rooted deep,
 * And over it three times she leap,
 * Her magic much availing;
 * Then on Proserpina doth call,
 * And so upon her spell doth fall,
 * Which here to you repeat I shall,
 * Not in one tittle failing.


 * "By the croaking of the frog,
 * By the howling of the dog,
 * By the crying of the hog
 * Against the storm arising;
 * By the evening curfew bell,
 * By the doleful dying knell,
 * O let this my direful spell,
 * Hob, hinder thy surprising!


 * "By the mandrake's dreadful groans,
 * By the lubrican's sad moans,
 * By the noise of dead men's bones
 * In charnel-houses rattling;
 * By the hissing of the snake,
 * The rustling of the fire-drake,
 * I charge thee thou this place forsake,
 * Nor of Queen Mab be prattling!


 * "By the whirlwind's hollow sound,
 * By the thunder's dreadful stound,
 * Yells of spirits underground,
 * I charge thee not to fear us;
 * By the screech-owl's dismal note,
 * By the black night-raven's throat,
 * I charge thee, Hob, to tear thy coat
 * With thorns, if thou come near us!"


 * Her spell thus spoke, she stept aside,
 * And in a chink herself doth hide,
 * To see thereof what would betide,
 * For she doth only mind him:
 * When presently she Puck espies,
 * And well she marked his gloating eyes,
 * How under every leaf he pries,
 * In seeking still to find them.


 * But once the circle got within,
 * The charms to work do straight begin,
 * And he was caught as in a gin;
 * For as he thus was busy,
 * A pain he in his head-piece feels,
 * Against a stubbed tree he reels,
 * And up went poor Hobgoblin's heels;
 * Alas! his brain was dizzy!


 * At length upon his feet he gets,
 * Hobgoblin fumes, Hobgoblin frets;
 * And as again he forward sets,
 * And through the bushes scrambles,
 * A stump doth trip him in his pace;
 * Down comes poor Hob upon his face,
 * And lamentably tore his case,
 * Amongst the briars and brambles.


 * "A plague upon Queen Mab!" quoth he,
 * "And all her maids where'er they be:
 * I think the devil guided me,
 * To seek her so provoked!"
 * Where stumbling at a piece of wood,
 * He fell into a ditch of mud,
 * Where to the very chin he stood,
 * In danger to be choked.


 * Now worse than e'er he was before,
 * Poor Puck doth yell, poor Puck doth roar,
 * That waked Queen Mab, who doubted sore
 * Some treason had been wrought her:
 * Until Nymphidia told the Queen,
 * What she had done, what she had seen,
 * Who then had well-near cracked her spleen
 * With very extreme laughter.


 * But leave we Hob to clamber out,
 * Queen Mab and all her Fairy rout,
 * And come again to have a bout
 * With Oberon yet madding:
 * And with Pigwiggen now distraught,
 * Who much was troubled in his thought,
 * That he so long the Queen had sought,
 * And through the fields was gadding.


 * And as he runs he still doth cry,
 * "King Oberon, I thee defy,
 * And dare thee here in arms to try,
 * For my dear lady's honour:
 * For that she is a Queen right good,
 * In whose defence I'll shed my blood,
 * And that thou in this jealous mood
 * Hast laid this slander on her."


 * And quickly arms him for the field,
 * A little cockle-shell his shield,
 * Which he could very bravely wield,
 * Yet could it not be pierced:
 * His spear a bent both stiff and strong,
 * And well-near of two inches long:
 * The pile was of a horse-fly's tongue,
 * Whose sharpness nought reversed.


 * And puts him on a coat of mail,
 * Which was of a fish's scale,
 * That when his foe should him assail,
 * No point should be prevailing:
 * His rapier was a hornet's sting:
 * It was a very dangerous thing,
 * For if he chanced to hurt the King,
 * It would be long in healing.


 * His helmet was a beetle's head,
 * Most horrible and full of dread,
 * That able was to strike one dead,
 * Yet did it well become him;
 * And for a plume a horse's hair
 * Which, being tossed with the air,
 * Had force to strike his foe with fear,
 * And turn his weapon from him.


 * Himself he on an earwig set,
 * Yet scarce he on his back could get,
 * So oft and high he did curvet,
 * Ere he himself could settle:
 * He made him turn, and stop, and bound,
 * To gallop, and to trot the round,
 * He scarce could stand on any ground,
 * He was so full of mettle.


 * When soon he met with Tomalin,
 * One that a valiant knight had bin,
 * And to King Oberon of kin;
 * Quoth he, "Thou manly Fairy,
 * Tell Oberon I come prepared,
 * Then bid him stand upon his guard;
 * This hand his baseness shall reward,
 * Let him be ne'er so wary.


 * "Say to him thus, that I defy
 * His slanders and his infamy,
 * And as a mortal enemy
 * Do publicly proclaim him.
 * Withal that if I had mine own,
 * He should not wear the Fairy crown,
 * But with a vengeance should come down,
 * Nor we a king should name him."


 * This Tomalin could not abide
 * To hear his sovereign vilified;
 * But to the Fairy Court him hied
 * (Full furiously he posted),
 * With everything Pigwiggen said:
 * How title to the crown he laid,
 * And in what arms he was arrayed,
 * As how himself he boasted.


 * 'Twixt head and foot, from point to point,
 * He told the arming of each joint,
 * In every piece how neat and quaint,
 * For Tomalin could do it:
 * How fair he sat, how sure he rid,
 * As of the courser he bestrid,
 * How managed, and how well he did;
 * The King which listened to it,


 * Quoth he, "Go, Tomalin, with speed,
 * Provide me arms, provide my steed,
 * And everything that I shall need;
 * By thee I will be guided;
 * To strait account call thou thy wit;
 * See there be wanting not a whit,
 * In everything see thou me fit,
 * Just as my foe's provided."


 * Soon flew this news through Fairy-land,
 * Which gave Queen Mab to understand
 * The combat that was then in hand
 * Betwixt those men so mighty:
 * Which greatly she began to rue,
 * Perceiving that all Fairy knew,
 * The first occasion from her grew
 * Of these affairs so weighty.


 * Wherefore attended with her maids,
 * Through fogs, and mists, and damps she wades,
 * To Proserpine the Queen of Shades,
 * To treat that it would please her
 * The cause into her hands to take,
 * For ancient love and friendship's sake,
 * And soon thereof an end to make,
 * Which of much care would ease her.


 * A while there let we Mab alone,
 * And come we to King Oberon,
 * Who, armed to meet his foe, is gone,
 * For proud Pigwiggen crying:
 * Who sought the Fairy King as fast
 * And had so well his journeys cast,
 * That he arrived at the last,
 * His puissant foe espying.


 * Stout Tomalin came with the King,
 * Tom Thumb doth on Pigwiggen bring,
 * That perfect were in everything
 * To single fights belonging:
 * And therefore they themselves engage
 * To see them exercise their rage
 * With fair and comely equipage,
 * Not one the other wronging.


 * So like in arms these champions were,
 * As they had been a very pair,
 * So that a man would almost swear
 * That either had been either;
 * Their furious steeds began to neigh,
 * That they were heard a mighty way;
 * Their staves upon their rests they lay;
 * Yet, ere they flew together,


 * Their seconds minister an oath,
 * Which was indifferent to them both,
 * That on their knightly faith and troth
 * No magic them supplied;
 * And sought them that they had no charms
 * Wherewith to work each other's harms,
 * But came with simple open arms
 * To have their causes tried.


 * Together furiously they ran,
 * That to the ground came horse and man,
 * The blood out of their helmets span,
 * So sharp were their encounters;
 * And though they to the earth were thrown,
 * Yet quickly they regained their own,
 * Such nimbleness was never shown,
 * They were two gallant mounters.


 * When in a second course again,
 * They forward came with might and main,
 * Yet which had better of the twain,
 * The seconds could not judge yet;
 * Their shields were into pieces cleft,
 * Their helmets from their heads were reft,
 * And to defend them nothing left,
 * These champions would not budge yet.


 * Away from them their staves they threw,
 * Their cruel swords they quickly drew,
 * And freshly they the fight renew,
 * They every stroke redoubled;
 * Which made Proserpina take heed,
 * And make to them the greater speed,
 * For fear lest they too much should bleed,
 * Which wondrously her troubled.


 * When to th' infernal Styx she goes,
 * She takes the fogs from thence that rose,
 * And in a bag doth them enclose,
 * When well she had them blended.
 * She hies her then to Lethe spring,
 * A bottle and thereof doth bring,
 * Wherewith she meant to work the thing
 * Which only she intended.


 * Now Proserpine with Mab is gone
 * Unto the place where Oberon
 * And proud Pigwiggen, one to one,
 * Both to be slain were likely:
 * And there themselves they closely hide,
 * Because they would not be espied;
 * For Proserpine meant to decide
 * The matter very quickly.


 * And suddenly unties the poke,
 * Which out of it sent such a smoke,
 * As ready was them all to choke,
 * So grievous was the pother;
 * So that the knights each other lost,
 * And stood as still as any post;
 * Tom Thumb nor Tomalin could boast
 * Themselves of any other.


 * But when the mist 'gan somewhat cease
 * Proserpina commandeth peace;
 * And that a while they should release
 * Each other of their peril;
 * "Which here," quoth she, "I do proclaim
 * To all in dreadful Pluto's name,
 * That as ye will eschew his blame,
 * You let me hear the quarrel:


 * "But here yourselves you must engage
 * (Somewhat to cool your spleenish rage.
 * Your grievous thirst and to assuage)
 * That first you drink this liquor,
 * Which shall your understanding clear,
 * As plainly shall to you appear;
 * Those things from me that you shall hear,
 * Conceiving much the quicker."


 * This Lethe water, you must know,
 * The memory destroyeth so,
 * That of our weal, or of our woe,
 * Is all remembrance blotted;
 * Of it nor can you ever think;
 * For they no sooner took this drink,
 * But naught into their brains could sink
 * Of what had them besotted.


 * King Oberon forgotten had
 * That he for jealousy ran mad,
 * But of his Queen was wondrous glad,
 * And asked how they came thither:
 * Pigwiggen likewise doth forget
 * That he Queen Mab had ever met,
 * Or that they were so hard beset,
 * When they were found together.


 * Nor neither of them both had thought
 * That e'er they had each other sought,
 * Much less that they a combat fought,
 * But such a dream were loathing:
 * Tom Thumb had got a little sup,
 * And Tomalin scarce kissed the cup,
 * Yet had their brains so sure locked up,
 * That they remembered nothing.


 * Queen Mab and her light maids, the while,
 * Amongst themselves do closely smile,
 * To see the King caught with this wile,
 * With one another jesting:
 * And to the Fairy Court they went
 * With mickle joy and merriment,
 * Which thing was done with good intent:
 * And thus I left them feasting.

Endnotes
Michael Drayton's fairy-poem was first published in 1627, and perhaps owes a little of its charm to Shakespeare's play, though not so much as Drayton's sonnets to those of the elder poet.

1 upright, flat on the back. This is the older meaning, which Drayton would find in Chaucer.

2 hays, dances. Cf. heydeguys, p. 148.

3 aulfe. Cf. "ouphs," Merry Wives of Windsor, V. v.

4 Pigwiggen. "Piggy-widden" is a west-country dialect term, meaning a little white pig, used as an endearment for the youngest of a family.

5 starved, i.e. killed.

6 The Tuscan poet, Ariosto; the frantic Paladin, Orlando Furioso.

7 "Ho, ho." See note 4 on Robin Goodfellow.

8 vild, an old form of "vile."

9 lin, stop.

10 fern-seed. A very common superstition, which still survives, is that the seeds of the fern have power to confer invisibility.

11 lunary, a name given to several plants, here probably moonwort. It was supposed to open locks.

12 lubrican, the name of an Irish pigmy sprite, otherwise called leprechaun.

13 fire-drake, a fiery dragon. The word also meant a meteor.

14 bent, grass-stalk.