Page 2662 - Shakespeare - Vol. 1
P. 2662
BOT T OM
A calendar, a calendar! Look in the almanac; find out moonshine, find out
moonshine!
QUINCE
Yes, it doth shine that night.
BOT T OM
Why, then may you leave a casement of the great [50] chamber window,
where we play, open; and the moon may shine in at the casement.
QUINCE
Ay; or else one must come in with a bush of thorns and a lantern, and say
he comes to disfigure or to present the person of Moonshine. Then there is
another [55] thing; we must have a wall in the great chamber; for Pyramus
and Thisbe, says the story, did talk through the chink of a wall.
SNOUT
You can never bring in a wall. What say you, Bottom? [60]
BOT T OM
Some man or other must present Wall; and let him have some plaster, or
some loam, or some rough-cast about him, to signify wall; and let him hold
his fingers thus, and through that cranny shall Pyramus and Thisbe
whisper. [65]
QUINCE
If that may be, then all is well. Come sit down, every mother’s son, and
rehearse your parts. Pyramus, you begin: when you have spoken your
speech, enter into that brake; and so every one according to his cue.
Enter Puck (behind).
PUCK
What hempen homespuns have we swaggering here, [70]
So near the cradle of the Fairy Queen?
What, a play toward? I’ll be an auditor;
An actor too perhaps, if I see cause.
QUINCE
