Note 45 — THE ROUND TABLE (continued 2)

The following lines are remarkable for a certain cloying sweetness in the repetition of the rhymes:

Titania. Be kind and courteous to this gentleman;

Hop in his walks, and gambol in his eyes;

Feed him with apricocks and dewberries,

With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries;

The honey-bags steal from the humble bees,

And for night tapers crop their waxen thighs,

And light them at the fiery glow-worm’s eyes,

To have my love to bed, and to arise:

And pluck the wings from painted butterflies,

To fan the moon beams from his sleeping eyes;’

Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.’