Shakspeare and His Times [Vol. 2 of 2] / Including the Biography of the Poet; criticisms on his genius and writings; a new chronology of his plays; a disquisition on the on the object of his sonnets; and a history of the manners, customs, and amusements, superstitions, poetry, and elegant literature of his age

by Nathan Drake

And now, so you will let me quiet go,

To Athens will I bear my folly back,

And follow you no further: Let me go:

You see how simple and how fond I am."

And in an earlier part of this scene, where Helena first suspects that her friend had conspired with Demetrius and Lysander to mock and deride her, nothing can more exquisitely paint her affectionate temper, and the heartfelt pangs of severing friendship, than the following lines, most touching in their appeal, an echo from the very bosom of nature itself:—

"Injurious Hermia! most ungrateful maid!—

Is all the counsel that we two have shar'd,

The sister's vows, the hours that we have spent,

When we have chid the hasty-footed time

For parting us,—O, and is all forgot?