_. To make the wedding a golden one,
Must fifty years expire;
But when once the strife is done,
I prize the _gold_ the higher.

_Oberon_. Spirits, if my good ye mean,
Now let all wrongs be righted;
For to-day your king and queen
Are once again united.

_Puck_. Once let Puck coming whirling round,
And set his foot to whisking,
Hundreds with him throng the ground,
Frolicking and frisking.

_Ariel_. Ariel awakes the song
With many a heavenly measure;
Fools not few he draws along,
But fair ones hear with pleasure.

_Oberon_. Spouses who your feuds would smother,
Take from us a moral!
Two who wish to love each other,
Need only first to quarrel.

_Titania_. If she pouts and he looks grim,
Take them both together,
To the north pole carry him,
And off with her to t'other.

_Orchestra Tutti_.

_Fortissimo_. Fly-snouts and gnats'-noses, these,
And kin in all conditions,
Grass-hid crickets, frogs in trees,
We take for our musicians!

_Solo_. See, the Bagpipe comes! fall back!
Soap-bubble's name he owneth.
How the _Schnecke-schnicke-schnack_
Through his snub-nose droneth!
_Spirit that is just shaping itself_. Spider-foot, toad's-belly, too,
Give the child, and winglet!
'Tis no animalcule, true,
But a poetic thinglet.

_A pair of lovers_. Little step and lofty bound
Through honey-dew and flowers;
Well thou trippest o'er the ground,
But soarst not o'er the bowers.

_Curious traveller_. This must be masquerade!
How odd!
My very eyes believe I?
Oberon, the beauteous God
Here, to-night perceive I!

_Orthodox_. Neither claws, nor tail I see!
And yet, without a cavil,
Just as "the Gods of Greece"[42] were, he
Must also be a devil.

_Northern artist_. What here I catch is, to be sure,
But sketchy recreation;
And yet for my Italian tour
'Tis timely preparation.

_Purist_. Bad luck has brought me here, I see!
The rioting grows louder.
And of the whole witch company,
There are but two, wear powder.

_Young witch_. Powder becomes, like petticoat,
Your little, gray old woman:
Naked I sit upon my goat,
And show the untrimmed human.

_Matron_. To stand here jawing[43] with you, we
Too much good-breeding cherish;
But young and tender though you be,
I hope you'll rot and perish.

_Leader of the music_. Fly-snouts and gnat-noses, please,
Swarm not so round the naked!
Grass-hid crickets, frogs in trees,
Keep time and don't forsake it!

_Weathercock_ [_towards one side_]. Find better company, w