Oberon and Titania being now reconciled, he related to her the history of the lovers and their quarrels; and she went with him to see the end of their adventures.

They found the lovers and their fair ladies near each other, sleeping on a grass-plot; for Puck, to make amends for his former mistake, had contrived to bring them all to the same spot, unknown to each other; and he had removed the charm from the eyes of Lysander with the antidote the fairy king had given him.

Hermia first awoke, and finding Lysander asleep so near her, looked at him wondering at his strange inconstancy. Lysander presently opening his eyes, and seeing his dear Hermia, recovered his reason, which the fairycharm had before clouded, and with his reason, his love for Hermia. They began to talk over the adventures of the night, doubting if these things had really happened, or if they had both been dreaming.

Helena and Demetrius were by this time awake; and sleep having quieted Helena's angry spirits, she listened with delight to the professions of love which Demetrius still made to her, and which she began to perceive were sincere.

These fair night-wandering ladies, now no longer rivals, became once more true friends; and they consulted together what was best to be done in their present situation. It was agreed that, as Demetrius had given up his pretensions to Hermia, he should persuade her father to revoke the sentence of death which had been passed against her. Demetrius was preparing to return to Athens for this purpose, when Egeus, Hermia's father, came to the wood in pursuit of his runaway daughter.

When Egeus understood that Demetrius did not desire to marry his daughter, he gave his consent that Lysander and Hermia should be wedded on the fourth day from

that time, and on that same day Helena joyfully agreed to marry her now faithful Demetrius.

The fairy king and queen, who were invisible spectators of this reconciliation, and saw the happy ending of the lovers' history, received so much pleasure, that they resolved to celebrate the approaching nuptials with sports and revels throughout their fairy kingdom.

celestial, belonging to the sky, heavenly. counterfeit, put on a semblance of anything, especially for a bad purpose. In the following instance Puck was to imitate each of the men's voices in order to mislead them. antidote, from a Greek word signifying given against. An antidote is that which tends to counteract poison or any other evil.

LEAR, King of Britain, had three daughters, Goneril, Duchess of Albany; Regan, Duchess of Cornwall; and Cordelia, a young girl, for whose love the King of France and the Duke of Burgundy were suitors.

The king, being more than fourscore years of age, determined to take no further part in state affairs. He therefore called his three daughters, to know which of them loved him best, that he might part his kingdom among them in such proportions as their affection for him should deserve.

Goneril, the eldest, declared that she loved her father more than words could speak, and that he was dearer to her than life and liberty. The king, delighted to hear this assurance of her love, and thinking it sincere,

bestowed upon her and her husband one-third of his kingdom.

Then, calling to him his second daughter, he demanded what she had to say. Regan declared that what her sister had spoken came short of the love which she professed to bear for his highness: insomuch that she found all other joys dead in comparison with the pleasure she had in the love of her dear father. Upon this, Lear bestowed a third of his kingdom upon Regan and her husband.

Then, turning to his youngest daughter, Cordelia, he asked what she had to say; thinking that she would make the same loving speeches. But Cordelia, disgusted with the insincerity of her sisters, and seeing that their flattering speeches were only intended to wheedle the old king out of his dominions, said simply, that she loved his majesty according to her duty, neither more nor less. The king, shocked with this appearance of ingratitude in his favourite child, desired her to mend her speech, lest it should 3mar her fortunes.

Cordelia replied, that he was her father, that he loved her, and that she did in return obey, love, and honour him; but that she could not, as her sisters had done, promise to love nothing else in the world. Why had her sisters husbands, if (as they said) they had no love but for their father? If she should ever wed, she was sure her lord would want half her love, and half her care and duty.

Cordelia loved her old father almost as extravagantly as her sisters pretended to do, and would have told him so at any other time, in more loving terms; but after the 4crafty speeches of her sisters, she thought the best thing she could do was to love and be silent. This raised her affection from suspicion of mercenary ends, and showed that she loved, but not for gain.

Her plainness of speech, which Lear called pride, so enraged the old monarch—who often showed "spleen and rashness, and in whom the 'dotage incident to old age had clouded reason, so that he could not discern truth from flattery that in a fury he divided the remaining part of his kingdom equally between her two sisters and their husbands, the Dukes of Albany and Cornwall, whom he called to him, and in presence of his courtiers invested with the government, only retaining the name of king, and demanding that he, with a hundred knights for his attendants, should be maintained by monthly course in each of his daughter's palaces.

So preposterous a disposal of his kingdom, so little guided by reason, filled his courtiers with astonishment and sorrow; but none of them had the courage to interpose between him and his wrath, except the Earl of Kent, who was beginning to speak a good word for Cordelia, when the passionate Lear commanded him to desist, on pain of death. But the good Kent was not so to be repelled. He had been a faithful counsellor in times past to the king, and besought him now to listen to him; for he would answer with his life, that Lear's youngest daughter did not love him least.

The honest freedom of the good Kent stirred up the king's wrath the more, and like a frantic patient who kills his physician, he banished this true servant, giving him only five days to prepare for his departure.

The King of France and the Duke of Burgundy were then called in to know whether they would persist in their courtship of Cordelia, now that she had no fortune to recommend her. The Duke of Burgundy declined, but the King of France, understanding she had lost the love of her father through not being able to frame her tongue to flattery, took her by the hand, and remarking

that her virtues were a 'dowry above a kingdom, said she should reign over fairer possessions than her sisters, and be queen of him and of France.

Then Cordelia weeping took leave of her sisters, and besought them to love their father, and make good their professions; but they sullenly told her they knew their duty. So Cordelia with a heavy heart departed.

The vile dispositions of her sisters soon began to show themselves. Even before the expiration of the first month which Lear was to spend by agreement with his eldest daughter Goneril, the old king began to find out the difference between promises and performances. Every time she met him she put on a frowning countenance; and when the old man wanted to speak with her, she would 10feign sickness, or anything to avoid him. It was plain she considered his old age a useless burden, and his attendants an unnecessary expense. Her servants began to treat him with neglect, and to disobey his orders, or pretend not to hear them.

True love and fidelity are no more to be l'estranged by ill, than falsehood and hollow-heartedness can be conciliated by good usage. This appears in the conduct of the Earl of Kent, who, though banished by Lear, chose to stay as long as there was a chance of being useful to the king. In the disguise of a serving man, Kent, taking the name of Caius, entered the service of Lear.

Caius quickly found means to show his fidelity to his master; for Goneril's steward behaving in a disrespectful manner to Lear, Caius tripped up his heels, and for this and other services Lear became more and more attached to him.

Nor was Kent the only friend Lear had. The poor fool, or jester, clung to him after he had given away