Servibilis.  They’ll straight begin again. 
A bran-new piece, the very last of seven;
To have so much, the fashion here thinks fit. 
By Dilettantes it is given;
’Twas by a Dilettante writ. 
Excuse me, sirs, I go to greet you;
I am the curtain-raising Dilettant.

Mephistopheles.  When I upon the Blocksberg meet you, That I approve; for there’s your place, I grant.

     WALPURGIS-NIGHT’S DREAM, OR OBERON AND TITANIA’S GOLDEN NUPTIALS.

     Intermezzo.

Theatre manager.  Here, for once, we rest, to-day,
Heirs of Mieding’s[41] glory. 
All the scenery we display—­
Damp vale and mountain hoary!

Herald.  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.