And having thus overcome his enemies, and being reconciled to his
brother and the king of Naples, nothing now remained to complete his
happiness, but to revisit his native land, to take possession of his
dukedom, and to witness the happy nuptials of his daughter Miranda and
prince Ferdinand, which the king said should be instantly celebrated
with great splendour on their return to Naples. At which place, under
the safe convoy of the spirit Ariel, they after a pleasant voyage
soon arrived.




A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM

(_By Mary Lamb_)


There was a law in the city of Athens, which gave to its citizens the
power of compelling their daughters to marry whomsoever they pleased:
for upon a daughter's refusing to marry the man her father had chosen
to be her husband, the father was empowered by this law to cause her
to be put to death; but as fathers do not often desire the death of
their own daughters, even though they do happen to prove a little
refractory, this law was seldom or never put in execution, though
perhaps the young ladies of that city were not unfrequently threatened
by their parents with the terrors of it.

There was one instance, however, of an old man, whose name was Egeus,
who actually did come before Theseus (at that time the reigning
duke of Athens), to complain that his daughter Hermia, whom he had