Miko: annotations

Good fellows. The First Quarto reads “harts”, the First Folio reads “hearts”. Modern editions follow the First Folio.

Evil. Some modern editions keep the original spelling of “nought”.

Thisbe's

perhaps

Ballad. Some modern editions do change this word to “ballad”.

Small flowers. Some editions change the word to “flowerets”. Doing so, however, adds a syllable to the word, which disrupts the meter of the line.

bundle

a general purpose term for dry food, (such as oats) for animals

Bottom here refers to the rural English tradition of making music with improvised instruments. In this case, the tongs are kitchen tongs. The bones are literally bones from animals (which to this day are still a popular instrument). “London Triumphant, or the City in Jollity and Splendour”, a pageant in 1672, featured “severall Kitchen Musicians, that Play upon Tongs, Gridirons, Keys and other such-like confused Musick”.

Bottom confusedly parodies 1 Corinthians 2:9: “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”