INDUCTION. SCENE I. Before an Alehouse on a Heath. Enter Hostess and SLY. Sly. I'LL pheese' you, in faith. Host. A pair of stocks, you rogue! Sly. Y'are a baggage; the Slies are no rogues: Look in the chronicles, we came in with Richard Conqueror. Therefore, paucas pallabris; let the world slide: Sessa! Host. You will not pay for the glasses you have burst ?4 Sly. No, not a denier: Go by, says Jeronimy ;Go to thy cold bed, and warm thee. Host. I know my remedy, I must go fetch the thirdborough. [Exit. Sly. Third, or fourth, or fifth borough, I'll answer him by law: I'll not budge an inch, boy; let him come, and kindly. [Lies down on the ground, and falls asleep. Wind Horns. Enter a Lord from Hunting, with Huntsmen and Servants. Lord. Huntsman, I charge thee, tender well my hounds: Brach Merriman,-the poor cur is emboss'd," 1 Hunt. Why, Belman is as good as he, my lord; Lord. Thou art a fool; if Echo were as fleet, 1 Hunt. I will, my lord. Lord. What's here? one dead, or drunk? See, doth he breathe? 2 Hunt. He breathes, my lord: Were he not warm'd with ale, This were a bed but cold to sleep so soundly. lies! Grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine image! 1 Hunt. Believe me, lord, I think he cannot choose. 2 Hunt. It would seem strange unto him when he wak'd. Lord. Even as a flattering dream, or worthless fancy. Then take him up, and manage well the jest :- To make a dulcet and a heavenly sound: Some one be ready with a costly suit, 10 1 Hunt. My lord, I warrant you, we'll play our part, As he shall think, by our true diligence, Lord. Take him up gently, and to bed with him; And each one to his office when he wakes. [Some bear out SLY. A trumpet sounds. Sirrah, go see what trumpet 'tis that sounds :--[Exit Servant. Belike, some noble gentleman; that means, Travelling some journey, to repose him here. Re-enter a Servant. How now? who is it? Serv. Now, fellows, you are welcome. 1 Play. We thank your honour. Lord. With all my heart.---This fellow I re- Since once he play'd a farmer's eldest son ;--- 1 Play. I think 'twas Soto that your honour means.12 Lord. 'Tis very true ;---thou didst it excellent.- Were he the veriest antick in the world.1 1 So again in Troilus and Cressida, Ajax says of 8 Brach originally signified a particular species of Achilles-I'll pheese his pride. And in Ben Jon-dog used for the chace. It was a long eared dog, huntson's Alchemist: ing by the scent. 'Come, will you quarrel? I'll feize you, sirrah.' 2 Pocas palabras, Spun. few words. 3 Cessa, Ital. be quiet. 4 Broke. 5 This line and the scrap of Spanish is used in burlesque from an old play called Hieronymo, or the Spanish Tragedy. The old copy reads: S. Jeronimy.' The emendation is Mason's. 6 An officer whose authority equals that of a con stable. 10 Moderation. 9 Naturally. 11 It was in old times customary for players to travel in companies and offer their service at great houses. 12 The old copy prefixes the name of Sincklo to this line, who was an actor in the same company with Shak speare. Soto is a character in Beaumont and Fletcher's Woman Pleased; he is a farmer's eldest son, but he does not woo any gentlewoman. 13 In the old play the dialogue is thus continued: T'Emboss'd,' says Philips in his World of Words, is a term in hunting, when a deer is so hard chased cleyne your shooes, and Ile speak for the properties. San. [To the other.] Go get a dishclout to make that she foams at the mouth; it comes from the Span-[Exit Player.] My lord, we must have a shoulder of ish Desembocar, and is inetaphorically used for any mutton for a property, and a little vinegre to make our kind of iceariness." divell roar.' Lord. Go, sirrah, take them to the buttery,' [To a Servant. See this despatch'd with all the haste thou canst ; [Exit Servant. I know the boy will well usurp the grace, [Exeunt. SCENE II. A Bedchamber in the Lord's House. SLY is discovered in a rich night gown, with Attendants; some with apparel, others with bason, ewer, and other appurtenances. Enter Lord, dressed like a Servant.5 Sly. For God's sake, a pot of small ale. 1 Serv. Will't please your lordship drink a cup of sack? 2 Serv. Will't please your honour taste of these conserves? 3 Serv. What raiment will your honour wear today? I Sly. What, would you make me mad? Am not Christopher Sly, old Sly's son of Burton-heath; by birth a pedler, by education a card-maker, by transmutation a bear-herd, and now by present profession a tinker? Ask Marían Hacket, the fat ale-wife of Wincot, if she know me not: if she say I am not fourteen pence on the score for sheer ale, score me up for the lyingest knave in Christendom. What, I am not bestraught: Here's 1 Serv. O, this it is that makes your lady mourn. As beaten hence by your strange lunacy. [Music. And twenty caged nightingales do sing: 1 Serv. Say, thou wilt course; thy greyhounds are as swift As breathed stags, ay, fleeter than the roe. 2 Serv. Dost thou love pictures? we will fetch thee straight Adonis, painted by a running brook; And Cytherea all in sedges hid; Which seem to move and wanton with her breath, And how she was beguiled and surpris'd, Lord. Thou art a lord, and nothing but a lord: 1 Serv. And, till the tears that she hath shed for Like envious floods, o'er-ran her lovely face, Sly. I am Christophero Sly; call not me-honour, nor lordship: I never drank sack in my life; and if you give me any conserves, give me conserves of Sly. Am I a lord; and have I such a lady; beef. Ne'er ask me what raiment I'll wear: for I Or do I dream? or have I dream'd till now? have no more doublets than backs, no more stock-I do not sleep; I see, I hear, I speak; ings than legs, nor no more shoes than feet; nay, sometimes, more feet than shoes, or such shoes as my toes look through the over leather. Lord. Heaven cease this idle humour in your honour! O, that a mighty man of such descent, 1 Pope remarks, in his preface to Shakspeare, that the top of the profession were then mere players, not gentlemen of the stage; they were led into the buttery, not placed at the lord's table, or the lady's toilette.' I smell sweet savours, and I feel soft things:- [Servants present a ewer, bason, and napkin. near Stratford. The house kept by our genial hostess still remains, but is at present a mill. There is a vil lage also called Barton on the heath in Warwickshire. 7 Sheer-ale has puzzled the commentators; and as 2 The old copy reads this. The emendation is The-none of the conjectures offered appear to me satisfactory, obald's. 3 Him is used for himself, as in Chapman's Banquet of Sense, 1595: The sense wherewith he feels him deified.' 4 Perhaps. 5 From the original stage direction in the first follo, it appears that Sly and the other persons mentioned in the Induction were intended to be exhibited here, and during the representation of the comedy, in a balcony above the stage. I shall add one of my own. Maunday Thursday, the 6 Wilnecotte, says Warton, is a village in Warwick-mere, pure. O, how we joy to see your wit restor❜d! nap. But did I never speak of all that time? 1 Serv. O, yes, my lord; but very idle words :- 3 Serv. Why, sir, you know no house, nor no such Nor no such men as you have reckon'd up,- Sly. I thank thee; thou shalt not lose by it. Page. Here, noble lord; What is thy will with Sly. Are you my wife, and will not call mehusband? My men should call me-lord; I am your goodman. Page. My husband and my lord, my lord and husband; I am your wife in all obedience. Sly. I know it well:-What must I call her? Sly. Al'ce madam, or Joan madam? Sly. Madam wife, they say that I have dream'd Above some fifteen year and more. Page. Ay, and the time seems thirty unto me; alone. Madam, undress you, and come now to bed. Therefore they thought it good you hear a pay, Page. Thrice noble lord, let me entreat of you To pardon me yet for a night or two; Or, if not so, until the sun be set: For your physicians have expressly charg'd, In peril to incur your former malady, That I should yet absent me from your bed: I hope this reason stands for my excuse. Sly. Ay, it stands so, that I may hardly tarry so long. But I would be loath to fall into my dreams again; I will therefore tarry, in despite of the flesh and the blood. Enter a Servant. Sly. Marry, I will; let them play it: Is not a com- Sly. Well, we'll see't: Come, madam wife, sit ACT I. SCENE I. Padua. A public Place. Enter Luc. Tranio, since-for the great desire I had Tra. Mi perdonate, gentle master mine, Luc. Gramercies, Tranio, well dost thou advise. Serv. Your honour's players, hearing your amend- Enter BAPTISTA, KATHARINA, BIANCA, GRE ment, Are come to play a pleasant comedy, For so your doctors hold it very meet; MIO, and HORTENSIO. LUCENTIO and TRANIO stand aside. Bap. Gentlemen, importune me no further, Seeing too much sadness hath congeal'd your blood, For how I firmly am resolv'd you know; And melancholy is the nurse of frenzy, 1 According to some old authorities, Sly here uses a very ladylike imprecation. Ecastor,' says Cooper, by my fay, used only of women.' traction of by my fuith. It is merely a con2 That is at the Court Leet, where it was usual to present such matters, as appears from Kitchen on Courts: Also if tiplers sell by cups and dishes, or measures sealed or not sealed, is inquirable.' 3 Blackstone proposes to read, old John Naps o'the That is not to bestow my youngest daughter, 6 i. e. to fulfil the expectations of his friends. 7 Apply for ply is frequently used by old writers. Thus Baret: with diligent endeavour to applie the she her wheele applyde.' studies. And in Turberville's Tragic Tales: 'How 8 Small piece of water. 9 Pardon me. 10 The old copy reads Aristotle's checks. Blackstone seems to require it; I have therefore admitted it into the suggests that we should read ethics, and the seps Green.' The addition seems to have been a common text. one. 4 For comedy. 11 The modern editions read, Talk logic, &c. The old copy reads Balke, which Mr. Boswell suggests may 5 Ingenious and ingenuous were very commonly be right, although the meaning of the word is now lost confounded by old writers. 12 Animate. Before I have a husband for the elder: Unless you were of gentler, milder mould. Kath. I'faith, sir, you shall never need to fear; Tra Hush, master! here is some good pastime That wench is stark mad, or wonderful froward. Tra Well said, master; mum! and gaze your Bap. Gentlemen, that I may soon make good Put finger in the eye,-an she knew why. Bian. Sister, content you in my discontent.- Luc. Hark, Tranio! thou may'st hear Minerva Gre. Why, will you mew her up, Signior Baptista, for this fiend of hell, And make her bear the penance of her tongue? light on a fit man to teach her that wherein she delights, I will wish10 him to her father. Hor. So will I, signior Gremio: but a word, I Hor. Marry, sir, to get a husband for her sister. Hor. I say, a husband. Gre. I say, a devil: Think'st thou, Hortensio, though her father be very rich, any man is so very a fool to be married to hell? Hor. Tush, Gremio, though it pass your patience and mine, to endure her loud alarums, why, man, there be good fellows in the world, an a man could light on them, would take her with all faults, and money enough. Gre. I cannot tell; but I had as lief take her dowry with this condition,-to be whipped at the high-cross every morning. Hor. 'Faith, as you say, there's small choice in rotten apples. But come; since this bar in law makes us friends, it shall be so far forth friendly maintained,-till by helping Baptista's eldest daughter to a husband, we set his youngest free for a husband, and then have to't afresh.-Sweet Bianca! -Happy man be his dole !12 He that runs fastest, gets the ring." How say you, signior Gremio? Gre. I am agreed: and 'would I had given him the best horse in Padua to begin his wooing, that would thoroughly woo her, wed her, and bed her, and rid the house of her. Come on. [Exeunt GREMIO and HORTENSIO. Tra. [Advancing.] I pray, sir, tell me,-Is it possible That love should of a sudden take such hold? I never thought it possible, or likely; Bap. Gentlemen, content ye; I am resolv'd:-That art to me as secret, and as dear, Go in, Bianca, [Exit BIANCA. To mine own children in good bringing up; What, shall I be appointed hours; as though, be- I knew not what to take and what to leave? Ha! As Anna to the queen of Carthage was,- Tra. Master, it is no time to chide you now; If love have touch'd you, nought remains but so,- Luc. Gramercies, lad; go forward: this con- The rest will comfort, for thy counsel's sound. Luc. Ó yes, I saw sweet beauty in her face, Began to scold; and raise up such a storm, Luc. Tranio, I saw her coral lips to move, old writing stood for either their or your. If their love 10 i. e. I will recommend him. 11 Consideration, or reflection. 12 A proverbial expression. Dole is lot, portion. The phrase is of very common occurrence. 13 The allusion is probably to the sport of running at the ring, or some similar game. 14 Is not driven out by chiding. 15 This line is quoted as it appears in Lilly's Grammar, and not as it is in Terence. See Farmer's Essay on the Learning of Shakspeare. 16 Longingly 17 Europa. Tra. Nay, then, 'tis time to stir him from his trance. I pray, awake, sir; If you love the maid, stands: Her elder sister is so curst and shrewd, Luc. Ah, Tranio, what a cruel father's he! Tra. Master, for my hand, You will be schoolmaster, It is: May it be done? Tra. Not possible: For who shall bear your part, Luc. Basta; content thee, for I have it full. (For so your father charg'd me at our parting; Luc. Tranio, be so, because Lucentio loves. been? Bion. Where have I been? Nay, how now, where Master, has my fellow Tranio stol'n your clothes? Luc. Sirrah, come hither; 'tis no time to jest, Bion. I, sir, ne'er a whit. Bion. The better for him: 'Would, I were so too! 1 It is enough, Ital. 2 Port is figure, show, appearance. 3 Since. Tra. So would I, faith, boy, to have the next wish after, That Lucentio indeed had Baptista's youngest But, sirrah,-not for my sake, but your master's- You use your manners discreetly in all kind of com- When I am alone, why then I am Tranio; One thing more rests, that thyself execute :- Sufficeth, my reasons are both good and weighty. 4 Here in the old copy we have, 'The presenters above speak; meaning Sly, &c. who were placed in a balcony raised at the back of the stage. After the words 'would it were done,' the marginal direction is, They sit and mark. 5 Malone remarks that Grumio's pretensions to wit have a strong resemblance to Dromio's, in The Comedy of Errors; and the two plays were probably written at no great distance of time from each other. I have else where had occasion to observe that the idiom, 'Knock me here,' is familiar to the French language. Page. My lord, 'tis but begun. lady: 'Would, 'twere done! SCENE II. The same. Before Hortensio's House. Pet. Verona, for a while I take my leave, Gru. Knock, sir! whom should I knock? is there any man has rebused your worship? Pet. Villain, I say, knock me here soundly. Pet. Villain, I say, knock me at this gate, And then I know after who comes by the worst. 'Faith, sirrah, an you'll not knock, I'll wring it; [He wrings GRUMIO by the ears. Gru. Help, masters, help! my master is mad. Pet. Now, knock when I bid you: sirrah! villain ! Enter HORTENSIO. Hor. How now? what's the matter?-My old friend Grumio! and my good friend Petruchio!— How do you all at Verona! Con tutto il core bene trovato, may I say. Hor. Alla nostra casa bene venuto, Gru. Nay, 'tis no matter what he leges in Latin. -If this be not a lawful cause for me to leave his service.--Look you, sir, he bid me knock him, and rap him soundly, sir: Well, was it fit for a servant to use his master so: being, perhaps, (for aught I see) two and thirty-a pip out?s Whom, 'would to God, I had well knock'd at first, Pet. A senseless villain-Good Hortensio, I bade the rascal knock upon your gate, Rap me here, knock me well, and knock me soundly? rectly Petrucio, but Shakspeare wrote it as it appears in 8 This passage has escaped the commentators, and yet it is more obscure than many they have explained. |