you

are!

O, how we joy to see your wit restor❜d!
O, that once more you knew but what
These fifteen years you have been in a dream;
Or, when you wak'd, so wak'd as if you slept.

Sly. These fifteen years? by my fay, a goodly

nap.

But did I never speak of all that time?

1 Serv. O yes, my lord; but very idle words :-
For though you lay here in this goodly chamber,
Yet would you say ye were beaten out of door;
And rail upon the hostess of the house;

And say, you would present her at the leet,
Because she brought stone jugs and no seal'd quarts:a
Sometimes you would call out for Cicely Hacket.
Sly. Ay, the woman's maid of the house.

3 Serv. Why, sir, you know no house, nor no such maid;

Nor no such men as you have reckon'd

up,

As Stephen Sly, and Old John Naps of Greece,
And Peter Turf, and Henry Pimpernell;

And twenty more such names and men as these,
Which never were, nor no man ever saw.

Sly. Now, Lord be thanked for my good amends !
All. Amen.

Sly. I thank thee; thou shalt not lose by it.

Enter the Page, as a lady, with Attendants. Page. How fares my noble lord?

Sly. Marry, I fare well; for here is cheer enough. Where is my wife?

Page. Here, noble lord. What is thy will with her? Sly. Are you my wife, and will not call me husband? My men should call me lord; I am your goodman.

a At the leet, or court-leet, of a manor, the jury presented those who used false weights and measures; and, amongst others, those who, like the " fat ale-wife of Wincot," used jugs of irregular capacity instead of the sealed or licensed quart.

VOL. II.

H

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
Lord. Madam.

Sly. Al'ce madam, or Joan madam?

Lord. Madam, and nothing else; so lords call ladies. Sly. Madam wife, they say that I have dream'd, And slept above some fifteen year or more.

Page. Ay, and the time seems thirty unto me; Being all this time abandon'd from your bed.

Sly. T is much. Servants, leave me and her alone. Madam, undress you, and come now to bed. 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 loth to fall into my dreams again. I will therefore tarry, in despite of the flesh and the blood.

Enter a Servant.

Serv. Your honour's players, hearing your amend

ment,

Are come to play a pleasant comedy,

For so your doctors hold it very meet:

Seeing too much sadness hath congeal'd your blood,
And melancholy is the nurse of frenzy,

Therefore, they thought it good you hear a play,
And frame your mind to mirth and merriment,
Which bars a thousand harms, and lengthens life.
Sly. Marry, I will let them play: Is it not a com-
monty, a Christmas gambol, or a tumbling-trick?

Page. No, my good lord; it is more pleasing stuff. Sly. What, household stuff?

Page. It is a kind of history.

Sly. Well, we 'll see 't:

Come, madam wife, sit by my side,

And let the world slip; we shall ne'er be younger.

a

[They sit down.

a We print these lines as in the original, where they stand as verse. Are they not a portion of an old song, and intended to be sung?

ACT I.

SCENE I.-Padua. A public Place.

Enter LUCENTIO and TRANIO.

Luc. Tranio, since, for the great desire I had
To see fair Padua, nursery of arts,
I am arriv'd for fruitful Lombardy,
The pleasant garden of great Italy;

And, by my father's love and leave, am arm'd
With his good will, and thy good company,
My trusty servant, well approv'd in all;
Here let us breathe, and haply a institute
A course of learning, and ingenious studies.
Pisa, renowned for grave citizens,

Gave me my being, and my father first,
A merchant of great traffic through the world,
Vincentio, come of the Bentivolii.

Vincentio's son, brought up in Florence,
It shall become, to serve all hopes conceiv'd,
To deck his fortune with his virtuous deeds :b
And therefore, Tranio, for the time I study,
Virtue, and that part of philosophy
Will I apply, that treats of happiness
By virtue 'specially to be achiev'd.
Tell me thy mind: for I have Pisa left,
And am to Padua come, as he that leaves
A shallow plash, to plunge him in the deep,
And with satiety seeks to quench his thirst.

a Haply-in the sense of probably.

b Pisa gave me my being, and also first gave my father being -that father was Vincentio, &c. It shall become Vincentio's son, that he may fulfil the hopes conceived of him, to deck his fortune with his virtuous deeds.

Tra. Mi perdonate, gentle master mine,
I am in all affected as yourself;

Glad that you thus continue your resolve,
To suck the sweets of sweet philosophy.
Only, good master, while we do admire
This virtue, and this moral discipline,
Let's be no stoics, nor no stocks, I pray;
Or so devote to Aristotle's checks,
As Ovid be an outcast quite abjur'd:
Balk a logic with acquaintance that you have,
And practise rhetoric in your common talk:
Music and poesy use to quicken you;

The mathematics, and the metaphysics,

Fall to them, as you find your stomach serves you :
No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en ;—

In brief, sir, study what you most affect.

Luc. Gramercies, Tranio, well dost thou advise.
If, Biondello, thou wert come ashore,

We could at once put us in readiness;
And take a lodging, fit to entertain

Such friends as time in Padua shall beget.
But stay awhile: What company is this?

Tra. Master, some show, to welcome us to town.

Enter BAPTISTA, Katharina, BIANCA, GREMIO, and HORTENSIO. LUCENTIO and TRANIO stand aside.

Bap. Gentlemen, importune me no farther, For how I firmly am resolv'd you know: That is, not to bestow my youngest daughter, Before I have a husband for the elder:

If either of you both love Katharina,

a Balk. Tranio draws a distinction between the dry and the agreeable of the liberal sciences. Balk logic-pass over logicwith your acquaintance, but practise rhetoric in your common talk;-use (in the legitimate sense of resorting to frequently) music and poetry to quicken you, but fall to mathematics and metaphysics as you find your inclination serves.