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 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? 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 and more.

Page. Ay, and the time seems thirty unto me; Being all this time abandon'd from your bed. Sly. 'Tis 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
I hope this reason stands for my excuse.

your

bed:

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.

Serv. Your honour's players, hearing your amendment,

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 it: Is 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?

8

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 [They sit down.

be younger.

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,
Most trusty servant, well approv'd in all;
Here let us breathe, and happily institute
A course of learning, and ingenious1 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:
And therefore, Tranio, for the time I study,
Virtue, and that part of philosophy
Will I apply 3, 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

1 Ingenious and ingenuous were very commonly confounded by old writers.

2 i. e. to fulfil the expectations of his friends.

3 Apply for ply is frequently used by old writers. Thus Baret: 'with diligent endeavour to applie their studies.' And in Turberville's Tragic Tales: How she her wheele applyde.'

A shallow plash, to plunge him in the deep,
And with satiety seeks to quench his thirst.
Tra. Mi perdonate 5, 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 stoicks, nor no stocks, I pray ;
Or so devote to Aristotle's ethicks,
As Ovid be an outcast quite abjur'd:
Balke logic with acquaintance that you have,
And practise rhetorick in your common talk:
Musick and poesy use to quickenR you;
The mathematicks, and the metaphysicks,
Fall to them as you find your stomach serves you:
No profit grows where is no pleasure taʼen :-
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.

4 Small piece of water.

6 The old copy reads Aristotle's checks. that we should read ethicks, and the sense have therefore admitted it into the text.

5 Pardon me. Blackstone suggests seems to require it, I

7 The modern editions read, Talk logic, &c.' The old copy reads Balke, which Mr. Boswell suggests may be right, although the meaning of the word is now lost. It seems used in the same sense as above by Spenser, F. Q. b. iii. c. 2. St. 12:

'Her list in stry full termes with him to balke.'

6

It may signify belch logic with acquaintance, &c.' Cooper renders the Versus ructari of Horace-To bealke verses.

8 Animate.

Enter BAPTISTA, KATHARINA, BIANCA, Gre-
MIO, and HORTENSIO. LUCENTIO and TRA-
N10 stand aside.

Bap. Gentlemen, importune me no further,
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,

Because I know you well, and love you well, Leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure. Gre. To cart her rather: She's too rough for me:— There, there, Hortensio, will you any wife?

Kath. I pray you, sir, [To BAP.] is it your will To make a stale 9 of me amongst these mates? Hor. Mates, maid! how mean you that? no mates

for you,

Unless you were of gentler, milder mould.

Kath. I'faith, sir, you shall never need to fear; I wis 10, it is not half way to her heart: But if it were, doubt not her care should be To comb your noddle with a three-legg'd stool, And paint your face, and use you like a fool.

Hor. From all such devils, good Lord, deliver us! Gre. And me too, good Lord!

Tra. Hush, master! here is some good pastime toward;

That wench is stark mad, or wonderful froward.
Luc. But in the other's silence I do see

9 She means do you intend to make a strumpet of me among these companions?" But the expression seems to have a quibbling allusion to the chess term of stale-mate. So in Bacon's twelfth Essay: 'They stand like a stale at chess, where it is no mate, but yet the game cannot stir.' Shakspeare sometimes uses stale for a decoy, as in the second scene of the third act of this play.

10 Think.