Wilt thou have music? hark! Apollo plays,
And twenty cagèd nightingales do sing:

Or wilt thou sleep? we'll have thee to a couch
Softer and sweeter than the lustful bed
On purpose trimm'd up for Semiramis.

Say thou wilt walk; we will bestrew the ground:
Or wilt thou ride? thy horses shall be trapp'd,
Their harness studded all with gold and pearl.
Dost thou love hawking? thou hast hawks will soar
Above the morning lark: or wilt thou hunt?

Thy hounds shall make the welkin answer them,
And fetch shrill echoes from the hollow earth.

[Music.

First Serv. Say thou wilt course; thy greyhounds are as swift

As breathed stags, ay, fleeter than the roe.

Sec. Sem. 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,

Even as the waving sedges play with wind.

Lord. We'll show thee Io as she was a maid,

And how she was beguilèd and surpris'd,

As lively painted as the deed was done.

Third Serv. Or Daphne roaming through a thorny wood, Scratching her legs, that one shall swear she bleeds;

And at that sight shall sad Apollo weep,

So workmanly the blood and tears are drawn.

Lord. Thou art a lord, and nothing but a lord :

Thou hast a lady far more beautiful

Than any woman in this waning age.

First Serv. And, till the tears that she hath shed for thee,

Like envious floods, o'er-run her lovely face,

She was the fairest creature in the world;

And yet she is inferior to none.

Sly. Am I a lord? and have I such a lady?

Or do I dream? or have I dream'd till now?

I do not sleep: I see, I hear, I speak ;

I smell sweet savours, and I feel soft things:-
Upon my life, I am a lord indeed;

And not a tinker, nor Christophero Sly.—(14)
Well, bring our lady hither to our sight;
And once again, a pot o' the smallest ale.

Sec. Serv. Will't please your mightiness to wash your
hands? [Servants present a ewer, basin, and napkin.

O, how we joy to see your wits(15) restor❜d!

O, that once more you knew but what you are!
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?

First 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:
Sometimes you would call out for Cicely Hacket.

Sly. Ay, the woman's maid of the house.

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

Nor no such men as have reckon'd up,—

you

As Stephen Sly, and old John Naps of Greece, (16)

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.(17)

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.

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,(18) they say that I have dream'd, And slept about(19) some fifteen year or 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 t' 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 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 commonty

a Christmas gambol or a tumbling-trick?(20)

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.—(21)

Come, madam wife, sit by my side,

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

[They sit down.

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 in(22) 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 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.

Lucentio his son, brought up in Florence,(2
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, 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.

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.(24)
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 ethics,(25)
As Ovid be an outcast quite abjur'd:

Balk 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 now were come ashore,

We could at once put us in readiness;(26)

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, impórtune 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. [to Bap.] I pray you, sir, is it your will(27)

To make a stale of me amongst these mates?

Hor. Mates, maid! how mean you that? no mates for you,

Unless you were of gentler, milder mood.(28)

Kath. I' faith, sir, you shall never need to fear:

I wis 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. [aside to Luc.] Hush, master! here is some good pastime toward :

That wench is stark mad, or wonderful froward.