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. Aye, 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. 120 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 charged, 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. Aye, 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 de- 130 spite of the flesh and the blood.

Enter a Messenger.

Mess. Your honor'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 comonty a Christmas gambold or a tumbling-trick?

140

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.

Flourish.

ACT FIRST

SCENE I

Padua. A public place.

Enter Lucentio and his man Tranio.

Luc. Tranio, since for the great desire I had
To see fair Padua, nursery of arts,
I am arrived 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 approved 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,

10

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 conceived,
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

15. "hopes conceived"; that is, to fullfil the expectations of his friends.-H. N. H.

By virtue specially to be achieved.
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 perdonato, gentle master mine,

20

30

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 abjured:
Balk logic with acquaintance that you have,
And practice 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.

26. "affected," disposed.-C. H. H.

32. Cp. The Taming of a Shrew :—

"Welcome to Athens, my beloved friend,

To Plato's school and Aristotle's walks."-I. G.

40

42. "If Biondello, thou wert"; the Collier MS. reads "now were"; Dyce adopts this emendation.—I. G.

But stay a while: what company is this?
Tra. Master, some show to welcome us to town.
Enter Baptista, Katharina, Bianca, Gremio, and
Hortensio. Lucentio and Tranio stand by.
Bap. Gentlemen, importune me no farther,
For how I firmly am resolved you know;
That is, not to bestow my youngest daughter 50
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 pleas-

ure.

Gre. [Aside] To cart her rather: she's too rough

for me.

There, there, Hortensio, will you any wife? Kath. I pray you, sir, is it your will

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 mould. Kath. I' faith, sir, you shall never need to fear: I wis it is not half way to her heart;

60

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!

64. "To comb your noddle with a three-legg'd stool"; an old expression occurring in Skelton's Merrie Tales. "Hys wife would divers times in the weeke kimbe his head with a iii. footed stoole." -I. G.