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But I am doubtful of your modesties;
Lest, over-eying of his odd behaviour,
(For yet his honour never heard a play,)
You break into some merry passion,
And so offend him; for I tell
you, sirs,
If you should smile, he grows impatient.

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1 PLAY. Fear not, my lord; we can contain our

selves,

Were he the veriest antick in the world.8

in the world.] Here follows another insertion made by Mr. Pope from the old play. These words are not in the folio, 1623. I have therefore degraded them, as we have no proof that the first sketch of the piece was written by Shakspeare: "San. [to the other.] Go, get a dishclout to make cleane your shooes, and Ile speak for the properties.* [Exit Player.

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My lord, we must have a shoulder of mutton for a propertie, and a little vinegre to make our diuell rore."†

The shoulder of mutton might indeed be necessary afterwards for the dinner of Petruchio, but there is no devil in this piece, or in the original on which Shakspeare formed it; neither was it yet determined what comedy should be represented.

STEEVENS.

*Property] in the language of a playhouse, is every implement necessarý to the exhibition. JOHNSON.

ተ a little vinegre to make our diuell rore.] When the acting the mysteries of the Old and New Testament was in vogue, at the representation of the mystery of the Passion, Judas and the Devil made a part. And the Devil, wherever he came, was always to suffer some disgrace, to make the people laugh: as here, the buffoonery was to apply the gall and vinegar to make him roar. And the Passion being that, of all the mysteries, which was most frequently represented, vinegar became at length the standing implement to torment the Devil; and was used for this purpose even after the mysteries ceased, and the moralities came in vogue; where the Devil continued to have a considerable part. The mention of it here, was to ridicule so absurd a circumstance in these old farces. WARBURTON.

All that Dr. Warburton has said relative to Judas and the vinegar, wants confirmation. I have met with no such circumstances in any mysteries, whether in MS. or in print; and yet both the Chester and Coventry collections are preserved in the British Museum. See MS. Harl. 2013, and Cotton MS. Vespasian D. viii.

Perhaps, however, some entertainments of a farcical kind might have been introduced between the Acts. Between the divisions of one of the Chester Mysteries, I meet with this marginal direction: Here the Boy and Pig; and perhaps the Devil in the intervals of this first comedy of The Taming of the

LORD. Go, sirrah, take them to the buttery,

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9 take them to the buttery,] Mr. Pope had probably these words in his thoughts, when he wrote the following passage of his preface: -the top of the profession were then mere players, not gentlemen of the stage; they were led into the buttery by the steward, not placed at the lord's table, or the lady's toilette." But he seems not to have observed, that the players here introduced are strollers; and there is no reason to suppose that our author, Heminge, Burbage, Condell, &c. who were licensed by King James, were treated in this manner.

MALONE.

Shrew, might be tormented for the entertainment of the audience; or, according to a custom observed in some of our ancient puppet-shews, might beat his wife with a shoulder of mutton. In the Preface to Marlowe's Tamburlaine, 1590, the Printer says:

"I have (purposelie) omitted and left out some fond and frivolous jestures, digressing (and in my poore opinion) farre unmeete for the matter, which I thought might seeme more tedious unto the wise, than any way els to be regarded, though (happly) they have bene of some vaine conceited fondlings greatly gaped at, what time they were showed upon the stage in their graced deformities: neverthelesse now to be mixtured in print with such matter of worth, it would prove a great disgrace," &c.

The bladder of vinegar was, however, used for other purposes. I meet with the following stage direction in the old play of Cambyses, (by T. Preston,) when one of the characters is supposed to die from the wounds he had just received: Here let a small bladder of vinegar be pricked. I suppose to counterfeit blood: red-wine vinegar was chiefly used, as appears from the ancient books of cookery.

In the ancient Tragedy, or rather Morality, called All for Money, by T. Lupton, 1578, Sin says:

"I knew I would make him soon change his note,

"I will make him sing the Black Sanctus, I hold him a groat."
"Here Satan shall cry and roar.”

Again, a little after:

"Here he roareth and crieth."

Of the kind of wit current through these productions, a better specimen can hardly be found than the following:

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"Satan. Whatever thou wilt have, I will not thee denie.

"Sinne. Then give me a piece of thy tayle to make a flappe for a flie.

"For if I had a piece thereof, I do verely believe

"The humble bees stinging should never me grieve.

"Satan. No, my friend, no, my tayle I cannot spare,

"But aske what thou wilt besides, and I will it prepare.

"Sinne. Then your nose I would have to stop my tayle behind,

"For I am combred with collike and letting out of winde:

"And if it be too little to make thereof a case,

"Then I would be so bold to borrowe your face."

Such were the entertainments, of which our maiden Queen sat a spectairess in the earlier part of her reign. STEEVENS.

And give them friendly welcome every one:
Let them want nothing that my house affords.-
[Exeunt Servant and Players.
Sirrah, go you to Bartholomew my page,

[To a Servant. And see him dress'd in all suits like a lady: That done, conduct him to the drunkard's cham

ber,

And call him-madam, do him obeisance.
Tell him from me, (as he will win my love,)
He bear himself with honourable action,
Such as he hath observ'd in noble ladies
Unto their lords, by them accomplished:
Such duty to the drunkard let him do,
With soft low tongue,' and lowly courtesy;
And say,-What is't your honour will command,
Wherein your lady, and your humble wife,

May show her duty, and make known her love? And then-with kind embracements, tempting kisses,

And with declining head into his bosom,-
Bid him shed tears, as being overjoy'd
To see her noble lord restor❜d to health,

At the period when this comedy was written, and for many years after, the profession of a player was scarcely allowed to be reputable. The imagined dignity of those who did not belong to itinerant companies, is, therefore, unworthy consideration. I can as easily believe that the blundering editors of the first folio were suffered to lean their hands on Queen Elizabeth's chair of state, as that they were admitted to the table of the Earl of Leicester, or the toilette of Lady Hunsdon. Like Stephen in Every Man in his Humour, the greatest indulgence our histrionic leaders could have expected, would have been “ a trencher and a napkin in the buttery." STEEVENS.

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! With soft low tongue,] So, in King Lear:

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Her voice was ever soft,

"Gentle and low; an excellent thing in woman."

MALONE.

Who, for twice seven years, hath esteemed him No better than a poor and loathsome beggar:2 And if the boy have not a woman's gift,

To rain a shower of commanded tears,

3

An onion will do well for such a shift;

Which in a napkin being close convey'd,
Shall in despite enforce a watery eye.

* Who, for twice seven years, &c.] In former editions: Who for this seven years hath esteemed him

No better than a poor and loathsome beggar.

I have ventured to alter a word here, against the authority of the printed copies; and hope, I shall be justified in it by two subsequent passages. That the poet designed the tinker's supposed lunacy should be of fourteen years standing at least, is evident upon two parallel passages in the play to that purpose.

THEOBALD.

The remark is just, but perhaps the alteration may be thought unnecessary by those who recollect that our author rarely reckons time with any great correctness. Both Falstaff and Orlando forget the true hour of their appointments. STEEVENs.

In both these passages the term mentioned is fifteen, not fourteen years. The servants may well be supposed to forget the precise period dictated to them by their master, or, as is the custom of such persons, to aggravate what they have heard. There is, therefore, in my opinion, no need of change.

MALONE.

hath esteemed him-] This is an error of the press:We should read himself, instead of him. M. MASON. Him is used instead of himself, as you is used for yourselves in Macbeth:

"Acquaint you with the perfect spy o' the time-." i. e. acquaint yourselves.

Again, in Ŏvid's Banquet of Sence, by Chapman, 1595: "Sweet touch, the engine that love's bow doth bend, "The sence wherewith he feeles him deified."

STEEVENS.

An onion-] It is not unlikely that the onion was an expedient used by the actors of interludes. JOHNSON.

So, in Antony and Cleopatra:

"The tears live in an onion that should water this sorrow."

STEEVENS.

See this despatch'd with all the haste thou canst; Anon I'll give thee more instructions.

[Exit Servant. I know, the boy will well usurp the grace, Voice, gait, and action of a gentlewoman: I long to hear him call the drunkard, husband; And how my men will stay themselves from laughter, When they do homage to this simple peasant. I'll in to counsel them: haply, my presence May well abate the over-merry spleen, Which otherwise would grow into extremes. [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.

SLY. For God's sake, a pot of small ale."

↑ A Bedchamber &c.] From the original stage direction in the first folio 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. The direction here is—Enter aloft the drunkard with attendants, &c. So afterwards, at the end of this scene-The Presenters above speak. See the Account of our old Theatres, Vol. II. MALONE.

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Sly is discovered &c.] Thus, in the original play: "Enter two with a table and a banquet on it, and two other, with Slie asleepe in a chaire, richlie apparelled, and the musick plaieng.

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"One. So, sirha, now go call my lord;

“And tell him all things are ready as he will'd it.

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