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Their harness ftudded all with gold and pearl.
Doft thou love hawking? thou haft hawks, will foar
Above the morning lark: Or wilt thou hunt?
Thy hounds fhall make the welkin answer them,
And fetch fhrill echoes from the hollow earth *.

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1. S. Say, thou wilt course; thy greyhounds are as "fwift

"As breathed ftags, ay, fleeter than the roe.

66 2. S. Doft thou love pictures? we will fetch thee "ftraight

"Adonis, painted by a running brook; "And Citberea all in fedges hid;

"Which feem to move and wanton with her breath, "Even as the waving fedges play with wind.

"Lord. We'll fhew thee Fo, as fhe was a maid; "And how she was beguiled and furpriz'd, "As lively painted as the deed was done.

66

3. S. Or Daphne, roaming through a thorny wood; "Scratching her legs, that one fhall fwear fhe bleeds: "And at that fight fhall fad Apollo weep;

"So workmanly the blood and tears are drawn. Lord. Thou art a lord, and rothing but a lord: Thou hast a lady far more beautiful

Than any woman in this waining age.

1. S. And 'till the tears, that the hath fhed for thee,

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

She was the faireft creature in the world;

And yet fhe is inferior to none.

Sly. Am I a lord? and have I fuch a lady ?
Or do I dream? or have I dream'd 'till now?
I do not fleep: I fee, I hear, I fpeak;

I fmell fweet favours, and I feel foft things:-
Upon my life, I am a lord indeed;

And not a tinker, nor Christophero Sly.-
Well, bring our lady hither to our fight;
And once again a pot o' the smallest ale.

All that comes between this and the Lord's next speech, though there are some sweet poetical ideas, feems dwelling too long upon the matter, unless fome humorous blundering remarks upon the claffical allufions of the new made Lord.

2. S. Will't please your mightiness to wash your

hands?

[Prefenting the Ewer, &c.

O, how we joy to fee your wit reftor'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 flept.
Sly. These fifteen years! by my fay, a goodly nap.
But did I never speak of all that time ?

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

And fay, you would prefent her at the leet,
Because the brought ftone jugs, and no feel'd quarts.
Sometimes, you would call out for Cicely Hacket.
Sly. Ay, the woman's maid of the house.

3. S. Why, fir, you know no house, nor no fuch maid;
Nor no fuch men as you have reckon'd up,—
As Stephen Sly, and old John Naps of Greece,
And Peter Turf, and Henry Pimpernel;

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

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

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

Enter Page as a Lady, attended.

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 fhould call me-lord; I am your good-man. 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 elfe; fo lords call ladies, Shy. Madam wife, they say,—that I have dream'd, And lept about some fifteen year or more.

Page. Ay, and the time feems 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 fo, until the fun be fet: For your phyficians have exprefsly charg'd, On peril to incur your former malady, That I fhould yet absent me from your I hope, this reafon ftands for my excufe.

bed:

Sly. Ay, it ftands fo, that I may hardly tarry fo long. But I would be loth to fall into my dreams again; I will therefore tarry, in despight of the flesh and the blood.

Enter another Servant.

4. S. Your honour's players, hearing your amendment, Are come to play a pleasant comedy,

For fo your doctors hold it very meet;

Seeing too much fadnefs hath congeal'd your blood,
And melancholy is the nurfe 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't.-Is not a commonty

A christmas gambol, or a tumbling trick?

Page. No, my good lord; it is more pleafing stuff. Sly. What houshold stuff?

Page. It is a kind of history.

Sly. Well, we'll fee't: Come, madam wife, fit by my

fide,

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

[Seating her for the play.

ES

ACT I.

SCENE I. Padua. A public Place.

Enter Lucentio, and Tranio.

LUCENTIO.

TRanio, fince-for the great defire I had
To fee fair Padua, nursery of arts,-
I am arriv'd in 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 trufty fervant, well approv'd in all;
Here let us breathe, and happ'ly inftitute
A course of learning and ingenious studies.
Pifa, 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 fon, brought up in Florence,
It fhall become, to ferve all hopes conceiv'd,
To deck his fortune with his virtuous deeds:
And therefore, Franio, for the time I ftudy,,
Virtue, and that part of philofophy
Will I apply, that treats of happiness
By virtue 'fpecially to be atchiev'd.
Tell me thy mind: for I have Pifa left,
And am to Padua come; as he that leaves.
A fhallow plafh, to plunge him in the deep,
And with fatiety feeks to quench his thirst.
Tra. Mi perdonate, gentle mafter mine,
I am in all affected as yourfelf;
Glad that you thus continue your resolve,
To fuck the fweets of fweet philofophy.
Only, good mafter, while we do admire
This virtue, and this moral difcipline,
Let's be no ftoicks, nor no stocks, 1 pray;
Or fo devote to Ariftotle's checks,
As Qvid be an outcast quite abjur'd:

Talk

Talk logic with acquaintance that you have,
And practife rhetoric in your common talk;
Mufic, and poefy, ufe to quicken you ;
The mathematics, and the metaphyfics,

Fall to them as you find your ftomach ferves you;
No profit grows, where is no pleasure ta'en ;-
In brief, fir, ftudy what you most affect.

Luc. Gramercies, Tranio, well doft thou advise.
If, Biondello, thou wert come afhore,

We could at once put us in readiness;

And take a lodging, fit to entertain
Such friends as time in Padua fhall beget.

But ftay a while; What company is this?

Tra. Mafter, fome show, to welcome us to town.

Enter, at a Diftance, Baptifta; Catharine, and Bianca, bis Daughters; Gremio, and Hortenfio, Suitors to Bianca.

Bap. Gentlemen both, importune me no farther,
For how I firmly am refolv'd you know;

That is, not to beftow my youngest daughter,
Before I have a husband for the elder:
If either of you both love Catherina,
Because I know you well, and love you well,
Leave fhall you have to court her at your pleasure.
Gre. To cart her rather: fhe's too rough for me ;-
There, there, Hortenfio, will you any wife?

Cat. I pray you, fir, [To Bap.] is it your will and pleasure,

To make a ftale of me amongst these mates?

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

for you,

Unless you were of gentler milder mold.

Cat. I'faith, fir, you fhall never need to fear;

I wis, it is not half way to her heart:

But, if it were, doubt not, her care fhould be,
To comb your noddle with a three-legg'd ftool,
And paint your face, and ufe you like a fool *.

Catharine fhould be a commanding figure, and have features expreffive of fhrewithnefs; we don't mean an homely face, but features flexible to haughtiness and ftrong paffions.

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