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 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 else; so lords call ladies. SLY. Madam wife 5, 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 ". "Lord. Even when it please your honour; they be readie. "Boy. My lord, Ile go bid them begin their plaie. "Slie. Doo, but looke that you come againe. 66 Boy. I warrant you, my lord; I will not leave you thus. [Exit Boy. "Slie. Come, Sim, where be the plaiers? Sim, stand by me, "And we'll flowt the plaiers out of their coates. "Lord. Ile cal them my lord. Ho, where are you there? "Sound trumpets. "Enter two young gentlemen, and a man, and a boy." STEEVENS. 5 Madam wife,] Mr. Pope gives likewise the following prefix to this speech from the elder play: &c. 66 6 Sly. Come, sit down on my knee. Sim, drink to her." Madam, come now to bed.] Here Mr. Pope adds again,-Sim, drink to her. STEEVENS. 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, That I should yet absent me from 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 commonty a Christmas gambol, or a tumblingtrick?? PAGE. No, my good lord; it is more pleasing stuff. SLY. What, houshold 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. [They sit down. Is not a COMMONTY a Christmas gambol, or a tumbling trick?] Thus the old copies; the modern ones read—It is not a commodity, &c. Commonty for comedy, &c. STEEVENS. In the old play the players themselves use the word commodity corruptly for a comedy. BLACKStone. 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 ingenious studies. Pisa, renowned for grave citizens, Gave me my being, and my father first, A merchant of great traffick through the world, 8 FOR fruitful Lombardy,] Mr. Theobald reads-from. The former editions, instead of from had for. JOHNSON. Padua is a city of Lombardy, therefore Mr. Theobald's emendation is unnecessary. STEEVENS. 9 - ingenious] I rather think it was written―ingenuous studies, but of this and a thousand such observations there is little certainty. JOHNSON. In Cole's Dictionary, 1677, it is remarked-" ingenuous and ingenious are too often confounded.” Thus, in The Match at Midnight, by Rowley, 1633:—“ Methinks he dwells in my opinion: a right ingenious spirit, veil'd merely with the variety of youth, and wildness." Again, in The Bird in a Cage, 1623 : 66 deal ingeniously, sweet lady." Again, so late as the time of the Spectator, No. 437, 1st edit. "A parent who forces a child of a liberal and ingenious spirit," &c. REED. Vincentio, come of the Bentivolii '. Vincentio's son 2, brought up in Florence, 1 Pisa, renowned for grave citizens, &c.] This passage, I think, should be read and pointed thus: "Pisa, renowned for grave citizens, "Gave me my being, and my father first, "A merchant of great traffick through the world, 66 Vincentio, come of the Bentivolii." In the next line, which should begin a new sentence, Vincentio his son, is the same as Vincentio's son, which Mr. Heath not apprehending, has proposed to alter Vincentio into Lucentio. It may be added, that Shakspeare in other places expresses the genitive case in the same improper manner. See Troilus and Cressida, Act II. Sc. I.: "Mars his ideot." And Twelfth-Night, Act III. Sc. III.: "The Count his gallies." TYRWHITT. 66 Vincentio, come of the Bentivolii." The old copy readsVincentio's. The emendation was made by Sir T. Hanmer. am not sure that it is right. Our author might have written : Vincentio's son, come of the Bentivolii. I If that be the true reading, this line should be connected with the following, and a colon placed after world in the preceding line; as is the case in the original copy, which adds some support to the emendation now proposed: "Vincentio's son, come of the Bentivolii, 2 Vincentio's son,] Mr. Pope for the sake of the metre readsVincentio his son; and this alteration was adopted by Mr. Steevens. As there are, however, many other lines in this play exposed to the same metrical objection, the text of the original copy has been retained. Mr. Capell reads-Lucentio his son. 3 BOSWELL. to SERVE all hopes conceiv'd,] To fulfil the expectations of his friends. MALONE. 4 Virtue, and that part of philosophy-] Sir Thomas Hanmer, and after him Dr. Warburton, read-to virtue; but formerly ply and apply were indifferently used, as to ply or apply his studies. JOHNSON. The word ply is afterwards used in this scene, and in the same manner, by Tranio : Will I apply, that treats of happiness Glad that you thus continue your resolve, "For who shall bear your part, &c. Keep house and ply his book?" M. MASON. So, in The Nice Wanton, an ancient interlude, 1560: "O ye children, let your time be well spent, "Applye your learning, and your elders obey." Again, in Gascoigne's Supposes, 1566" I feare he applyes his study so, that he will not leave the minute of an houre from his booke." So in Turbervil's Tragick Tales: "But often come himself to see, "How she her wheele applyde." MALONE. 5 Mi perdonate,] Old copy-Me perdonato. The emendation was suggested by Mr. Steevens. 6 Aristotle's CHECKS,] Are, I suppose, the harsh rules of Aristotle. STEEVENS. Such as tend to check and restrain the indulgence of the passions. MALone. So, in Hall's Satires, b. 6. sat. 1: "Well might these checks have fitted former times, "And shoulder'd angry Skelton's breathless rimes." MALONE. Tranio is here descanting on academical learning, and mentions by name six of the seven liberal sciences. I suspect this to be a mis-print, made by some copyist or compositor, for ethicks. The sense confirms it. BLACKSTONE. So, in Ben Jonson's Silent Woman, Act IV. Sc. IV. : "I, in some cases but in these they are best, and Aristotle's ethicks." STEEVENS. |