Lord. Hence comes it, that your kindred shun your

house, As beaten hence by your strange lunacy. Oh, noble lord, bethink thee of thy birth, Call home thy ancient thoughts from banishment, And banish hence these abject lowly dreams. Look, how thy servants do attend on thee ; Each in his office ready at thy beck. Wilt thou have musick? hark, Apollo plays; (Mufick. And twenty caged nightingales do fing. Or wilt thou Neep? we'll have thee to a couch, Softer and sweeter than the luftful bed On purpose trimnm'd up for Semiramis. Say, thou wilt walk, we will bestrow 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 haft hawks, will foar Above the morning lark. Or wilt thou hunt? Thy hounds shall make the welkin answer them, And fetch shrill echoes from the hollow earth.

1 Man. Say, thou wilt course, thy greyhounds are As breathed ftags ; ay, Aeeter than the roe. 4,2 Man. Doft thou love pictures ? we will fetch thee

straight
Adonis, painted by a running brook ;
And Citherea all in sedges hid;
Which seem to move, and wanton with her breath,
Ev'n as the waving fedges play with wind.

Lord. We'll'shew thee To, as fhe was a maid,
And how she was beguiled and surpris'd,
As lively painted as the deed was done,

3 Man. Or Daphne roaming through a thorny wood,
Scratching her legs, that one shall fwear she bleeds :
And at that light shall fad Apollo weep :
So workmanly the blood and tears are drawn.

Lord. Thou art a lord, and nothing but a lord:
Thou haft a lady far more beautiful
Than any woman in this waining age.

as fwift

i Man. And 'till the tears, that she hath shed for

thee,
Like envious floods, o'er-ran 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 fleep; I see, I hear, I speak;
I smell sweet favours, and I feel soft 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'th' smallest ale.
2 Man. Will’t please your Mightiness to wash your

hands?
Oh, how we joy to see your wits restord!
Oh, 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.

Śly. These fifteen years ! by my fay, a goodly nap: But did I never speak of all that time?

1 Man. Oh, yes, my Lord, but very idle words.
For tho' you lay here in this goodly chamber,
Yet would you say, ye were beaten out of door,
And rail'd upon the Hostess of the house ;
And say, you would present her at the Leet,
Because she bought ftone.jugs, and no feald quarts :
Sometimes, you would call out for Cicely Hacket.

Sly. Ay, the woman's maid of the house,
3 Man. Why, Sir, you know no house ; nor no such

maid;
Nor no such men, as you have reckon'd up;
As Stephen Sly, and old John Naps of Greece,
And Peter Turf, and Henry Pimpernell,
And twenty more such names and men as thefe,
Which never were, nor no man ever faw.

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

Sly. By th' Mass, I think I am a Lord indeed.
What is thy name?

Man my wife?

man,

Man. Sim, an't please your Honour.

Sly. Sim ? that's as much as to say, Simeon or Simor; put forth thy hand and fill the pot.

[The fervant gives bim drink. Enter Lady, with Attendants, I thank thee; thou shalt not lose by it.

Lady. How fares my noble Lord ? Sly. Marry, I fare well, for here is cheer enough. Where's

Lady. Here, noble Lord, what is thy will with her ?

Sly. Are you my wife, and will not call me hufband ? My men nould call me lord, I am your good

Lady. My husband and my lord, my Lord and has band; I am your wife in all obedience. Sly. I know it well: what must I call her? Lord. Madam. Sly. Alce madam, or Yoan madam ? Lord. Madam, and nothing else, fo lords call ladies, Sly. Come, fit down on my knee. Sim, drink to her, Madam wife, they fay, that I have dream'd, and slept above some fifteen years and more.

Lady. Ay, and the time seems thirty unto me, Being all this time abandon'd from your bed.

Sly, 'T'is much. Servants, leave me and her alone: Madam, undress you, and come now to bed. Sim, drink to her.

Lady. 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 exprefly charg'd,
In peril to incur your former malady,
That I should yet absent me from your bed;
I hope, this reason ftands for my excuse.

Sly. Ay, it stands so, that I may hardly tarry so long ; but I would be loath to fall into my

dream again : I will therefore tarry in despight of the flesh and the blood,

Enter a Messenger.

Mel. Your Honour's Players, hearing your amend

ment,
Are come to play a pleasant Comedy ;
For fo 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; is it not a Com. : modity ? a Christmas gambol, or a tumbling trick ?

Lady. No, my good Lord, it is more pleasing stuff.
Sly. What, houshold stuff?
Lady. It is a kind of history.

Sly. Well, we'll see't : come, Madam wife, fit by my side, and let the world slip, we hall ne'er be younger.

The

OCDOE

The TAMING of

the SHREW.

A

C T I.

SCENE, a Street in PADUA,
Flourish. Enter Lucentio and Tranio.

LUCENTI0.
Ranio, since for the great desire I had
To see fair Padua, nursery of arts,
I am arriv'd from fruitful Lombardy, (6)

The pleasant garden of great Italy;
SANAI

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 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 traffick through the world:
Vincentio's come of the Bentivolii,
Vincentio his son, brought up in Florence,

(6) I am arrived for fruitful Lombardy,] Tho' all the Im. pressions concur in this, I take it to be a Blunder of the Edi. tors, and not of the Author. Padua is not in Lombardy ; but Pifa, from which Lucentio comes, is really in those Territories.