Page images
PDF
EPUB

Procure me music ready when he wakes,
To make a dulcet and a heavenly sound;
And if he chance to speak, be ready straight,
And, with a low submissive reverence,
Say, "What is it your honor will command?"
Let one attend him with a silver basin,

Full of rosewater, and bestrewed with flowers;

Another bear the ewer, the third a diaper,

'T was where you wooed the gentlewoman so well:
I have forgot your name; but sure that part
Was aptly fitted, and naturally performed.

1st Play. I think 't was Soto that your honor

means.

Lord. 'T is very true; - thou didst it excellent.
Well, you are come to me in happy time;
The rather for I have some sport in hand,

And say, "Wilt please your lordship cool your Wherein your cunning can assist me much.

hands?"

Some one be ready with a costly suit,

And ask him what apparel he will wear;
Another tell him of his hounds and horse,

And that his lady mourns at his disease:
Persuade him that he hath been lunatic;
And, when he says he is, say that he dreams,
For he is nothing but a mighty lord.

This do, and do it kindly, gentle sirs
It will be pastime passing excellent,

If it be husbanded with modesty.

There is a lord will hear you play to-night:
But I am doubtful of your modesties;
Lest, over-eying of his odd behavior
(For yet his honor 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.

1st Play. Fear not, my lord: we can contain
ourselves,

Were he the veriest antic in the world.

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

1st Hun. My lord, I warrant you we 'll play our And give them friendly welcome every one :

part,

And he shall think, by our true diligence,

He is no less than what we say he is.

Lord. Take him up gently, and to bed with

him;

And each one to his office, when he wakes.

[Some bear out SLY. A trumpet sounds.
Sirrah, go see what trumpet 't is that sounds:
[Exit Servant.

Belike some noble gentleman, that means,
Traveling some journey, to repose him here.
Re-enter a Servant.

How now? who is it?

Serv.

An it please your honor, Players that offer service to your lordship. Lord. Bid them come near:

Enter Players.

Now fellows, you are welcome.

1st Play. We thank your honor.
Lord. Do you intend to stay with me to-night?
2nd Play. So please your lordship to accept our
duty.

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 dressed 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 honorable action,
Such as he hath observed 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 honor will command,
Wherein your lady and your humble wife
May shew 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 overjoyed
To see her noble lord restored to health,
Who, for twice seven years, hath esteemed him
No better than a poor and loathsome beggar;

Lord. With all my heart. This fellow I re- And if the boy have not a woman's gift

member.

Since once he played a farmer's eldest son;

To rain a shower of commanded tears,
An onion will do well for such a shift;

Which in a napkin being close conveyed,
Shall in despite enforce a watery eye.

heath; by birth a pedlar, by education a card maker, by transmutation a bear-herd, and now by

See this despatched with all the haste thou present profession a tinker? Ask Marian Hacket,

canst;

Anon I'll give thee more instructions.

the fat alewife of Wincot, if she know me not: if she say I am not fourteen-pence on the score for sheer [Exit Servant. ale, score me up for the lyingest knave in Christendom. What, I am not bestraught! Here's1st Serv. O, this it is that makes your lady

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.

mourn.

2nd Serv. O, this it is that makes your servants droop.

Lord. Hence comes it that your kindred shun your house,

As beaten hence by your strange lunacy.

O, noble lord, bethink thee of thy birth;
[Exeunt. 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 music? hark! Apollo plays,

SCENE II.-A Bedchamber in the Lord's
House.

SLY is discovered in a rich nightgown, with At-
tendants; some with apparel, others with basin,
ewer, and other appurtenances. Enter Lord,

dressed like a Servant.

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

[Music.

And twenty cagéd nightingales do sing:
Or wilt thou sleep? we'll have thee to a couch
Softer and sweeter than the lustful bed
On purpose trimmed up for Semiramis.
Say, thou wilt walk; we will bestrew the ground:

1st Serv. Will 't please your lordship drink a Or wilt thou ride? thy horses shall be trapped,
cup of sack?
Their harness studded all with gold and pearl.

2nd Serv. Will 't please your honor taste of Dost thou love hawking? thou hast hawks will these conserves?

to-day?

soar

3rd Serv. What raiment will your honor wear Above the morning lark: or wilt thou hunt? Thy hounds shall make the welkin answer them, And fetch shrill echoes from the hollow earth. 1st Serv. Say thou wilt course; thy greyhounds are as swift

Sly. I am Christopher Sly: call not me "honor," nor "lordship." I never drank sack in my life; and if you give me any conserves, give me conserves of beef. Ne'er ask me what raiment I'll wear; for I have no more doublets than backs, no more stockings than legs, nor no more shoes than feet; nay, sometimes more feet than shoes, or such shoes as my toes look through the overleather.

Lord. Heaven cease this idle humor in your
honor!

O, that a mighty man of such descent,
Of such possessions and such high esteem,
Should be infused with so foul a spirit!

Sly. What, would you make me mad? Am not I Christopher Sly, old Sly's son of Burton

As breathéd stags, ay, fleeter than the roe.
2nd Serv. Dost thou love pictures? we will
fetch thee straight

Adonis, painted by a running brook;
And Cytheréa all in sedges hid,
Which seem to move and wanton with her
breath,

Even as the waving sedges play with wind.

Lord. We'll shew thee Io, as she was a maid; And how she was beguiled and surprised,

As lively painted as the deed was done.

3rd Serv. Or Daphne, roaming through a thorny wood!

Scratching her legs that one shall swear she

bleeds:

And at that sight shall sad Apollo weep,
So workmanly the blood and tears are drawn.
Lord. Thou art a lord, and nothing but a lord;
Thou hast a lady far more beautiful
Than any woman in this waning age.

1st Serv. And, till the tears that she hath shed
for thee,

Like envious floods, o'erran 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 dreamed till now?
I do not sleep: I see, I hear, I speak;
I smell sweet savors, and I feel soft things:
Upon my life, I am a lord indeed;
And not a tinker, nor Christopher Sly.-
Well, bring our lady hither to our sight;
And once again, a pot o' the smallest ale.
2nd Serv. Will 't please your mightiness to

wash your hands?

[Servants present an ewer, bason, and napkin. O, how we joy to see your wits restored!

O, that once more you knew but what you are!
These fifteen years you have been in a dream;
Or, when you waked, so waked as if you slept.
Sly. These fifteen years! by my fay, a goodly

nap.

But did I never speak of all that time?

1st Serv. O yes, my lord; but very idle words:

For though you lay here in this goodly chamber,
Yet would you say, ye were beaten out of door;
And rail upon the hostess of the house;
And say you would present her at the leet,
Because she brought stone jugs, and no sealed
quarts:

Sometimes you would call out for Cicely Hacket.
Sly. Ay, the woman's maid of the house.

[blocks in formation]

Serv. Why, sir, you know no house, nor no so long. But I would be loath to fall into my

[blocks in formation]

commonty a Christmas gambol, or a tumbling

For so your doctors hold it very meet:
Seeing too much sadness hath congealed your trick?
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.

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 it. Come, madam wife, sit by my side, and let the world slip; we shall [They sit down.

Sly. Marry, I will; let them play it. Is not a ne'er be younger.

Taming of the Shrew

SCENE I. - Padua. A public Place.

Enter LUCENTIO and TRANIO.

ACT I.

This virtue and this moral discipline, Let's be no stoics, nor no stocks, I pray; Or so devote to Aristotle's checks,

Luc. Tranio, since for the great desire I had As Ovid be an outcast quite abjured.

[ocr errors]

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 armed
With his good will, and thy good company,
My trusty servant, well approved 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 merchamt 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
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 perdonate, gentle master mine,
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

Talk logic with acquaintance that you have,
And practice rhetoric in your common talk;
Music and poesy used 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 ad

vise.

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.
But stay awhile: what company is this?

Tra. Master, some show to welcome us to town.

Enter BAPTISTA, KATHARINA, BIANCA, Gremio, and HORTENSIO. LUCENTIO and TRANIO stand aside.

Bap. Gentlemen, importune me no further, For how I firmly am resolved you know; That is, not to bestow my youngest daughter Before I have a husband for the elder: If either of you both love Katherine, Because I know you well and love you well, Leave shall you have to court her at your pleas

ure

« PreviousContinue »