THE TAMING OF THE SHREW.
INDUCTION.
[Scene I]. Before an alehouse on a heath.
[Enter] Hostess and Sly.
Sly. I'll [pheeze] you, in faith.
Host. A pair of [stocks], you rogue!
Sly. Y'are a baggage: the Slys are no rogues; look in
the chronicles; we [came] in with Richard Conqueror. Therefore
[paucas] pallabris; let the world slide: sessa!
Host. You will not pay for the glasses you have burst?
Sly. No, not a denier. [Go by, Jeronimy]: go to thy
cold bed, and warm thee.
10
Host. I know my remedy; I must go fetch the [thirdborough.]
Sly. Third, or fourth, or fifth borough, I'll answer him
by law: I'll not budge an inch, boy: let him come, and
kindly. [Falls asleep.]
[Horns winded.] Enter a Lord from hunting, with his train.
Lord. Huntsman, I charge thee, tender well my hounds:
[Brach] Merriman, the poor cur is emboss'd;
And couple Clowder with the deep-mouth'd brach.
Saw'st thou not, boy, how Silver made it good
At the hedge-corner, in the coldest fault?
I would not lose the dog for twenty pound.
20
First Hun. Why, Belman is as good as he, my lord;
He cried upon it at the merest loss
And twice to-day pick'd out the dullest scent:
Trust me, I take him for the [better] dog.
Lord. Thou art a fool: if Echo were as fleet,
I would esteem him worth a dozen such.
But sup them well and look unto them all:
To-morrow I intend to hunt again.
First Hun. I will, my lord.
Lord. What's here? one dead, or drunk? See, doth he breathe?
Sec. Hun. He breathes, my lord. Were he not warm'd with ale,
This were a bed but cold to sleep so soundly.
Lord. O monstrous beast! how like a swine he lies!
Grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine image!
Sirs, I will practise on this drunken man.
What think you, if he were convey'd to bed,
Wrapp'd in sweet clothes, rings put upon his fingers,
A most delicious banquet by his [bed,]
And brave attendants near him when he wakes,
Would not the beggar then forget himself?
40
First Hun. Believe me, lord, I think he cannot choose.
Sec. Hun. It would seem strange unto him when he [waked.]
Lord. Even as a flattering dream or worthless fancy.
Then take him up and manage well the jest:
Carry him gently to my fairest chamber
And hang it round with all my wanton pictures:
[Balm] his foul head [in] warm distilled waters
And burn sweet wood to make the lodging sweet:
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 honour will command?'
Let one attend him with a silver basin
Full of rose-water and bestrew'd with flowers;
Another bear the ewer, [the third] a diaper,
And say 'Will't please your lordship cool your 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.
First Hun. My lord, I warrant you [we will] play our part,
As 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 'tis that sounds: [[Exit Servingman.]
Belike, some noble gentleman that means,
Travelling some journey, to repose him here.
[Re-enter] Servingman.
How now! who is it?
75
Serv. [An't please your honour, players]
[That offer] service to your lordship.
Lord. Bid them come near.
[Enter] Players.
Now, fellows, you are welcome.
Players. We thank your honour.
Lord. Do you intend to stay with me to-night?
80
[A Player.] So please your lordship to accept our duty.
Lord. With all my heart. This fellow I remember,
Since once he play'd a farmer's eldest son:
'Twas where you woo'd the gentlewoman so well:
I have forgot your name; but, sure, that part
Was aptly [fitted] and naturally perform'd.
[A Player.] I think 'twas Soto that your honour means.
Lord. Tis very true: thou didst it excellent.
Well, you are come to me in happy time;
The rather for I have some sport in hand
Wherein your cunning can assist me much.
There is a lord will hear you play to-night:
But I am doubtful of your modesties;
Lest over-eyeing 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.
[A Player.] Fear not, my lord: we can contain ourselves,
Were he the veriest antic in the world.
100
Lord. Go, sirrah, take them to the buttery,
[And give them friendly welcome every one:]
Let them want nothing that my house affords.
[Exit one with the Players.
Sirrah, go you to [Barthol'mew] my page,
And see him dress'd in all suits like a lady:
That done, conduct him to the drunkard's chamber;
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 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 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 restored to health,
Who for [this seven] years hath esteemed [him]
No better than a poor and loathsome beggar:
And if the boy have not a woman's gift
To rain a shower of commanded tears,
An onion will do well for such a shift,
Which in a napkin [being close convey'd]
Shall in despite enforce a watery eye.
See this dispatch'd with all the haste thou canst:
Anon I'll give thee more instructions. [Exit a Servingman.
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.
LINENOTES:
[Induction.] Pope. om. Ff Q. [See note (i).]
[Scene I. Before] ...] Theobald. A Hedge Ale-house. Capell.
[Enter ...] Enter Begger and Hostes, Christophero Sly. Ff Q.
[1] [pheeze] fese (Q).
[2] [stocks] F3 F4. stockes F1 Q.] stokes F2.
[4] [came in] came Rowe (ed. 1).
[5] [paucas] paucus F4.
[7] [Go by, Jeronimy] goe by Ieronimie Q. go by S. Ieronimie Ff (Ieronimy F2. Jeronimy F3 F4). go by, Jeronimo Theobald. 'go by,' says Jeronimy Steevens (Capell conj.). go—by S. Jeronimy Knight. [See note (ii).]
[9] [thirdborough] Theobald. head-borough Ff Q.
[10] [Exit.] Rowe. om. Ff Q.
[13] [Falls asleep.] Ff Q. Falls from off his bench, and sleeps. Capell. Lies down on the ground, and falls asleep. Malone.
[Horns winded.] Winde hornes. Ff Q.
[15] [Brach] Leech Hanmer. Bathe Johnson conj. Breathe Mitford conj. Brace Becket conj. Trash Singer.
Brach ... emboss'd;] (Brach Merriman, the poor cur, is emboss'd,) Grant White. Brach, Merriman, the ... emboss'd Johnson. (Back Merriman!—the ... emboss'd) Anon. conj.
[23] [better] om. Q.
[30, 31] [Printed as prose in] Ff Q, as verse first by Rowe (ed. 2).
[37] [bed] side Anon. conj.
[41, 42] [waked.] Lord. Even ... fancy. Then] waked, Even ... fancy. Lord. Then Anon. conj.
[46] [Balm] ... head] Bath ... hide Capell conj.
[in] with Rowe (ed. 2).
[55] [the third] a third Rowe.
[62] [And ... he is,] Ff Q. And when he says he is poor, Rowe (ed. 1). And ... he's poor, Rowe (ed. 2). And ... he is,—Theobald. And ... he's Sly, Johnson conj. And when he says what he is, Long conj. MS. When he says what he is, Collier MS. And what he says he is, Jackson conj. And when he says who he is, Anon. ap. Halliwell conj. [See note (iii).]
[67] [we will] we'll Rowe (ed. 2).
[71] [Some bear out Sly.] Theobald. om. Ff Q.
[A trumpet sounds.] Sound trumpets. Ff Q.
[72] [Exit S.] Ex. Servant. Theobald. om. Ff Q.
[Re-enter ...] Enter ... Ff Q.
[75, 76] [An't ... players That] Ff Q.
Please your honour, players That Pope.
An it ... Players that Malone.
[76] [That offer] That come to offer Capell. That offer humble Collier MS.
[77] [Enter P.] Ff Q, after line 76.
[80] [A Player.] Edd. 2. Player. Ff Q.
[85] [fitted] fit S. Walker conj.
[86] [ A Player.] Sincklo. F1 Q. Sin. F2. Sim. F3 F4. 1. P. Capell. [See note (iv).]
[98] [A Player.] Plai. F1 F2. Play. Q. Pla. F3 F4. 1. P. Capell.
[99] [See note (v).]
[101] [And ... one] omitted by Rowe.
[103] [Barthol'mew] Bartholmew Ff Q. Bartholomew Rowe.
[108] [bear] F3 F4. beare F1 F2. bare Q.
[112] [soft low] soft slow Malone conj.
[113] [ will] doth Q.
[120] [this seven] these seven Rowe (ed. 2). twice seven Theobald.
[him] himself Rowe.
[125] [being ... convey'd] (being ... convei'd) Ff Q.
[133] [peasant.] Johnson. peasant, Ff Q. peasant; Rowe.
[135] [the] their Collier (Collier MS.).
[Scene II.] A bedchamber in the Lord's house.
[Enter aloft] Sly, with Attendants; some with apparel, others with basin and ewer and other appurtenances, and Lord.
[Sly.] For God's sake, a pot of small ale.
First Serv. Will't please your lordship drink a cup of
sack?
Sec. Serv. Will't please your honour taste of these
conserves?
Third Serv. What raiment will your honour wear to-day?
5
Sly. I am [Christophero] Sly; call not me 'honour' nor
'lordship:' I ne'er 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, [sometime] more feet than shoes, or such shoes as
my toes look through the overleather.
Lord. Heaven cease this [idle] humour in your honour!
O, that a mighty man of such descent,
Of such possessions and so 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-heath,] by birth a
pedlar, by education a [card-maker,] by transmutation a
bear-herd, and now by present profession a tinker? Ask
Marian Hacket, the fat ale-wife of Wincot, if she know me
not: if she say I am not [fourteen pence on the score] for
[sheer] ale, score me up for the lyingest knave in Christendom.
[What!] I am not bestraught: here's—
[Third Serv.] O, this it is that makes your lady mourn!
25
Sec. Serv. O, this [is it] that makes your servants droop!
Lord. Hence comes it that your kindred [shuns] your house,
As beaten hence by your strange lunacy.
O 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 music? hark! Apollo plays, [Music.
And twenty caged nightingales do sing:
Or wilt thou sleep? we'll have thee to a couch
Softer and sweeter than the lustful bed
On purpose trimm'd up for Semiramis.
Say thou wilt walk; we will bestrew 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 hast hawks will soar
Above the morning lark: or wilt thou hunt?
Thy [hounds] shall make the welkin answer them,
And fetch shrill echoes from the hollow earth.
45
First Serv. Say thou wilt course; thy greyhounds are as swift
As breathed stags, ay, fleeter than the roe.
[Sec. Serv.] Dost thou love pictures? we will fetch thee straight
Adonis painted by a running brook
And Cytherea all in sedges hid
Which seem to move and wanton with her breath,
Even as the waving sedges play [with] wind.
Lord. We'll show thee Io as she was a maid
And how she was beguiled and surprised,
As lively painted as the deed was done.
55
Third 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.
First Serv. And till the tears that she hath shed for thee
Like envious floods [o'er-run] 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 sleep: I see, I hear, I speak;
I smell sweet savours 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 sight;
And once again, a pot o' the smallest ale.
Sec. Serv. Will't please your mightiness to [wash your hands?]
O, how we joy to see your [wit] 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?
First 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] seal'd quarts:
Sometimes you would call out for Cicely Hacket.
Sly. Ay, the woman's maid of the house.
Third Serv. 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 Turph and [Henry] Pimpernell
And twenty more such names and men as these
Which never were nor no man ever saw.
95
Sly. Now Lord be thanked for my good amends!
All. Amen.
Sly. I thank thee: thou shalt not lose by it.
[Enter] [the 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 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.
110
Sly. [Madam] wife, they say that I have dream'd
And slept [above] some fifteen year or [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.
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 charged,
[In] peril to incur your former malady,
That I should yet absent me from your bed:
I hope this reason stands for my excuse.
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.
Mess. 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 [comonty]
a Christmas [gambold] or a tumbling-trick?
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't. Come, madam wife, sit by my
side [and] let the world slip: we shall ne'er be [younger.]
LINENOTES:
[Scene ii].] Capell. Scene iv. Pope. A ... house.] Theobald.
[Enter aloft Sly ...] Enter aloft the drunkard ... Ff Q. A stately Room in the Lord's House: In it a Stage and other Appurtenances, for the Play: and, in another Part, a Bed; Sly, in a rich Night-dress, sitting on it; surrounded by Servants, bearing Apparel, Bason, Ewer, &c. a Sideboard being by. Enter, at lower End, the Lord, himself habited like a Servant. Capell.
[1] [Sly.] Beg. Ff Q, and elsewhere in the scene.
[5] [Christophero] Christopher Warburton.
[10] [sometime] sometimes F3 F4.
[12] [idle] evil Collier MS.
[17] [Christopher] F1 Q F2. Christophero F3 F4.
Sly's] Sies F1.
Burton-heath] Barton-heath Steevens conj.
[18] [card-maker] cart-maker or cord-maker or crate-maker or cord-wainer Anon. conj.
[21] [fourteen pence] xiiii. d. F1 Q F2. xiv. d. F3 F4.
score] sorce F2.
[22] [sheer] F4. sheere F1 Q F2 F3. shear Jordan conj. Warwickshire Collier MS.
[23] [What!] What Ff Q. What?—Hanmer.
bestraught] distraught Steevens conj. (withdrawn).
here's—] Ff. here's Q.
[24] [Third Serv.] 3. Man. F1 Q F2. 1. Man. F3 F4.
[25] [is it] it is Rowe.
[26] [shuns] shun Rowe.
[43] [hounds] bounds Q.
[47] [Sec. Serv.] 2. M. Ff Q.
[51] [with] with th' Anon. conj.
[63] [o'er-run]o'er-ran Theobald.
[71] [Christophero] F2 F3 F4. Christopher F1 Q.
[74] [presenting the Ewer,] &c. Capell.
[75] [wit] wits F3 F4.
[78] [so] you Rowe.
[84] [rail] rail'd Rowe.
[86] [no] not Collier MS.
[91] [of Greece] o' th' Green Hanmer (L. II. apud Theobald conj.). of Greys or of Greete Halliwell conj.
[92] [Henry] Harry Capell conj.
[96] [See note (vi).]
[97] [Scene v.] Pope.
[Enter ...] Capell. Enter Lady with Attendants. Ff Q (after line 96).
[98-100] [Capell] prints as two lines How ... well; For ... wife?
[99, 100] [Marry] ... wife?] Printed as prose by Pope.
[108] [Al'ce] Capell. Alce Ff.
[110] [See note (vii).]
Madam] Humph madam Capell conj. Madam, my S. Walker conj.
[110, 111] [Madam ... more] As prose in Pope.
[111] [above] F1 Q F2. about F3 F4.
year or] year and F4. years and Rowe.
[114, 115] ['Tis much] ... bed] As prose in Pope.
[120] [In] On Capell. your] you Q.
[124] [dreams] dream Rowe.
[126] [Scene vi.] Pope.
[Enter ...] Ff. Enter another servant. Capell.
[129] [too much] so much Rowe.
[134] [Marry] ... Is not] Capell (play't). Marrie I will let them play, it is not F1 Q F2. Marry I will, let them play, it is not F3. Marry I will, let them play, is it not F4.
[comonty] commodity? Pope, from (Q).
[134-140] [Marry] ... younger] Capell prints as six lines of verse.
[135] [gambold] Ff Q. gambol Pope.
[140] [and] ... younger] We shall ne'er be younger, and let the world slide Collier (Collier MS.), reading 139, 140 as rhyme.
[Seating] her for the Play. Capell. They sit down. Malone.
[Flourish.] Ff Q. om. Capell.