’Twas where you woo’d the gentlewoman so well:
I have forgotten your name, but sure, that part
Was aptly fitted and naturally performed.
PLAYERS.
I think ’twas Soto that your honour means.
LORD.
’Tis very true: thou did’st it excellent.
After having copied out the above passage, which was quite a bonne bouche for my theory, that Shakespeare on all occasions that offered themselves, introduced theatrical affairs into his plays, it came as rather a disappointment to find, on consulting the old drama of “The Taming of a Shrew,” the same scene slightly differently treated.
This old play was the one on which Shakespeare founded his own comedy of “The Taming of the Shrew.” The scene in which the players are introduced is called The Induction, and is founded on an episode in the life of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, which is related in a Latin work by Heuterus, 1584, called De Rebus Burgundias. The story relates how the Duke, suddenly stumbling upon a drunken fellow lying in the road, has him conveyed to his palace, attires him like a lord, and when he wakes, the Duke and his followers keep the game up. The players present a comedy before him, and when he falls asleep he is again placed outside the ale house, and, on waking again, tells the host that he has had the grandest dream of his life, and if his wife vexes him he knows how to tame her. Strange to say, plays are mentioned in this Latin chronicle in which, to amuse the mock lord, the same incident is used in both English plays to entertain the so-called lord. I possess a late English book called Admirable Events. The fifth event relates the same adventures under the heading of “The Waking Man’s Dream.” It is believed that an early edition of this book was in circulation before Shakespeare’s time, but is now lost.
I have printed the players scene on account of its theatrical interest. It will be noted that the unusual word properties is used, also that the Duke is patron of a company of actors. The entire scene has an air of being taken straight from life. It was quite a common custom for actors to travel in the country or, as we should say, to go on tour. The company must have been a fairly large one, as several characters are introduced in the real play.