15 [For] so I have strew’d it in the common ear,
And so it is received. Now, pious sir,
You will demand of me why I do this?
Fri. T. Gladly, my lord.
Duke. We have strict statutes and most biting laws,
20 The needful bits and curbs [to] headstrong [weeds],
Which for [this fourteen] years we have let [slip];
Even like an o’ergrown lion in a cave,
That goes not out to prey. Now, as fond fathers,
Having bound up the threatening twigs of birch,