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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.

2 Serv. Will't please your mightiness to wash your hands?
[Servants present a ewer, basin, and napkin.

O, how we joy to see your wit restor❜d !

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

1 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 doors;
And rail upon the hostess of the house;
And say, you would present her at the leet,12
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.

3 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,13
And Peter Turf, and Henry Pimpernell ;

And twenty more such names and men as these,
Which never were, nor no man ever saw.

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, with Attendants.

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 goodman.

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. Alice madam, or Joan madam?

Lord. Madam, and nothing else; so lords call ladies.
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 side.'
Sly. 'Tis much.-Servants, leave me and her alone.-
Page. Thrice noble lord, let me entreat of you—
For your physicians have expressly charg'd,
In peril to incur your former malady,
That I should yet absent me from your
I hope this reason stands for my excuse.

'chamber:'

Sly. Ay, I would be loth to fall into my dreams again. I will therefore tarry.

Enter a Servant.

Serv. 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 it not a commonty, a Christmas gambol, 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.

[They sit down.

[graphic][subsumed][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Enter LUCENTIO and TRANIO.

Luc. Tranio, since, for the great desire I had
To see fair Padua, nursery of arts,
I am arriv'd for fruitful Lombardy,
The pleasant garden of great Italy;
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 traffic through the world,
Vincentio, come of the Bentivolii.

Vincentio's son, brought up in Florence,
It shall become, to serve all hopes conceiv'd,
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 achiev❜d.

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
This virtue and this moral discipline,
Let's be no Stoics, nor no stocks, I pray;
Or so devote to Aristotle's ethics,1
As Ovid be an outcast quite abjur'd:
Balk logic with acquaintance that you have,
And practise rhetoric in your common talk:
Music and poesy use 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 advise.

If Biondello now were 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.

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