And at that fight fhall fad Apollo weep:
So workmanly the blood and tears are drawn.
Lord. Thou art a Lord, and nothing but a Lord:
Thou haft a lady far more beautiful

Than any woman in this waining age.

1 Men. And 'till the tears, that he hath fhed for thee,

Like envious floods, o'er-ran her lovely face,
She was the faireft creature in the world,
And yet fhe is inferior to none.

Sly. Am I a Lord, and have I fuch a Lady?
Or do I dream? or have I dreamt 'till now?
I do not fleep; I fee, I hear, I speak;
I fmell fweet favours, and I feel foft things:
Upon my life, I am a Lord, indeed;
And not a Tinker, nor Christophero Sly.
Well, bring our Lady hither to our fight,
And once again, a pot o'th' fmalleft ale.

2 Man. Wilt please your Mightiness to wash your hands?

Oh, how we joy to fee your wits restor❜d!
Oh, that once more you knew but what you are!
These fifteen years you have been in a dream,
Or, when you wak'd, fo wak'd as if you flept.

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

1 Man. Oh, yes, my Lord, but very idle words. For tho' you lay here in this goodly chamber, Yet would you fay, ye were beaten out of door, And rail'd upon the Hoftefs of the house; And fay, you would prefent her at the Leet, Bécause the bought ftone-jugs, and not feal'd quarts; Sometimes, you would call out for Cicely Hacket. Sly. Ay, the woman's maid of the house.

*

3 Man. Why, Sir, you know no houfe; nor no fuch maid;

Nor no fuch men, as you have reckon❜d up;

4

Leet,] At the Court leets or courts of the manor.

As

As Stephen Sly, and old John Naps of Greece,
And Peter Turf, and Henry Pimpernell,

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

Sly. Now Lord be thanked for my good amends! All. Amen.

Sly. By th'Mafs, I think I am a Lord indeed. What is thy name?

put

Man. Sim, an't pleafe your Honour.

Sly. Sim? that's as much as to fay, Simeon or Simon; forth thy hand and fill the pot.

The fervant gives him drink.]

I thank thee; thou shalt not lose by it.
Lady. How fares my noble Lord?

Sly. Marry, I fare well, for here is cheer enough. Where's my wife?

Lady. Here noble Lord, what is thy will with her? Sly. Are you my wife, and will not call me hufband?

My men fhould call me Lord, I am your good man. Lady. My husband and my Lord, my Lord and husband;

I am your wife in all obedience.

.

Sly. I know it well: what muft I call her?

Lord. Madam.

Sly. Alce madam, or Joan madam ?

Lord. Madam, and nothing elfe, fo Lords call La

[dies. Sly. Come, fit down on my knee. Sim, drink to her. Madam wife, they fay, that I have dream'd, and slept above some fifteen years and more.

Lady. Ay, and the time feems thirty unto me, Being all this time abandon'd from bed.

your

Sly.

Sly. 'Tis much.--Servants, leave me and her alone. Madam, undrefs you, and come now to bed.-Sim, drink to her.

Lady. Thrice noble Lord, let me entreat of you,
To pardon me yet for a night or two.
Or, if not fo, until the fun be set;

For your Physicians have exprefly charg'd,
In peril to incur your former malady,
That I fhould yet absent me from your bed.
I hope, this reason ftands for my excufe.

Sly. Ay, it ftands fo, that I may hardly tarry fo long; but I would be loath to fall into my dream again I will therefore tarry in despight of the flesh and the blood.

SCENE VI.

Enter a Messenger.

Mell. Your Honour's Players, hearing your amendment,

Are come to play a pleasant comedy;
For fo your Doctors hold it very meet,

Seeing too much fadnefs 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; is it not a Commodity? a Christmas gambol, or a tumbling trick? Lady. No, my good Lord, it is more pleafing stuff. Sly. What, houfhold stuff?

Lady. It is a kind of history.

Sly. Well, we'll fee't: come, Madam wife, fit by my fide, and let the world flip, we fhall ne'er be younger.

THE

T

A Street in PADU A.

Flourish. Enter Lucentio and Tranio.

LUCENTI O.

RANIO, fince for the great defire I had
To fee fair Padua, nuriery of arts,

I am arriv'd from 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 :
Moft trufty fervant, well approv'd in all,
Here let us breathe, and haply institute
A course of learning, and ingenious studies.
Pifa, renowned for grave citizens,

Gave me my Being: and my father first,

A merchant of great traffick through the world:
Vincentio's come of the Bentivoli,

- from fruitful Lombardy.] So Mr. Theobald. The former editions, instead of from, had for. -ingenious.] I rather

think it was written ingenuous ftudies, but of this and a thoufand fuch obfervations there is little certainty.

Lucentio

Lucentio his fon, brought up in Florence,
It shall become, to ferve all hopes conceiv'd,
To deck his fortune with his virtuous deeds:
And therefore, Tranio, for the time I ftudy,
Virtue and that part of philofophy 2
Will I apply, that treats of happiness
By virtue fpecially to be atchiev'd.
Tell me thy mind, for I have Pifa left,
And am to Padua come, as he that leaves
A fhallow plash to plunge him in the deep,
And with fatiety feeks to quench his thirst.
Tra. Me pardonato, gentle mafter mine,
I am in all affected as yourself:

Glad, that you thus continue your refolve,
To fuck the fweets of fweet philofophy:
Only, good mafter, while we do admire
This virtue, and this moral discipline,
Let's be no Stoicks, nor no stocks, I pray;
Or, fo devote to Ariftotle's checks,
As Ovid be an outcaft quite abjur❜d.

Talk Logick with acquaintance that you have,-
And practice Rhetorick in your common talk;
Mufick and Poefy ufe to quicken you;
The Mathematicks, and the Metaphyficks,
Fall to them, as you find your ftomach ferves you:
No profit grows, where is no pleasure ta'en:

In brief, Sir, ftudy what you most affect.

Luc. Gramercies, Tranio, well dost thou advise; If, Biondello, thou wert come afhore,

We could at once put us in readiness ;
And take a lodging fit to entertain

Such friends, as time in Padua fhall beget.
But ftay a while, what company is this?

Tra. Mafter, fome fhew to welcome us to town.

2 Sir Thomas Hanmer, and after him Dr. Warburton, read to virtue; but formerly ply and ap

ply were indifferently used, as to ply or apply his ftudies.

SCENE