The Taming of the Shrew | Page 6

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 SERVANT. 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 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. Al'ce 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 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 charg'd, 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.
[Enter a SERVANT.]
SERVANT. 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 commonty 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.
[Flourish.]

ACT I.
SCENE I. Padua. A public place.
[Enter LUCENTIO and TRANIO.]
LUCENTIO. 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, My 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.
TRANIO. Mi perdonato, 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 checks 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