Characters in the Induction. A Hostess. Lord, before whom the Play is suppos'd to be play'd. Page, Players, Huntsmen, and other Servants attending on the Lord. : Dramatis Perfonæ. Baptista, Father to Catharina and Bianca; very rich. Vincentio, an old Gentleman of Pisa. Lucentio, Son to Vincentio, in love with Bianca. Petruchio, a Gentleman of Verona, a Suitor to Catharina. Grumio, Servant to Petruchio. Pedant, an old fellow set up to perfonate Vincentio. Taylor, Haberdashers; with Servants attending on SCENE, fometimes in Padua; and Sometimes in Petruchio's House in the Country. THE THE TAMING of the SHREW. I INDUCTION SCENE I. Before an Alehouse on a Heath. Enter Hostess and Sly... SLY. 'LL pheese you', in faith. Hoft. A pair of stocks, you rogue! Sly. Y'are a baggage; the Slies are no * rogues. Look in the Chronicles, we came in with Richard Conqueror; therefore, paucus pallabris 2; let the world lide: Seffa. Hoft. You will not pay for the glasses you have burst? thy cold bed, and warm thee3. go to Hoft. I know my remedy; I must go fetch the Thirdborough+. Sly. Third, or fourth, or fifth borough, I'll answer him by law; I'll not budge an inch, boy; let him come, and kindly. [Falls asleep. 3 Go by S. Jeronimy, go to thy cold Bed, and warm thee.] All the Editions have coined a Saint here, for Sly to swear by. But the Poet had no such Intentions. The Passage has particular Humour in it, and must have been very pleasing at that time of day. But I must clear up a Piece of Stage history, to make it understood. There is a fustian old Play, call'd, Hieronymo, Or, The Spanish Tragedy: which, I find, was the common Butt of Rallery to all the Poets of Shake Speare's Time: and a Passage, that fappear'd very ridiculous in that Play, is here humorously alluded to. Hieronymo, thinking himself injur'd, applies to the King for Justice; but the Courtiers, who did not defire his Wrongs should be set in a true Light, attempt to hinder him from an Audience. Hiero. Justice, ob! justice to Hiero. Not I: - - Hieronymo, beware; go by, go by. So Sly here, not caring to be dun'd by the Hostess, cries to her in Effect. "Don't be trouble " som, don't interrupt me, go, - I must go fetch the Head borough. Sly. Third, or fourth, or fifth Borough, &c. ) This corropt reading had pass'd down through all the Copies, and none of the Editors pretended to guess at the Poet's Conceit. What an infipid, unmeaning Reply does Sly make to his Hostess? How do third, or fourth, or fifth Borough relate to Headborough? The Author intended but a poor Witticism, and even That is lost. The Hostess would say, that she'll fetch a Constable and this Officer she calls by his other Name, a Thirdborough: and upon this Term Sly founds the Conundrum in his Answer to her. Who does not perceive, at a single glance, fome Conceit started by this certain Correction? There is an Attempt at Wit, tolerable enough for a Tinker, and one drunk too. Third-borough is a Saxon-Term sufficiently explain'd by the Gloffaries: and in our Statute books, no farther back' than the 28th Year of Henry VIIIth, we find it used to fignify a Constable. THEOBALD. SCENE J |