Lord. Heaven ccafe this idle humour in your ho nour! Oh, that a mighty man, of fuch defcent, Sly. What, would you make me mad? Am not I Chriftopher Sly, old Sly's fon+ of Burton-heath; by birth a pedlar, by education a card-maker, by tranfmutation a bear-herd, and now by prefent profeffion a tinker? Afk Marian Hacket, the fat ale-wife of Wincot, if fhe know me not: if fhe fay I am not fourteen pence on the fcore for fheer-ale, fcore me up for the lying't knave in Chriftendom. What, I am not beftraught: Here's 1 Man. 4 of Burton-heathMarian Hacket, the fat ale-swife of Wincot,] I fufpect we fhould read Barton-heath. Barton and Woodmancot, or, as it is vulgarly pronounced, Woncot, are both of them in Gloucefterfhire, near the refidence of Shakspeare's old enemy, Juftice Shallow. Very probably too, this fat ale-wife might be a real character. STEEVENS. Wilnecotte is a village in Warwickshire, with which Shakspeare was well acquainted, near Stratford. The houfe kept by our genial hoftefs, ftill remains, but is at prefent a mill. The meanest hovel to which Shakspeare has an allufion, interefts curiofity, and acquires an importance: at least, it becomes the object of a poetical antiquarian's inquiries. WARTON. Burton Dorfet, the author of THE REMARKS, fays is a village in Warwickshire. EDITOR. 5 I am not beftraught:] I once thought that if our poct did not defign to put a corrupted word into the mouth of the Tinker, we ought to read, diflraught, i. e. diftracted. So, in Romeo and Juliet: "O, if I wake, fhall I not be diftraught, &c." For there is no verb extant from which the participle beftraught can be formed. In Albion's England, however, by Warner, 1602, I meet with the word as fpelt by Shakspeare: "Now teares had drowned further fpeech, till fhe as one Again, in the old Song, beginning, "When griping griefes, &c." "Be-fraughted heads relyef hath founde." 1 Man. Oh, this it is that makes your lady mourn. 2 Man. Oh, this it is that makes your fervants droop. Lord. Hence comes it that your kindred fhun your houfe, As beaten hence by your ftrange lunacy. [Mufick And twenty caged nightingales do fing; On purpose trim'd up for Semiramis. Say, thou wilt walk; we will beftrew the ground : 1 Man. Say, thou wilt courfe; thy greyhounds are as fwift As breathed ftags, ay, fleeter than the roe. 2 Man. Doft thou love pictures? we will fetch thee ftraight Adonis, painted by a running brook; Lord. We'll fhew thee Io, as fhe was a maid; Again, in Lord Surrey's Tranflation of the 4th book of Virgil's Aneid: "Well near befraught, upstart his heare for dread.” STEEVENS. VOL. III. Ff And And how she was beguiled and furpris'd, 3 Man. Or Daphne, roaming through a thorny wood; 8 Scratching her legs, that one fhall fwear fhe bleeds: 1 Man. And, 'till the tears, that the hath fhed for thee, Like envious floods, o'er-ran her lovely face, Sly. Am I a lord? and have I fuch a lady? And not a tinker, nor Chriftopher Sly.- 2 Man. Will't please your mightiness to wash your hands? Oh, how we joy to fee your wit teftor'd! Sly. Thefe fifteen years! by my fay, a goodly nap. But did I never fpeak of all that time? 1 Man. Oh, yes, my lord: but very idle words:For though you lay here in this goodly chamber, Yet would you fay, ye were beaten out of door; And rail upon the hoftefs of the houfe ; And fay, you would prefent her at the lect, 6 -Leet] As the Court leet, or courts of the manor. JOHNSON Because Because the brought ftone jugs, and no feal'd quarts: Sometimes, you would call out for Cicely Hacket. Sly. Ay, the woman's maid of the house. 3 Man. Why, fir, you know no house, nor no such maid; Nor no fuch men, as you have reckon'd up,- And twenty more fuch names and men as thefe, Sly. Now, Lord be thanked for my good amends! Sly. I thank thee; thou shalt not lose by it. Enter the Page, as a lady, with attendants". Lady. How fares my noble lord? 7 John Naps of Greece,] A hart of Greece was a fat hart. Graife, Fr. So, in the old ballad of Adam Bell, &c. "Eche of them flew a hart of graece." Again, in Ives's Select Papers, at the coronation feaft of Elizabeth of York, queen of king Henry VII, among other dishes were 66 capons of high Greece." Perhaps this expreffion was used to imply that John Naps (who might have been a real character) was a fat man: or as Poins calls the affociates of Falstaff Trojans, John Naps might be called a Grecian for fuch another reafon. STEEVENS. For old John Naps of Greece read, old John Naps o' th' Green. BLACKSTONE. In The London Chanticleers, a comedy, 1659, a ballad entitled "George o' the Green" is mentioned. The addition seems to have been a common one. MALONE. In this place, Mr. Pope, and after him other editors, had introduced the three following speeches, from the old edition, 1607. I have already obferved that it is by no means probable, that the former comedy of the Taming of the Shrew was written by Shak speare, and have therefore removed them from the text. 66 Sly. By the mafs, I think I am a lord indeed: "Man. Sim, an it please your honour. 66 "9 or Simon. Put forth thy hand, and fill the pot." STEEVENS. Ff2 Sly. Marry, I fare well; for here is cheer enough, Lady. Here, noble lord; What is thy will with her? My men fhould call me-lord, I am your good-man. 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 ? 7 Enter the Page, &c.] Thus in the original play. Slie. Sim, is this he? Lord. I, my lord. Slie. Maffe 'tis a pretty wench; what's her name? "Boy: Oh that my lovelie lord would once vouchfate "To looke on me, and leave thefe frantike fits! Or were I now but half fo eloquent To paint in words what Ile perform in deedes, "Slie. Harke you, miftrefle; will you eat a piece of bread ? : "Lord. May it pleafe you, your honour's plaiers be conse "Slie. A plaie, Sim, O brave! be they my plaiers? Stic. Is there not a foole in the plaie ? "Lord: Yes, my lord. "Slie. When will they plaie, Sim? "Lord. Even when it pleafe your honor; they be readie. "Lord. Ile cal them my lord. Ho, where are you there? Enter two young gentlemen, and a man, and a boy." Lord. |