Lord. Madam, and nothing elfe; fo lords call ladies.

Sly. • Madam wife, they fay, that I have dream'd, and flept

Above fome fifteen years and more.

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

Sly. 'Tis much ;--Servants, leave me and her alone.

Madam, undrefs you, and come now to bed.
Lady. Thrice noble lord, let me intreat of you,
To pardon me yet for a night or two;
Or, if not fo, until the fun be fet:
For your phyficians have exprefsly charg'd,
In peril to incur your former malady,
That I fhould yet abfent me from your bed:
I hope, this reafon ftands for my excufe.

Sly. Ay, it ftands fo, that I may hardly tarry fo long. But I would be loth to fall into my dreams again; I will therefore tarry, in defpight of the flesh and the blood,

Enter a Meffenger,

Meff. Your honour's players, hearing your antend

ment,

Are come to play a pleafant comedy,
For fo your doctors hold it very meet;
Seeing too much fadness hath congeal'd your blood,
And melancholy is the nurfe 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.

Mr. Pope made likewife the following addition to this speech from the elder play.

"Sly. Come, fit down on my knee. Sim, drink to her." Ma dam, &c. STEEVENS.

9-come now to bed.] Here Mr. Pope adds again.-Sim, drink to her. STEEVENS.

Sly, Marry, I will; let them play it: Is not a commonty a Christmas gambol, or a tumbling trick' ?

Lady. No, my good lard; it is more pleasing 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 shall ne'er be

younger.

ACT I. SCENE I.

A Street in Padua.

Flourish. Enter Lucentio, and his man Tranio.

Luc, Tranio, fince-for the great defire I had
To fee 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,
Moft trufty fervant, well approv'd in all ;
Here let us breathe, and happily inftitute
A course of learning, and ' ingenious studies.

3

Pifa

Is not a commonty a Christmas gambol, or a tumbling trick?] Thus the old copies; the modern ones read, It is not a commodity, &c. Commonty for comedy, &c. STEEVENS.

In the old play (fee p. 403.) the players themselves use the word commodity corruptly for a comedy. BLACKSTONE. -from fruitful Lombardy,] So, Mr. Theobald. The former editions, instead of from had for. JOHNSON.

Z

Padua is a city of Lombardy, therefore Mr. Theobald's emendation is unneceffary. STEEVENS.

3-ingenious] I rather think it was written ingenuous ftudies, but of this and a thousand fuch obfervations there is little certainty. JOHNSON.

Pifa, renowned for grave citizens +,
Gave me my being, and my father firft,
A merchant of great traffick through the world,
Vincentio, come of the Bentivolii.
Vincentio his fon, brought up in Florence,
It fhall 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
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.

6

Tra. Me pardonato, gentle mafter mine, I am in all affected as yourself;

In Coles's Dictionary 1677, it is remarked" ingenuous and ingenious are too often confounded." Thus in The Match at Midnight, by Rowley, 1633:

Methinks he dwells in my opinion: a right ingenious fpirit, veil'd merely with the variety of youth, and wildness. Again, in The Bird in a Cage, 1633:

"deal ingeniously, fweet lady. EDITOR. 4 Pifa renowned for grave citizens,] This paffage, I think, fhould be read and pointed thus:

Pifa, renowned for grave citizens

Gave me my being, and my father firft,

A merchant of great traffick through the world,
Vincentio, come of the Bentivolii.

In the next line, which should begin a new fentence, Vincentio his fon, is the fame as Vincentio's fon, which the author of the Revir Jal not apprehending, has proposed to alter Vincentio into Lucentio. It may be added, that Shakspeare in other places expreffes the genitive cafe in the fame improper manner. See Troilus and Creda, act ii. fc. 1: Mars his ideot." And Twelfth Night, act iii. fc. 3: "The Count his gallies. TYRWHITT.

Virtue, and that part of philofophy] Sir Thomas Hanmer, and after him Dr. Warburton, read to virtue; but formerly ply and apply were indifferently ufed, as to ply or apply his ftudies.

JOHNSON,

7 Me pardonato] We should read, Mi pardonate. STEEVENS. Ff4 Glad

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 difcipline,
Let's be no ftoicks, nor no stocks, I pray;
Or fo devote to Ariftotle's checks 7,
As Ovid be an outcast 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, fir, ftudy what you moft affect.

Luc. Gramercies, Tranio, well doft 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 fhow to welcome us to town.

Enter Baptifta, with Katharina and Bianca. Gremio and Hortenfio. Lucentio and Tranio ftand by.

Bap. Gentlemen, importune me no farther,
For how I firmly am refolv'd you know;
That is, not to Leftow my youngest daughter,
Before I have a husband for the elder:
If either of you both love Katharina,

—Ariftotle's checks,] are, I suppose, the harsh rules of Arif totle. STEEVENS.

Tranio is here defcanting on academical learning, and mentions by name fix of the feven liberal fciences. I fufpect this to be a mif-print, made by fome copyift or compofitor, for ethicks. The fenfe confirms it. BLACKSTONE.

Talk Lick] The cld copies read--Balke logick &c.

Because I know you well, and love you well,
Leave fhall you have to court her at your pleasure.
Gre. To cart her rather: She's too rough for me;
There, there, Hortenfio, will you any wife?
Kath. I pray you, fir, is it your will
To make a ftale of me amongst these mates?
Hor. Mates, maid! how mean you that? no mates
for you,

Unless you were of gentler, milder mould.

Kath. I'faith, fir, you fhall never need to fear;
I-wis, it is not half way to her heart:
But, if it were, doubt not, her care fhall be
To comb your noddle with a three legg'd ftool,
And paint your face, and ufe you like a fool.

Hor. From all fuch devils, good Lord, deliver us!
Gre. And me too, good Lord!

Tra. Hush, mafter! here is fome good pastime

toward;

That wench is stark mad, or wonderful froward.
Luc. But in the other's filence I do fee

Maid's mild behaviour and fobriety.

Peace, Tranio.

Tra. Well faid, mafter; mum! and gaze your fill.

Bap. Gentlemen, that I may foon make good
What I have faid-Bianca, get you
in :
And let it not difpleafe thee, good Bianca;
For I will love thee ne'er the lefs, my girl.
Kath. A pretty peat'! 'tis beft
Put finger in the eye,-an fhe knew why.

Bian.

A pretty peat!] Peat or pet is a word of endearment from petit, little, as if it meant pretty little thing. JOHNSON.

This word is ufed in the old play of King Leir (not Shakfpeare's):

"Gon. I marvel, Ragan, how you can endure

"To fee that proud, pert peat, our youngest fifter, &c." Again, in Coridon's Song, by Tho. Lodge; publifhed in England's Helicon, 1614:

"And