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THE

TAMING OF THE SHREW.

THE earliest copy of this diverting comedy in its present form, yet known, is that of the folio 1623; but in the year 1594 was printed an anonymous play entitled "A Pleasant Conceited Historie, called The taming of a Shrew. As it was sundry times acted by the Right Honorable the Earle of Pembrook his seruants. Printed at London by Peter Short and are to be sold by Cutbert Burbie, at his shop at the Royall Exchange, 1594,"* quarto, which from its remarkable resemblance to the drama acknowledged to be Shakespeare's, may be looked upon almost as a previous edition of the same play. The "Pleasant Conceited Historie," of 1594, has an Induction, the characters of which are, a Noble man, Slie, a Tapster, Page, Players, and Huntsmen. The incidents of this Prelude, and the story, the characters, and the events of the play that follows-with the exception of an underplot taken from George Gascoigne's translation of Ariosto's "Il Suppositi,"-all so closely resemble those in Shakespeare's drama, that one was evidently framed upon the other. This remarkable similarity, both in the titles and the contents of these two productions, has been the occasion of much interesting perquisition. The first impression would naturally be that they were by the same hand, and that the latter, wonderfully improved in the spirit of the dialogue and the ease and flow of the verse, was only a revised edition of the other. This was Pope's conjecture, and he acted upon it by boldly transferring passages from the anonymous play into his edition of Shakespeare. In favour of this supposition are the facts, that the authorship of the early play is still unknown,-the almost identity of the titles, and that Shakespeare's comedy, though undoubtedly written and acted before the beginning of the seventeenth century, was not published, so far as we yet know, before 1623. Another theory, which has been maintained with much ingenuity by Mr. Hickson (see "Notes and Queries," Vol. I, pp. 194, 227, 345), is, that the anonymous comedy was produced after and in direct imitation of Shakespeare's. A third hypothesis gives priority to the "Taming of a Shrew," and supposes that our author adopted it as a popular subject, re-casting and re-writing the whole with as much originality as was compatible with a close adherence to the fundamental incidents of his predecessor. This last assumption is perfectly consonant to the customs of the theatre in those days. Nothing was more common than the reproduction of dramas once in vogue, with alterations and additions; and as a close examination and comparison of the two works prove to us convincingly, that the disputed play was neither written by nor borrowed from Shakespeare, we consider this the most satisfactory explanation of their affinity.

History furnishes us with two or three instances of such a trick as that put upon Christopher Sly in the prelude to this comedy, having been perpetrated for the amusement of some distinguished personage. The story of "The Sleeper Awakened" is one of the kind, and Mr. Lane is of opinion that it is founded on a real historical anecdote. In that story the ruse practised by the Caliph upon his humble victim is only the introduction to an acquaintance, which leads to a series of entertaining adventures, but it is precisely of the same character as that with which the present play is prefaced. Speaking of "The Sleeper Awakened," Mr. Lane says,"The author by whom I have found the chief portion of this tale related as an historical

*This, the earliest edition known, is now in the library of the Duke of Devonshire. It was reprinted in 1596, and a copy of that edition is in the possession of Lord Ellesmere.

The third impression, that of 1607, is with the first, in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire.

anecdote is El-Is-hakee, who finished his history shortly before the close of the reign of the 'Osmanlee Sultan Mustafa, apparently in the year of the Flight 1032 (A. D. 1623). He does not mention his authority; and whether it is related by an older historian I do not know, but perhaps it is founded upon fact." This is not a very decided expression of opinion on Mr. Lane's part, as to the historical character of the incident; but we find its counterpart in chronicles of the Middle Ages much more specifically related. (See Heuterus, De Rebus Burgundicis. Goulart, Thrésor d'histoires admirables et merveilleuses de notre temps.)

There is a kindred story, too, recorded by Sir Richard Barkley in "A Discource on the Felicitie of Man," (1598, p. 24,) who relates it as if he had been an eye-witness, and terms it "a pretie experiment practised by the Emperor Charles the Fifth upon a drunkard." His tale is that the Emperor encountered an unconscious drunkard in the streets of Ghent, had him carried home to his palace, dressed in princely habiliments, served by royal attendants, supplied with the most costly dainties, and surrounded by everything calculated to give him the impression that he was a prince of unlimited wealth and authority. As he thus sat "in his Majestie," eating and drinking, "he tooke to his cups so freelie," that he fell fast asleep again as he sat in his chair. His attendants then stripped him of his fresh apparel, clothed him with his own rags again, and carried him to the place where he was first found. When he awoke and joined his companions, he narrated the particulars of his adventure in the palace as the subject of a pleasant dream.

The more immediate source, however, whence the incident of the Induction was taken, is probably an anecdote in an old collection of many tales compiled by Richard Edwards, printed as carly as 1570, which will be found in the Illustrative Comments at the end of the play.

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SCENE,-sometimes in PADUA; and sometimes in PETRUCHIO's House in the Country.

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a Enter Hostess and Sly.] In the old play of "The Taming of a Shrew," we have "Enter a Tapster, beating out of his doores Slie droonker."

b I'll pheeze you,-] This phrase has been much discussed, but never satisfactorily explained. It was equivalent exactly to our figurative saying, I'll tickle you, and had a meaning, amorous or villainous, according to the circumstances under which it was uttered; thus Ricardo, in Beaumont and Fletcher's play of "The Coxcomb," Act I. Sc. 6,

"Marry, sweet love, e'en here: lie down; [Seizes her. I'll feese you."

And Ajax, in "Troilus and Cressida," Act II. Sc. 3,

"An a be proud with me, I'll pheeze his pride."

e Paucas pallabris ;] Pocas palabras-few words, a phrase of Spain, much in vogue here in the time of Shakespeare. Sessa or cessa, be quiet, was probably another scrap from Sly's Spanish Vocabulary.

Conqueror therefore, paucas pallabris; let the world slide: Sessa!

d

HOST. You will not pay for the glasses you have burst?

SLY. No, not a denier: go by, S. Jeronimy-go to thy cold bed, and warm thee.

d Let the world slide:] An old proverbial saying :--will you go drink,

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And let the world slide, Uncle?" BEAUMONT and FLETCHER'S Wit Without Money, Act V. Sc. 2. e Go by, S. Jeronimy-] Mason suggested that the troublesome S was only the beginning of says, which the printers omitted to complete. This is not unlikely; or it may have been repeated inadvertently from the initial of Sly's name. The Go by, Jeronimy, is plainly an allusion to the old play called "The Spanish Tragedy," and the line,

"Not I:-Hieronimo, beware! go by, go by."

f Go to thy cold bed, and warm thee.] Edgar, in "King Lear," uses the same expression,

"Humph: go to thy cold bed and warm thee."

Act III. Sc. 4.

INDUCTION.]

fetch the go HOST. I know my remedy, I must [Exit. 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.

[Lies down on the ground, and falls asleep.

Wind horns. Enter a Lord from hunting, with his Train.

LORD. Huntsman, I charge thee, tender well my hounds:

Brach Merriman,-the poor cur is emboss'd;"
And couple Clowder with the deep-mouth'd brach.
Saw'st thou not, boy, how Silver made it good
At the hedge corner, in the coldest fault?
I would not lose the dog for twenty pound.

1 HUN. Why, Belman is as good as he, my lord;
He cried upon it at the merest loss,
And twice to-day pick'd out the dullest scent:
Trust me, I take him for the better dog.

LORD. Thou art a fool; if Echo were as fleet, I would esteem him worth a dozen such.

But
sup them well, and look unto them all;
To-morrow I intend to hunt again.

1 HUN. I will, my lord.

LORD. What's here? one dead, or drunk? see, doth he breathe?

2 HUN. He breathes, my lord: were he not warm'd with ale,

This were a bed but cold to sleep so soundly. LORD. O monstrous beast! how like a swine he

lies!

Grim death, how foul and loathsome is thine image!
Sirs, I will practise on this drunken man.
What think if he were convey'd to bed,
you,
Wrapp'd in sweet clothes, rings put upon his

fingers,

A most delicious banquet by his bed,
And brave attendants near him when he wakes,
Would not the beggar then forget himself?

1 HUN. Believe me, lord, I think he cannot
choose.

2 HUN. It would seem strange unto him when he wak'd.

LORD. Even as a flattering dream, or worthless
fancy.

Then take him up, and manage well the jest :-
Carry him gently to my fairest chamber,
And hang it round with all my wanton pictures:
Balm his foul head in warm distilled waters,

(*) Old copy, headborough.

a Brach Merriman,-the poor cur is emboss'd;] There is a difficulty here. "A brach is a mannerly-name for all houndbitches," says an old book on sports; and Merriman could hardly be the name given to the female animal. Hanmer, therefore, proposed to read Leech Merriman; and Johnson, Bathe Merriman. Emboss'd is a term in hunting, applied to a deer or dog who foams at the mouth.

And burn sweet wood to make the lodging sweet :
Procure me music ready when he wakes,
To make a dulcet and a heavenly sound;
And if he chance to speak, be ready straight,
And, with a low submissive reverence,
Say,-What is it your honour will command?
Let one attend him with a silver bason,
Full of rose-water, and bestrew'd with flowers;
Another bear the ewer, the third a diaper,
And say,-Will 't please your lordship cool your
hands?

Some one be ready with a costly suit,
And ask him what apparel he will wear;
Another tell him of his hounds and horse,
And that his lady mourns at his disease:
Persuade him that he hath been lunatic;
And, when he says he is-," say, that he dreams,
For he is nothing but a mighty lord.
This do, and do it kindly, gentle sirs ;
It will be pastime passing excellent,
If it be husbanded with modesty."

1 HUN. My lord, I warrant you, we'll play our
part,

As he shall think, by our true diligence,
He is no less than what we say he is.

LORD. Take him up gently and to bed with him; And each one to his office, when he wakes.

[Some bear out SLY. A trumpet sounds. Sirrah, go see what trumpet 't is that sounds: [Exit Servant.

Belike, some noble gentleman, that means,
Travelling some journey, to repose him here.

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I have forgot your name; but, sure, that part
Was aptly fitted, and naturally perform'd.

1 PLAY. I think, 't was Soto that your honour

means.a

LORD. "T is very true;-thou didst it excellent.— Well, you are come to me in happy time; The rather for I have some sport in hand, Wherein your cunning can assist me much. There is a lord will hear you play to-night: But I am doubtful of your modesties; Lest, over-eyeing of his odd behaviour, (For yet his honour never heard a play,) You break into some merry passion, And so offend him; for I tell you, sirs, If you should smile, he grows impatient.

1 PLAY. Fear not, my lord; we can contain ourselves,

Were he the veriest antic in the world.

LORD. Go, sirrah, take them to the buttery,
And give them friendly welcome every one:
Let them want nothing that my house affords.-
[Exeunt Servant and Players.
Sirrah, go you to Bartholomew, my page,
[To a Servant.
And see him dress'd in all suits like a lady:
That done, conduct him to the drunkard's chamber,
And call him-madam, do him obeisance.
Tell him from me, as he will win my love,
He bear himself with honourable action,
Such as he hath observ'd in noble ladies
Unto their lords, by them accomplished:
Such duty to the drunkard let him do,
With soft low tongue, and lowly courtesy ;
And say,-What is 't your honour will command,
Wherein your lady, and your humble wife,
May show her duty, and make known her love?
And then, with kind embracements, tempting
kisses,

And with declining head into his bosom,—
Bid him shed tears, as being overjoy'd
To see her noble lord restor❜d to health,
Who, for this seven years, hath esteemed him
No better than a poor and loathsome beggar:
And if the boy have not a woman's gift,
To rain a shower of commanded tears,
An onion will do well for such a shift;
Which in a napkin being close conveyed,
Shall in despite enforce a watery eye.

c

a I think, 't was Soto that your honour means.] The folio, 1623, prefixes the name of Sinclo to this line. Sinclo was an actor of minor parts in Shakespeare's fellowship of players; and this allusion to his excellence in Soto must have been flattering to him, and was no doubt pleasant to the audience. He is introduced by name again, in the "Second Part of Henry IV," and "Part Three of Henry VI." b Hath esteemed him-] Him, here, is used for himself. e Close conveyed,-] By stealth conveyed.

d Sly is discovered-] The stage direction in the folio is, "Enter aloft the drunkard with attendants, some with apparel, bason and ewer, and other appurtenances, and Lord;" by which it is to be understood that Sly, and those concerned in the induction, were placed in a balcony, at the back of the stage. the play being represented on the stage before them. This practice is reversed in the

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O, that a mighty man of such descent,
Of such possessions, and so high esteem,
Should be infused with so foul a spirit!

SLY. What would you make me mad? Am not I Christopher Sly, old Sly's son, of Burtonheath; by birth a pedlar, by education a cardmaker, by transmutation a bear-herd, and now by present profession a tinker? Ask Marian Hacket, the fat ale-wife of Wincot, if she know me not: if she say I am not fourteen pence on the score for sheer ale, score me up for the lyingest knave

e

present day; the play within a play, as in Hamlet, being always exhibited on a temporary stage, behind the permanent one, on which the performers enact the main drama.

e Of Wincot,-] By Wincot the pot no doubt meant Wilnecote, commonly called Wincot, a village near Stratford; and the fat hostess was probably a real personage equally well-known to him. It is supposed, too, that the Burton-heath Sly speaks of just before, was Barton-on-the-Heath, in Warwickshire.

f Sheer ale,-] That is, pure, unmixed ale; as our brewers say, "Entire beer." In Beaumont and Fletcher's play of "The Double Marriage," Act V. Sc. 1, Castruccio is permitted to drink but wine and water; and he asks indignantly,—

"Shall I have no sheer wine then?"

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