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 you, if he were convey'd to bed,
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 with warm distilled waters,
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:

7 And, when he says he is, say, that he dreams,] The lord leaves something here to be understood. Sir Thomas Hanmer would insert poor, and Johnson Sly, although the lord could not know the name of the beggar; but no change is necessary. There is no dash after "is" in the folios, and it will be observed that the line is syllabically complete without any addition. The corr. fo. 1632 puts it thus: "When he says what he is, say that he dreams;" but though it may make the matter quite evident, it seems to do needless wrong to the old text.

It will be pastime passing excellent,

If it be husbanded with modesty.

1 Hun. My lord, I warrant you, we will 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.—

[SLY is borne out. A trumpet sounds.

Sirrah, go see what trumpet 'tis that sounds :

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

How now? who is it?

Serv.

Re-enter Servant.

[Exit Servant.

An it please your honour,

Players that offer service to your lordship".

Lord. Bid them come near.

Enter Players'.

Now, fellows, you are welcome.

Players. We thank your honour.

Lord. Do you intend to stay with me to-night? 2 Play. So please your lordship to accept our duty. Lord. With all my heart.-This fellow I remember, Since once he play'd a farmer's eldest son :'Twas where you woo'd the gentlewoman so well. I have forgot your name; but, sure, that part

Was aptly fitted, and naturally perform'd.

1 Play. I think, 'twas Soto that your honour means '.

Players that offer service to your lordship.] In the corr. fo. 1632 the regulation is this, making it necessary to introduce the word humble into the last line: "How now? who is't?

Serv.

An't please your honour, players
That offer humble service to your lordship."

The old arrangement of the verse may very well stand without humble.

9 Enter Players.]

66

Enter five or six Players," says the amended stage-direction in the corr. fo. 1632, showing the number usually employed.

1 I think, 'twas Soto that your honour means.] This line is given to Sincklo in the first folio as well as in the 4to. from which it was printed: and as there was an actor of that name in Shakespeare's Company, he was most likely the person who played the character. He is introduced again in Henry IV." pt. 2, in "Henry VI." pt. 3, &c. It has been supposed by Theobald, that the reference was to Soto in Beaumont and Fletcher's "Woman Pleased;" but as

Lord. 'Tis 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 antick 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.
[To a Servant.

Sirrah, go you to Bartholmew my page,
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 restored 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 convey'd,

Tyrwhitt remarks, the circumstance of "wooing the gentlewoman so well" does not tally with the story of that play. Probably a character called Soto figured in some other play of the time, now lost.

Shall in despite enforce a watery eye.

See this despatch'd with all the haste thou canst :
Anon I'll give thee more instructions.

I know, the boy will well usurp the grace,
Voice, gait, and action of a gentlewoman:

I long to hear him call the drunkard husband,

[Exit Servant.

And how my men will stay themselves from laughter,
When they do homage to this simple peasant.
I'll in to counsel them: haply, my presence
May well abate their over-merry spleen',
Which otherwise would grow into extremes.

SCENE II.

A Bedchamber in the Lord's House.

[Exeunt.

SLY is discovered, with attendants; some with apparel, others with bason, ewer, and appurtenances. Enter LORD, dressed like a Servant.

Sly. For God's sake, a pot of small ale.

1 Serv. Will't please your lordship drink a cup of sack? 2 Serv. Will't please your honour taste of these conserves? 3 Serv. What raiment will your honour wear to-day?

Sly. I am Christophero Sly; call not me honour, nor lordship: I ne'er drank sack in my life; and if you give me any conserves, give me conserves of beef. Ne'er ask me what raiment I'll wear, for I have no more doublets than backs, no more stockings than legs, nor no more shoes than feet; nay, sometime, more feet than shoes, or such shoes as my toes look through the overleather.

2 May well abate THEIR Over-merry spleen,] So the corr. fo. 1632: no doubt "their" was spelt y' in the old MS., and misread the by the printer. The folio, as might be expected, follows the 4to.

3 Sly is discovered,] The old stage-direction is, "Enter aloft the drunkard with attendants," &c.; the meaning of which is, that Sly and those about him were represented in a balcony at the back of the stage, whence they were to witness the performance of the actors. Such appears to have been invariably the case, when a play within a play was represented in our old theatres; directly the reverse of our modern practice, where the play within a play is exhibited on a raised platform at the back of the stage, and the actors in the main play are in front. In the prefixes of the old editions Sly is always called Beg. i.e. Beggar. 4 I NE'ER drank sack in my life;] So the old copies 4to. and folio; as afterwards "Ne'er ask me," &c. This is consistent, and there is no reason against it; though modern editions usually have "never" in one instance, and "ne'er" in the other.

Lord. Heaven cease this idle humour' in your honour!
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 Burton-heath; by birth a pedlar, by education a card-maker, by transmutation a bear-herd, and now by present profession a tinker? Ask Marian Hacket, the fat alewife 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 in Christendom. What! I am not bestraught. Here's

1 Serv. O! this it is that makes your lady mourn.

2 Serv. O! this it is that makes your servants droop. Lord. Hence comes it that your kindred shun your house, As beaten hence by your strange lunacy.

O noble lord! bethink thee of thy birth;

Call home thy ancient thoughts from banishment,

And banish hence these abject lowly dreams.

Look how thy servants do attend on thee,

Each in his office ready at thy beck:

5

this IDLE humour] This epithet may very properly be retained, although the corr. fo. 1632, using, perhaps, the word not unnaturally substituted by some performer of the part of the Lord, inserts evil for "idle."

6

old Sly's son, of BURTON-HEATH;] Perhaps, as Malone suggests, we ought to read Barton-on-the-heath, a village in Warwickshire.

7 Ask Marian Hacket, the fat alewife of Wincot,] Doubtless, Marian Hacket was living and well known at Wincot, about four miles from Stratford-upon-Avon, at the time this play was written. Afterwards Cicely Hacket is spoken of by one of the servants. For "sheer ale," mentioned just below, we are told in the corr. fo. 1632 to read "Warwickshire ale," on the supposition that Warwick had dropped out at the end of one line, or at the beginning of another in the folios 1623 and 1632. This notion is discountenanced in the 4to. edition of this comedy, for there "sheere ale," as it is spelt, comes near the middle of a line; and as "sheer wine" occurs in Beaumont and Fletcher's "Double Marriage," A. v. sc. 1, as contradistinguished from wine and water, and as "sheer ale" is sufficiently intelligible, meaning nothing but ale, or pure ale, we do not feel warranted in making the change. It is not unlikely that "sheer ale," not being well understood by some comedian in the part of Sly, he was in the habit of altering the text to "Warwickshire ale," and hence the emendation in the corr. fo. 1632.

8 What! I am not BESTRAUGHT.] "Bestraught" is used by Lord Surrey, Warner, and other good writers, as synonymous with distraught, or distracted. We also meet with it in the very rare romance of "Narbonus," by Austin Saker, 1580, 4to: “Now, if the olde souldyours were thus afflicted, and the auncient captaynes so tormented, Narbonus was also bestraught and incensed."

O! this IT IS] The folio, 1623, inverts "it is;" but most likely it was meant that one servant should follow the form of expression used by the other. The folio adopted the error from the 4to.

VOL. II.

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