Lord. Hence comes it, that your kindred fhun your

houfe,

As beaten hence by your ftrange lunacy.

Oh, noble Lord, bethink thee of thy birth,
Call home thy ancient thoughts from banishment,
And banish hence these abject lowly dreams.
Look, how thy fervants do attend on thee;
Each in his office ready at thy beck.

Wilt thou have mufic? hark, Apollo plays; [Mufic.
And twenty caged nightingales do fing.

Or wilt thou fleep? we'll have thee to a couch,
Softer and fweeter than the luftful bed
On purpose trimm'd up for Semiramis.

Say, thou wilt walk, we will beftrow the ground:
Or wilt thou ride? thy horfes fhall be trapp'd,
Their harness ftudded all with gold and pearl.
Doft thou love hawking? thou haft hawks, will foar
Above the morning lark. Or wilt thou hunt?
Thy hounds fhall make the welkin anfwer them,
And fetch fhrill echoes from the hollow earth.

1 Man. Say, thou wilt courfe, thy greyhounds are as fwift

As breathed flags; ay, fleeter than the roe.

2 Man. Doft thou love pictures? we will fetch thee Adonis, painted by a running brook ; [ftraight And Citherea all in fedges hid;

Which feem to move, and wanton with her breath,

Ev'n as the waving fedges play with wind.
Lord. We'll fhew thee Io, as he was a maid,
And how she was beguiled and furpris'd,
As lively painted as the deed was done.

3 Man. Or Daphne roaming through a thorny wood, Scratching her legs, that one fhall fwear fhe bleeds: And at that fight fhall fad Apollo weep:

So workmanly the blood and tears are drawn. Lord. Thou art a lord, and nothing but a lord: Thou haft a lady far more beautiful

Than any woman in this waining age,

1 Man. And 'till the tears, that she hath fhed for

thee,

Like envious floods, o'er-ran her lovely face,
She was the faireft creature in the world,
And yet fhe is inferior to none.

Sly. Am I a Lord, and have I such a Lady?
Or do I dream? or have I dream'd 'till now ?
I do not fleep; I fee, I hear, 1 fpeak;

I fmell fweet favours, and I feel foft things:
Upon my life, I am a Lord, indeed;
And not a Tinker, nor Chriftophero Sly.
Well, bring our Lady hither to our fight,
And once again, a pot o' th' fmalleft ale.

2 Man. Will't please your Mightiness to wash your

hands?

Oh, how we joy to see your wits reflor'd!
Oh, that once more you knew but what you are!
These fifteen years you have been in a dream,
Or, when you wak'd, fo wak'd as if you flept.
Sly. Thefe fifteen years! by my fay, a goodly nap:
But did I never speak of all that time?

1 Man. Oh, yes, my Lord, but very idle words.
For tho' you lay here in this goodly chamber,
Yet would you fay, ye were beaten out of door,
And rail'd upon the Hoflefs of the house;
And fay, you would prefent her at the Leet,
Because he bought flone-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, Sir, you know no house; nor no fuch maid;

Nor no fuch men, as you have reckon'd up;
As Stephen Sly, and old John Naps of Greece,
And Peter Turf, and Henry Pimpernell,

And twenty more fuch names and men as these,
Which never were, nor no man ever faw.

Sly. Now Lord be thanked for my good amends!

All.

All. Amen

Sly. By th' Mafs, I think I am a Lord indeed. What is thy name?

Man. Sim, an't please your Honour.

Sly. Sim? that's as much as to fay, Simeon or Si. mon, put forth thy hand and fill the pot.

[The fervant gives him drink.

Enter Lady, with Attendants.

I thank thee;thou shalt not lose by it.
Lady. How fares my noble Lord?

Sly. Marry, I fare well, for here is cheer enough. Where's my wife?

Lady. Here, noble Lord, what is thy will with her? Sly. Are you my wife, and will not call me hufband?. My men fhould call me lord, I am your good

man.

Lady. My husband and my lord, my Lord and husband;

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?

Lord. Madam, and nothing else, so lords call ladies. Sly. Come, fit down on my knee. Sim, drink to her. Madam wife, they say, that I have dream'd, and flept above fome fifteen years and more.

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

Sly. 'Tis much. Servants, leave me and her alone:Madam, undress you, and come now to bed. Sim, drink to her.

Lady. Thrice-noble Lord, let me entreat of you, To pardon me yet for a night or two: Or, if not fo, until the fun be fet;

For

For your Physicians have exprefly 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 loath to fall into my dream again: I will therefore tarry in defpight of the flesh . and the blood.

SCENE VI.

Mess. YOUR

Enter a Messenger.

OUR Honour's Players, hearing your amendment,

Are come to play a pleasant Comedy;

For fo your doctors hold it very meet,

Seeing too much fadness hath congeal'd your blood; And melancholy is the nurse 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.

Sly. Marry, I will; let them play; is it not a Commodity? a Christmas gambol, or a tumbling trick? Lady. No, my good Lord, it is more pleafing ftuff. Sly. What, houfhold ftuff?

Lady. It is a kind of hiftory.

Sly. Well, we'll fee't: come, Madam wife, fit by my fide, and let the world flip, we shall ne'er be younger.

THE

TRANIO, fince for the great defire I had
To fee fair Padua, nursery of arts,
I am arriv'd from 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 haply inftitute
A course of learning, and ingenious studies.
Pifa, renowned for grave citizens,

Gave me my Being; and my father firft,
A merchant of great traffic through the world:
Vincentio's come of the Bentivolii,

Vincentio his fon, brought up in Florence,
It shall become to ferve all hopes conceiv'd,
To deck his fortune with his virtuous deeds:
And therefore, Tranio, for the time I ftudy,
To 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