PERSONS REPRESENTED.

SCENE, SOMETIMES IN PADUA; AND SOMETIMES IN PETRUCIO'S HOUSE IN THE COUNTRY.

There is no List of Characters in the original edition.

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baggage; the Slys are no rogues: Look in the chronicles, we came

nson says, "To pheese, or fease, is to separate a twist into single threads." He anation of the word from Sir T. Smith, who, in his book 'De Sermone Anglico,' means in fila deducere." Gifford affirms that it is a common word in the west of g to beat, to chastise, to humble. In the latter sense Shakspere uses it in 'Troilus An he be proud with me, I'll pheese his pride." Shakspere found the word in of a Shrew.'

ordinarily printed Slies; but such a change of the plural of a proper name is

in with Richard Conquerora. Therefore, paucas pallabris"; let the world slide: Sessa!

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.

HOST. I know my remedy, I must go fetch the third borough.e

[Exit.

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,

The tinker was right in boasting of the antiquity of his family, though he has no precise recollection of the name of the Conqueror. Sly and sleigh are the same, corresponding with sleight. The Slys or Sleighs were skilful men-cunning of hand. We are informed that Sly was anciently a common name in Shakspere's own town.

Paucas pallabris-pocas pallabras—few words, as they have it in Spain. Sessa, in the same way, is the cessa of the Spaniards-be quiet.

• Burst-broken. John of Gaunt "burst Shallow's head for crowding in among the marshal's men."

This sentence is generally printed, "Go by, says Jeronimy;-Go to thy cold bed," &c. Theobald pointed out that in the old play of The Spanish Tragedy,' in which occurs the character of Hieronymo, there is the expression "Go by, go by;" and that the speech of Sly was in ridicule of the passage. Mason, to confirm this, altered the "Go by S. Jeronimie" of the original copy to "Go by, says Jeronimy." Mr. Dyce says that the expression "Go by Jeronimo" had almost become proverbial. "To give the Go-by" is still a common expression. Sly tells the Hostess to "Go by." The term suggests the allusion to the play which it was the fashion of the old dramatists to laugh at; and he makes the matter more ridiculous by confounding Jeronimo with Saint Jerome.

Thirdborough. In the original folio this is, by mistake, printed headborough, by which the humour of Sly's answer is lost. The thirdborough was a petty constable: and, from the following passage in the Constable's Guide,' 1771, the name appears, in recent times, to have been peculiar to Warwickshire: "There are in several counties of this realm other officers; that is, by other titles, but not much inferior to our constables; as, in Warwickshire, a thirdborough.”

Brach. In one instance (Lear,' Act III. Scene 5) Shakspere uses this word as indicating a dog of a particular species:

"Mastiff, greyhound, mongrel grim,

Hound or spaniel, brach or lym."

But he in other places employs it in the way indicated in an old book on sports, The Gentleman's Recreation.'-“ A brach is a mannerly-name for all hound-bitches." We should have thought that the meaning of this passage could not have been mistaken. The lord is pointing out one of his pack-" Brach Merriman,”—adding, "the poor cur is emboss'd,"—that is, swollen by hard running. Ritson, however, would read-" Bathe Merriman,"-and Hanmer, "Leech Merriman."

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 you, if he were convey'd to bed 2,
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,
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;

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And, when he says he is, say, that he dreams,

For he is nothing but a mighty lord.

And, when he says he is ·

Steevens would

The dash is here clearly intended to indicate a blank. It is as if the lord had said, "And, when he says he is So and So," when he tells his name. read, “And when he says he 's poor;" Johnson, “And when he says he 's Sly."