The Taming of the Shrew: Induction, Scene 2
Enter aloft the drunkard [SLY] with
ATTENDANTS; some with apparel,
basin and ewer, and other appurtenances;
and LORD.
SLY
1. small: weak (and therefore cheap).
1
For God's sake, a pot of small ale.
First Servant
2. sack: sweet Spanish white wine (suited for a gentleman to drink).
2
Will't please your lordship drink a cup of sack?
Second Servant
3. conserves: preserves, such as jellies.
3
Will't please your honor taste of these conserves?
Third Servant
4
What raiment will your honor wear today?
SLY
5
I am Christophero Sly; call not me "honor" nor 6
"lordship." I ne'er drank sack in my life; and if7-8. conserves of beef: salted beef (a commoner's food).
7
you give me any conserves, give me conserves of 8
beef: ne'er ask me what raiment I'll wear; for I9. doublets: men's jackets.
9
have no more doublets than backs, no more stockings 10
than legs, nor no more shoes than feet; nay, 11
sometimes more feet than shoes, or such shoes as my12. overleather: upper leather.
12
toes look through the over-leather.
Lord
13. idle humor: foolish, absurd fancy.
13
Heaven cease this idle humor in your honor! 14
O, that a mighty man of such descent, 15
Of such possessions and so high esteem, 16
Should be infused with so foul a spirit!
SLY
17
What, would you make me mad? Am not I Christopher18. Burtonheath: perhaps Barton-on-the-Heath. ...more
19. cardmaker: maker of wool cards, which are wire brushes used for combing wool to prepare it for spinning. 20. bear-herd: exhibitor of a tame bear. tinker: pot-mender.
19. cardmaker: maker of wool cards, which are wire brushes used for combing wool to prepare it for spinning. 20. bear-herd: exhibitor of a tame bear. tinker: pot-mender.
18
Sly, old Sly's son of Burtonheath, by birth a 19
pedlar, by education a cardmaker, by transmutation a 20
bear-herd, and now by present profession a tinker? 21
Ask Marian Hacket, the fat ale-wife of Wincot, if22. Wincot: a small village near Stratford. ...more 23. on the score: in debt sheer ale: i.e., ale alone. score me up for: reckon me to be.
22
she know me not: if she say I am not fourteen pence 23
on the score for sheer ale, score me up for the 24
lyingest knave in Christendom. What! I am not25. bestraught: distracted, mad.
25
bestraught: here's
Third Servant
26
O, this it is that makes your lady mourn!
Second Servant
27
O, this is it that makes your servants droop!
Lord
28
Hence comes it that your kindred shuns your house, 29
As beaten hence by your strange lunacy. 30
O noble lord, bethink thee of thy birth,31. ancient thoughts: i.e., former understanding of yourself.
31
Call home thy ancient thoughts from banishment 32
And banish hence these abject lowly dreams. 33
Look how thy servants do attend on thee, 34
Each in his office ready at thy beck.35. Apollo: god of music.
35
Wilt thou have music? hark! Apollo plays,
Music. 36
And twenty caged nightingales do sing: 37
Or wilt thou sleep? we'll have thee to a couch 38
Softer and sweeter than the lustful bed39. Semiramis: legendary queen of Assyria. ...more 40. bestrew the ground: i.e., roll out the red carpet. ...more 41. trapp'd: adorned.
39
On purpose trimm'd up for Semiramis. 40
Say thou wilt walk; we will bestrew the ground: 41
Or wilt thou ride? thy horses shall be trapp'd, 42
Their harness studded all with gold and pearl. 43
Dost thou love hawking? thou hast hawks will soar 44
Above the morning lark or wilt thou hunt?45. welkin: sky, heavens.
45
Thy hounds shall make the welkin answer them 46
And fetch shrill echoes from the hollow earth.
First Servant
47. course: hunt hares.
47
Say thou wilt course; thy greyhounds are as swift48. breathed: in full breath, in good wind. roe: a kind of small, swift deer.
48
As breathed stags, ay, fleeter than the roe.
Second Servant
49
Dost thou love pictures? we will fetch thee straight 50. Adonis: the handsome hunter beloved of Venus. ...more 51. Cytherea: i.e., Venus. ...more 52. wanton: play amorously.
50
Adonis painted by a running brook, 51
And Cytherea all in sedges hid, 52
Which seem to move and wanton with her breath, 53
Even as the waving sedges play with wind.
Lord
54. Io: a Greek maiden loved by Jupiter, who visited her in a dark cloud. ...more
56. lively: realistically.
56. lively: realistically.
54
We'll show thee Io as she was a maid, 55
And how she was beguiled and surprised, 56
As lively painted as the deed was done.
Third Servant
57. Daphne: a nymph changed by Diana into a laurel tree to preserve her from rape. ...more
57
Or Daphne roaming through a thorny wood, 58
Scratching her legs that one shall swear she bleeds, 59
And at that sight shall sad Apollo weep, 60
So workmanly the blood and tears are drawn.
Lord
61
Thou art a lord, and nothing but a lord: 62
Thou hast a lady far more beautiful63. waning: degenerate.
63
Than any woman in this waning age.
First Servant
64
And till the tears that she hath shed for thee65. envious: spiteful.
65
Like envious floods o'er-run her lovely face, 66
She was the fairest creature in the world;67. yet: still, even now.
67
And yet she is inferior to none.Illustrator: Kenny Meadows
SLY
68
Am I a lord? and have I such a lady? 69
Or do I dream? or have I dream'd till now? 70
I do not sleep: I see, I hear, I speak; 71
I smell sweet savours and I feel soft things: 72
Upon my life, I am a lord indeed 73
And not a tinker nor Christophero Sly. 74
Well, bring our lady hither to our sight; 75
And once again, a pot o' the smallest ale.
Second Servant
76
Will't please your mightiness to wash your hands? 77
O, how we joy to see your wit restored! 78
O, that once more you knew but what you are! 79
These fifteen years you have been in a dream; 80
Or when you waked, so waked as if you slept.
SLY
81. fay: faith.
81
These fifteen years! by my fay, a goodly nap.82. of: during.
82
But did I never speak of all that time?
First Servant
83
O, yes, my lord, but very idle words: 84
For though you lay here in this goodly chamber, 85
Yet would you say ye were beaten out of door;86. house: tavern.
86
And rail upon the hostess of the house;87. present: bring a charge against. leet: a court where complaints about short measures and other such matters would be heard. 88. seal'd quarts: quart containers officially stamped as a guarantee of full measure.
87
And say you would present her at the leet, 88
Because she brought stone jugs and no seal'd quarts: 89
Sometimes you would call out for Cicely Hacket.
SLY
90
Ay, the woman's maid of the house.
Third Servant
91
Why, sir, you know no house nor no such maid, 92
Nor no such men as you have reckon'd up,93. Stephen Sly: There was a Stratford citizen of this name. Greece: Maybe an error for Greet, the name of a village twenty miles from Stratford.
93
As Stephen Sly and old John Naps of Greece 94
And Peter Turph and Henry Pimpernell 95
And twenty more such names and men as these 96
Which never were nor no man ever saw.
SLY
97. amends: Sly's error for amendment; i.e., recovery (as in line 129).
97
Now Lord be thanked for my good amends!
ALL
98
Amen.
SLY
99
I thank thee: thou shalt not lose by it.
Enter [the PAGE as a] lady,
with ATTENDANTS.
Page
100
How fares my noble lord?
SLY
101. Marry: why, indeed. cheer: hospitable entertainment.
101
Marry, I fare well for here is cheer enough.102
Where is my wife?
Page
103
Here, noble lord: what is thy will with her?
SLY
104
Are you my wife and will not call me husband?105. goodman: husband (a word in use among the lower classes).
105
My men should call me "lord." I am your goodman.
Page
106
My husband and my lord, my lord and husband;107
I am your wife in all obedience.
SLY
108
I know it well. What must I call her?
Lord
109
Madam.
SLY
110
Al'ce madam, or Joan madam?
Lord
111
Madam, and nothing else: so lords call ladies.
SLY
112
Madam wife, they say that I have dream'd113
And slept above some fifteen year or more.
Page
114
Ay, and the time seems thirty unto me,115. abandon'd: banished.
115
Being all this time abandon'd from your bed.
SLY
116
'Tis much. Servants, leave me and her alone.117
Madam, undress you and come now to bed.
Page
118
Thrice noble lord, let me entreat of you119
To pardon me yet for a night or two,120
Or, if not so, until the sun be set:121
For your physicians have expressly charged,122. In peril to incur: on peril of incurring.
122
In peril to incur your former malady,123
That I should yet absent me from your bed:124. I hope this reason stands for my excuse: i.e., I hope this reason strongly supports my request to be excused from having sex with you.
124
I hope this reason stands for my excuse.
SLY
124. it stands: Sly is speaking of a boy part.
125
Ay, it stands so that I may hardly126
tarry so long. But I would be loath to fall into127
my dreams again: I will therefore tarry in128
despite of the flesh and the blood.
Enter a Messenger.
Messenger
129
Your honor's players, hearing your amendment,130. pleasant: merry.
130
Are come to play a pleasant comedy;131. meet: suitable.
131
For so your doctors hold it very meet,132. sadness hath congeal'd your blood: Melancholy was thought to thicken the blood. 133. frenzy: madness.
132
Seeing too much sadness hath congeal'd your blood,133
And melancholy is the nurse of frenzy:134
Therefore they thought it good you hear a play135
And frame your mind to mirth and merriment,136
Which bars a thousand harms and lengthens life.
SLY
137
Marry, I will, let them play it. Is not a138. comonty, gambold: Malapropisms for "comedy" and "gambol."
138
comonty a Christmas gambold or a tumbling-trick?
Page
139
No, my good lord; it is more pleasing stuff.
SLY
140. household stuff: The ordinary meaning is "house furnishings," but Sly may mean "domestic goings-on."
140
What, household stuff?
Page
141
It is a kind of history.
SLY
142
Well, well see't. Come, madam wife, sit by 143
my side and let the world slip: we shall ne'er 144
be younger.
Flourish: trumpet fanfare. This is the traditional prelude to the beginning of a play. ...more
Flourish.