_Sly._ Who, I? I'll tell you a strange thing of myself; and I can tell you, for one that never studied the art of memory, 'tis very strange too. 110 _Condell._ What's that, sir? _Sly._ Why, I'll lay a hundred pound, I'll walk but once down by the Goldsmiths' Row in Cheap, take notice of the signs, and tell you them with a breath instantly. _Lowin._ 'Tis very strange. _Sly._ They begin as the world did, with Adam and Eve. There's in all just five and fifty.[341] I do use to meditate much when I come to plays too. What do you think might come into a man's head now, seeing all this company? 120 _Condell._ I know not, sir. _Sly._ I have an excellent thought. If some fifty of the Grecians that were crammed in the horse'-belly had eaten garlic, do you not think the Trojans might have smelt out their knavery? _Condell._ Very likely. _Sly._ By God, I would they[342] had, for I love Hector horribly. _Sinklo._ O, but, coz, coz! "Great[343] Alexander, when he came to the tomb of Achilles, Spake with a big loud voice, O thou thrice blessèd and happy!" 131 _Sly._ Alexander was an ass to speak so well of a filthy cullion.[344] _Lowin._ Good sir, will you leave the stage? I'll help you to a private room.[345] _Sly._ Come, coz, let's take some tobacco.[346]--Have you never a prologue? _Lowin._ Not any, sir. _Sly._ Let me see, I will make one extempore. [_Come[347] to them, and fencing of a congey with arms and legs, be round with them._ Gentlemen,[348] I could wish for the women's sakes you had all soft cushions; and, gentlewomen, I could wish that for the men's sakes you had all more easy standings. What would they wish more but the play now? and that they shall have instantly. 144 [_Exeunt._ [326] The Induction was added in ed. 2. [327] For an account of William Sly and the other actors introduced in the Induction, see Collier's _Memoirs of the Principal Actors in the Plays of Shakespeare_. [328] _The Malcontent_ had been acted at the Blackfriars Theatre, a private theatre. It was afterwards acted at the Globe, a public theatre.