Luc. Whate'er I read to her, I 'll plead for you,
As for my patron, (stand you so assur'd)
As firmly as yourself were still in place:
Yea, and (perhaps) with more successful words
Than you, unless you were a scholar, sir.

Gre. O this learning! what a thing it is!
Gru. O this woodcock! what an ass it is!
Pet. Peace, sirrah.
Hor. Grumio, mum!—God save you, signior Gremio!
Gre. And you 're well met, signior Hortensio. Trow

you,
Whither I am going?-To. Baptista Minola.
I promis'd to inquire carefully
About a schoolmaster for fair Bianca:6
And, by good fortune, I have lighted well
On this young man; for learning, and behaviour,
Fit for her turn; well read in poetry,
And other books-good ones, I warrant you.

Hor. 'Tis well: and I have met a gentleman,
Hath promis'd me to help me? to another,
A fine musician to instruct our mistress;
So shall I no whit be behind in duty
To fair Bianca, so belov'd of me.

Gre. Belov'd of me and that my deeds shall prove.
Gru. And that his bags shall prove.

(Aside.
Hor. Gremio, 'tis now no time to vent our love:
Listen to me, and if you speak me fair,
I 'll tell you news indifferent good for either.
Here is a gentleman, whom by chance I met,
Upon agreement from us to his liking,
Will undertake to woo curst Katharine;
Yea, and to marry her, if her dowry please.

Gre. So said, so done, is well:-
Hortensio, have you told him all her faults?

Pet. I know she is an irksome brawling scold;
If that be all, masters, I hear no harm.

6

s To whom they go.] The old copy reads-- To whom they go to.

Steedens. -for fair Bianca :] The old copy redundantly reads " for the fair Bianca.” Steevens.

help me -] The old copy reads-help one. Steevens. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. Malone.

7

Grc. No, say'st me so, friend? What countryman?

Pet. Born in Verona, old Antonio's son;8 My father dead, my fortune lives for me; And I do hope good days, and long, to see,

Gre. O, sir, such a life, with such a wife, were strange: But, if you have a stomach, to 't o'God's name; You shall have me assisting you in all. But will you woo this wild cat? Pet.

Will I live? Gru. Will he woo her? ay, or I 'll hang her. [Aside.

Pet. Why came I hither, but to that intent? Think you, a little din can daunt mine ears? Have I not in my time heard lions roar? Have I not heard the sea, puff’d up with winds, Rage like an angry boar, chafed with sweat? Have I not heard great ordnance in the field, And heaven's artillery thunder in the skies? Have I not in a pitched battle heard Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets' clang?"

8

-old Antonio's son:] The old copy reads—Butonio's son.

Steevens. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. Malone.

9—and trumpet's clang?] Probably the word clang is here used adjectively, as in the Paradise Lost, B. XI, v. 834, and not as a verb.

- an island salt and bare,
“ The haunt of seals, and orcs, and sea-mews clang."

T. Warton. I believe Mr. Warton is mistaken. Clang, as a substantive, is used in The Noble Gentleman of Beaumont and Fletcher:

“I hear the clang of trumpets in this house." Again, in Tamburlaine, &c. 1590:

- hear you the clang “Of Scythian trumpets?", Again, in The Cobler's Prophecy, 1594:

“The trumpets clang, and roaring noise of drums." Again, in Claudius Tiberius Nero, 1607:

“ Hath not the clang of harsh Armenian troops,” &c. Again, in Drant's translation of Horace's Art of Poetry, 1567:

“ Fit for a chorus, and as yet the boystus sounde and shryll

Of trumpetes clang the stalles was not accustomed to fill.” Lastly, in Turberville's translation of Ovid's epistle from Medea to Jason :

“ Doleful to me than is the trumpet's clang." The Trumpets' clang is certainly the clang of trumpets, and not an epithet bestowed on those instruments. Steevens.

66

a

a

2

And do you tell me of a woman's tongue;
That gives not half so great a blow to the ear,
As will a chesnut in a farmer's fire?
Tush! tush! fear boys with bugs.?
Gru.

For he fears none.

[ Aside. Gre. Hortensio, hark! This gentleman is happily arriv'd, My mind presumes, for his own good, and yours.

Hor. I promis’d, we would be contributors,
And bear his charge of wooing, whatsoe'er.

Gre. And so we will; provided, that he win her.
Gru. I would, I were as sure of a good dinner.

[.Aside. Enter TRANIO, bravely apparell’d; and BIONDELLO.

Tra. Gentlemen, God save you! If I may be bold, Tell me, I beseech you, which is the readiest way To the house of signior Baptista Minola?

Gre. He that has the two fair daughters:- is 't (aside to Tra.] he you mean?3

1

2

80 great a blow to the ear,] The old copy reads--to hear.

Steevens. This aukward phrase could never come from Shakspeare. He wrote, without question:

so great a blow to th' ear. Warburton. The emendation is Sir T. Hanmer's. Malone. So, in King John:

“Our ears are cudgell’d; not a word of his
“But buffets better than a fist of France.” Steevens.

- with bugs.] i. e. with bug-bears. So, in Cymbeline :

are become “ The mortal bugs o' the field.” Steedens. 3 He that has the two fair daughters : &c.] In the old copy, this speech is given to Biondello. Steevens.

It should rather be given to Gremio; to whom, with the others, Tranio has addressed himself. The following passages might be written thus :

Tra. Even he. Biondello!

Gre. Hark you, sir; you mean not her too. Tyrwhitt. I think the old copy, both here and in the preceding speech is right. Biondello adds to what his master had said, the words “ He that has the two fair daughters,” to ascertain more precisely the person for whom he had inquired; and then addresses Franio: "is 't he you mean?"

Tra. Even he. Biondello!
Gre. Hark you, sir; You mean not her to
Tra. Perhaps, him and her, sir; What have you to

do?
Pet. Not her that chides, sir, at any hand, I pray.
Tra. I love no chiders, sir:-Biondello, let's away.
Luc. Well begun, Tranio.

[Aside. Hor. Sir, a word ere you go; Are you a suitor to the maid you talk of, yea, or no?

Tra. An if I be, sir, is it any offence?
Gre. No; if, without more words, you will get you

hence.
Tra. Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free
For me, as for you?
Gre.

But so is not she.
Tra, For what reason, I beseech you?

Gre. For this reason, if you 'll know;
That she's the choice love of signior Gremio.

Hor. That she's the chosen of signior Hortensio.

Tra. Softly, my masters! if you be gentlemen,
Do me this right-hear'me with patience.
Baptista is a noble gentleman,
To whom my father is not all unknown;
And, were his daughter fairer than she is,
She may more suitors have, and me for one.
Fair Leda's daughter had a thousand wooers;
Then well one more may fair Bianca have:
And so she shall; Lucentio shall make one,
Though Paris came, in hope to speed alone.

Gre. What! this gentleman will out-talk us all.
Luc. Sir, give him head; I know, he 'll prove a jade.
Pet. Hortensio, to what end are all these words?

Hor. Sir, let me be so bold as to ask you,
Did you yet ever see Baptista's daughter?

Tra. No, sir; but hear I do, that he hath two; The one as famous for a scolding tongue,

You mean not her to ---] I believe, an abrupt sentence was intended; or perhaps Shakspeare might have written-her to woo. Tranio in his answer might mean, that he would woo the father, to obtain his consent, and the daughter for herself. This, however, will not complete the metre. I incline, therefore, to my first supposition. Malone.

I have followed Mr. Tyrwhitt's regulation. Steevens.

As is the other for beauteous modesty.

Pet. Sir, sir, the first 's for me; let her go by.

Gre. Yea, leave that labour to great Hercules;
And let it be more than Alcides' twelve.

Pet. Sir, understand you this of me, insooth;-
The youngest daughter whom you hearken for,
Her father keeps from all access of suitors;
And will not promise her to any man,
Until the elder sister first be wed:
The younger then is free, and not before.

Tra. If it be so, sir, that you are the man
Must stead us all, and me among the rest;
An if you break the ice, and do this feat,".
Achieve the elder, set the younger free
For our access—whose hap shall be to have her,
Will not so graceless be, to be ingrate.

Hor. Sir, you say well, and well you do conceive;
And since you do profess to be a suitor,
You must, as we do, gratify this gentleman,
To whom we all rest generally beholden.

Tra. Sir, I shall not be slack; in sign whereof,
Please ye we may contrive this afternoon,5
And quaff carouses to our mistress' health;
And do as adversaries do in law,6-

4

- this feat,] The old copy readsthis scek. The emenda, tion was made by Mr. Rowe. Steevens.

5 Please ye we may contrive this afternoon,] Mr. Theobald asks what they were to contrive? and then says, a foolish corruption possesses the place, and so alters it to convive; in which he is follow. ed, as he pretty constantly is, when wrong, by the Oxford editor. But the common reading is right, and the critic was only igno. rant of the meaning of it. Contrive does not signify here to project but to spend and wear out. As in this passage of Spenser: “ Three ages such as mortal men contrive."

Fairy Queen, B. XI, ch. ix. Warburton. The word is used in the same sense of spending or wearing out, in Painter's Palace of Pleasure. Johnson. So, in Damon and Pithias, 1571:

“ In travelling countries, we three have contrived

“ Full many a year,” &c. Contrive, I suppose, is from contero. So, in the Hecyra of Terence: “ Totum hunc contrivi diem." Steevens.

6 —as adversaries do in law,] By adversaries in law, I believe, our author means not suitors, but barristers, who, however warm