Pet. Spoke like an officer:-Ha' to thee, lad. [Drinks to HORTENSIO. Bap. How likes Gremio these quick-witted folks? Gre. Believe me, sir, they butt together well. Bian. Head and butt? an hasty-witted body Would say, your head and butt were head and horn. Vin. Ay, mistress bride, hath that awaken'd you? Bian. Ay, but not frighted me; therefore, I'll sleep again.

Pet. Nay, that you shall not; since you have begun,

Have at you for a better jest or two.

Bian. Am I your bird? I mean to shift my bush, And then pursue me as you draw your bow.You are welcome all.

[Exeunt BIANCA, KATHARINA, and Widow. Pet. She hath prevented me.— - Here, signior Tranio;

This bird you aim'd at, though you hit her not: Therefore, a health to all that shot and miss'd. Tra. O sir! Lucentio slipp'd me, like his greyhound,

Which runs himself, and catches for his master.

Pet. A good swift simile, but something currish. Tra. 'Tis well, sir, that you hunted for yourself: 'Tis thought, your deer does hold you at a bay. Bap. O ho, Petruchio! Tranio hits you now. Luc. I thank thee for that gird, good Tranio. Hor. Confess, confess, hath he not hit you here? Pet. 'A has a little gall'd me, I confess; And, as the jest did glance away from me, "Tis ten to one it maim'd you two outright.

Bap. Now, in good sadness, son Petruchio,

I think thou hast the veriest shrew of all.
Pet. Well, I say no: and therefore, for assurance,
Let's each one send unto his wife,
And he, whose wife is most obedient

To come at first when he doth send for her,
Shall win the wager which we will propose.
Hor. Content. What is the wager?

Ay, and a kind one too : Pray God, sir, your wife send you not a worse. Pel. I hope better.

Hor. Sirrah, Biondello, go, and entreat my wife

To come to me forthwith. Pet.

[Exit BIONDELLO. O ho! entreat her!

Nay, then she must needs come. Hor.

I am afraid, sir,

Do what you can, yours will not be entreated. Re-enter BIONDELLO.

Now, where's my wife?

Bap. Now, by my holidame, here comes Katharina !

Kath. What is your will, sir, that you send for me?

Pet. Where is your sister, and Hortensio's wife? Kath. They sit conferring by the parlour fire. Pet. Go, fetch them hither: if they deny to come, Swinge me them soundly forth unto their husbands. Away, I say, and bring them hither straight.

[Erit KATHARINA. Luc. Here is a wonder, if you talk of a wonder. Hor. And so it is. I wonder what it bodes. Pet. Marry, peace it bodes, and love, and quiet life,

An awful rule, and right supremacy;

And, to be short, what not that's sweet and happy.
Bap. Now fair befal thee, good Petruchio!
The wager thou hast won; and I will add
Unto their losses twenty thousand crowns;
Another dowry to another daughter,
For she is chang'd, as she had never been.

Pet. Nay, I will win my wager better yet,
And show more sign of her obedience,
Her new-built virtue and obedience.

Re-enter KATHARINA, with BIANCA, and Widow. See, where she comes, and brings your froward wives

As prisoners to her womanly persuasion.—
Katharine, that cap of yours becomes you not;
Off with that bauble, throw it under foot.

[KATHARINA pulls off her cap, and throws it

down.

Wid. Lord! let me never have a cause to sigh, Till I be brought to such a silly pass!

Bian. Fie! what a foolish duty call you this? Luc. I would, your duty were as foolish too : The wisdom of your duty, fair Bianca, Hath cost me an hundred crowns since supper-time. Bian. The more fool you for laying on my duty. Pet. Katharine, I charge thee, tell these headstrong women

What duty they do owe their lords and husbands. Wid. Come, come, you're mocking: we will have no telling.

Pet. Come on, I say; and first begin with her. Wid. She shall not.

Pet. I say, she shall:-and first begin with her.

Kath. Fie, fie! unknit that threatening unkind brow,

And dart not scornful glances from those eyes,
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor:
It blots thy beauty, as frosts do bite the meads,
Confounds thy fame, as whirlwinds shake fair buds,
And in no sense is meet, or amiable.

A woman mov'd is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
And, while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip, or touch one drop of it.
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper
Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance; commits his body
To painful labour, both by sea and land,
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe;
And craves no other tribute at thy hands,
But love, fair looks, and true obedience,-
Too little payment for so great a debt.
Such duty as the subject owes the prince,
Even such a woman oweth to her husband;
And when she's froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And not obedient to his honest will,
What is she but a foul contending rebel,
And graceless traitor to her loving lord?-
I am asham'd, that women are so simple
To offer war where they should kneel for peace,
Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway,
When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.
Why are our bodies soft, and weak, and smooth,
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world,

Luc. But a harsh hearing, when women are froward.

Pet. Come, Kate, we'll to bed.

We three are married, but you two are sped. 'Twas I won the wager, though you hit the white; [To LUCENTIO.

And, being a winner, God give you good night. [Exeunt PETRUCHIO and KATH.

Hor. Now go thy ways, thou hast tam'd a curst shrew.

Luc. 'Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be tam'd so. [Exeunt.

INDUCTION.-SCENE I.

"I'll PHEESE you, in faith"-In the old "Taming of a Shrew" this is printed fese. Ben Jonson uses the word in his "Alchemist," and spells it, in his folio of 1616, feize. It is the same word, however spelled; and Gifford, a West-of-England man, says that in that part of England it means "to beat, chastise, or humble," etc. See "Jonson's Works," vol. iv. p. 188. Dr. Johnson, on the authority of Sir Th. Smith, "De Sermone Anglico," says that it means "to separate a rope, or twist into single threads." Such may have been its original sense, but there is no doubt that it is used figuratively in the way Gifford has explained.

"Therefore, PAUCAS PALLABRIS; let the world slide. SESSA!"

"Pocas palabras" is Spanish for "few words," a phrase common in the time of Shakespeare. "Sessa" is the Spanish word cessa, cease. It occurs also in the form of "sessy," in KING LEAR, act iii. scene 4.

"-the glasses you have BURST"-i. e. Broken. John of Gaunt "burst Shallow's head for crowding in among the marshal's men."

"Go, by S. Jeronimy," etc.-This sentence is generally printed, in the majority of modern editions, "Go by, says Jeronimy:-Go to thy cold bed," etc. Theobald pointed out that in the old play of "Hieronymo" there is the expression "Go by, go by." On this authority, Mason altered the "Go by S. Jeronimie" of the original copy to" Go by, says Jeronimy." With Knight we retain the old reading, and agree with him that

"the tinker swears by Saint Jerome, calling him Saint Jeronimy, 'Go, by S. Jeronimy,' etc."

"I must go fetch the THIRDBOROUGH"-In the original folio this is printed headborough, by which mistake the humour of Sly's answer is lost. The "thirdborough" is a name given in old law-books, and in the statute of 28 Hen. VIII., to the officer more generally since called constable. The name appears, from tation of Ritson's, to be still retained in Warwickshire. "I'll not budge an inch, boy: let him come, and kindly. [Lies down on the ground," etc. The older play opens thus:

Enter a Tapster, beating out of his doors, SLIE, drunken.
Tap. You whoreson, drunken slave, you had best be gone
And empty your drunken paunch somewhere else,
For in this house thou shalt not rest to-night.

Slie. Tilly vally; by crisee, Tapster, I'll fese you anon,
Fill's the other pot, and all 's paid for, look you.

I do drink it of mine own instigation.

Here I'll lie a while. Why, Tapster, I say,
Fill's a fresh cushen here.

Heigh-ho, here's good warm lying.

quo

[He falls asleep.

And dims the welkin with her pitchy breath,

And darksome night o'ershades the crystal heavens,
Here break we off our hunting for to-night.
Couple up the hounds, let us hie us home,
And bid the huntsman see them meated well,
For they have all deserved it well to-day.
But soft, what sleepy fellow is this lies here?
Or is he dead? See one what he doth lack.

Serv. My lord, 'tis nothing but a drunken sleep:
His head is too heavy for his body,

And he hath drunk so much that he can go no further.
Lord. Fie, how the slavish villain stinks of drink!

Ho, sirrah, arise! What, so sound asleep?

Go take him up, and bear him to my house,
And bear him easily, for fear he wake;
And in my fairest chamber make a fire,
And set a sumptuous banquet on the board,
And put my richest garinents on his back,
Then set him at the table in a chair;
When that is done, against he shall awake,
Let heavenly music play about him still.-
Go two of you away, and bear him hence,
And then I'll tell you what I have devised.

[Exeunt two, with SLE.
Now take my cloak, and give me one of yours:
All fellows now, and see you take me so:
For we will wait upon this drunken man,
To see his countenance when he doth awake
And find himself clothed in such attire,
With heavenly music sounding in his ears.
And such a banquet set before his eyes;
The fellow sure will think he is in heaven;
But we will be about him when he wakes;
And see you call him lord at every word;
And offer thou him his horse to ride abroad;
And thou his hawk, and hounds to hunt the deer;
And I will ask what suit he means to wear;
And whatsoe'er he saith, see you do not laugh,
But still persuade him that he is a lord.

"BRACH Merriman,—the poor cur is EMBOSS'D," etc. "In LEAR, act. iii. scene 5, Shakespeare uses the word 'brach' as indicating a dog of a particular species, or class :-

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, called 'The Gentleman's Recreation:'-- A brach is a mannerly name for all hound bitches.' 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.'"-KNIGHT.

"A dog, when strained with hard running, will have his knees swelled, and then he is said to be embossed." T. WARTON.

“And, when he says he is—, say, that he dreams," etc. "The sentence is left imperfect," observes Blackstone, "because the Lord does not know what to call him, as if he had said, 'when he says he is so and so.' Hanmer would insert poor, and Johnson Sly, although the Lord could not know the name of the beggar. No change is necessary, and the metre of the line is perfect as it stands.

Thus the editors generally; yet there is some probability in the correction suggested by the typographical experience of Z. Jackson:" And what he says he is, say that he dreams," which corresponds with the First Huntsman's reply :—

- he shall think, by our true diligence, He is no less than what we say he is.

SCENE II.

"SLY is discovered," etc.-"The old stage-direction is, Enter aloft the drunkard with attendants,' etc.; the meaning of which is, that Sly and those about him were represented in a balcony at the back of the stage, whence they were to witness the performance of the actors. Such appears to have been invariably the case when a play within a play' was represented in the old theatres; the reverse of our modern practice, where the play within a play is exhibited on a raised platform at the back of the stage, and the actors in the main play are in front."-COLLIER.

"For God's sake, a pot of SMALL ALE"-This beverage is mentioned in the accounts of the Stationers' Company It for the year 1558:-"For a stande of small ale." is supposed to be the same liquor as is now called small beer; no mention being made of the last in the same accounts, though "duble bere" and "duble ale" are frequently recorded. Sly subsequently reverts to his first request:-"Once again, a pot o' the smallest ale." Its thinness, which might have been an objection on the preceding day, is now its most desirable quality to the parched palate of the recovering drunkard.

"by transmutation a BEAR-HERD"-i. e. Bearward, or keeper of bears for baiting.

"Ask Marian Hacket, the fat alewife of Wincot❞— Doubtless, Marian Hacket was living and well known at Wincot, about four miles from Stratford-upon-Avon, Afterwards, about the time this play was written. "Cicely Hacket" is spoken of by one of the servants.

"What! I am not BESTRAUGHT"—" Bestraught" was used by Warner, and also Lord Surrey. It is explained by Minshew as synonymous with distraught, or distracted.

"nor CHRISTOPHER Sly"-The modern editions print this Christophero, to make out the metre. I have preferred retaining the old reading, because it marks a change in pronunciation; "Christopher" having anciently the accent on the syllable before the last.

"-present her at the LEET"-i. e. At the court-leet or manor-court, which had special jurisdiction over innholders and abuses in selling liquor by other measures than the sealed or licensed quarts.

"and old JOHN NAPS OF GREECE"-Blackstone suggested that we ought to read, o' the Green, instead "of Greece;" and it is the more probable, as green was formerly almost invariably spelled with a final e. "John Naps of Greece" seems nonsense, notwithstanding Stevens shows "a hart of greece," or grease, meant a fat hart; and hence he argues that it was only a mode of calling John Naps a fat man.

ACT I.-SCENE I.

"To see fair Padua, nursery of arts," etc. "During the ages when books were scarce and seminaries of learning few, men of accomplishment in literature, science, and art, crowded into cities which were graced by universities. Nothing could be more natural and probable than that a tutor, like Licio, should repair to Padua from Mantua:

His name is Licio, born in Mantuaor, a student, like Lucentio, from Pisa,

-as he tnat leaves

The shallow plash, to plunge him in the deep,or, 'a Pedant,' (act iv. scene 2,) turning aside from the road to Rome and Tripoly,' to spend a week or two' in the great nursery of arts' of the Italian peninsula. The University of Padua was in all its glory in Shakespeare's day; and it is difficult to those who have explored the city to resist the persnasion that the Poet himself had been one of the travellers who had come from afar to look upon its seats of learning, if not to partake of its ingenious studies.' There is a pure Paduan atmosphere hanging about this play; and the visitor of to-day sees other Lucentios and Tranios in the knots of students who meet and accost in the public places,' and the servants who buy in the market; while there may be many an accomplished Bianca among the citizens' daughters who take their walks along the arcades of the venerable streets. Influences of learning, love, and mirth, are still abroad in the place, breathing as they do in the play.

"The University of Padua was founded by Frederick Barbarossa, early in the thirteenth century, and was, for several hundred years, a favourite resort of learned men. Among other great personages, Petrarch, Galileo, and

Christopher Columbus studied there. The number of students was once (we believe in Shakespeare's age) eighteen thousand. Now that universities have multiplied, none are so thronged; but that of Padua still numbers from fifteen hundred to twenty-three hundred. Most of the educated youth of Lombardy pursue their studies there, and numbers from a greater distance. 'The mathematics' are still a favourite branch of learning, with some 'Greek, Latin, and other languages;' also natural philosophy and medicine. History and morals, and consequently politics, seem to be discouraged, if not omitted. The aspect of the University of Padua is now somewhat forlorn, though its halls are respectably tenanted by students. Its mouldering courts and dim staircases are thickly hung with the heraldic blazonry of the pious benefactors of the institution. The number of these coats-of-arms is so vast as to convey a strong impression of what the splendour of this seat of learning must once have been."-KNIGHT.

-

fruitful Lombardy,

The pleasant garden of great Italy." "The rich plain of Lombardy is still like 'a pleasant garden,' and appears as if it must ever continue to be so, sheltered as it is by the vast barrier of the Alps, and fertilized by the streams which descend from their glaciers. From the walls of the Lombard cities, which are usually reared on rising grounds, the prospects are enchanting, presenting a fertile expanse, rarely disfigured by fences, intersected by the great Via Emilia-one long avenue of mulberry trees; gleaming here and there with transparent lakes, and adorned with scattered towns, villas, and churches, rising from among the vines. Corn, oil, and wine, are everywhere ripening together; and not a speck of barrenness is visible, from the northern Alps and eastern Adriatic, to the unobstructed southern horizon, where the plain melts away in sunshine." KNIGHT.

"My trusty servant"-So the folio. The word has been changed by some editors to most.

"—and HAPLY institute"-" In the modern editions, 'haply' is misprinted happily, which is a distinct word, with a different etymology. Haply' means perhaps, and not fortunately. So, at the end of the first scene of the Induction, the Lord says

"Gave me my being; my father, first

A merchant of great traffic through the world,
Vincentio's come of the Bentivolii.”

This is the original folio reading, and though not without obscurity, may well be understood and intended to say thus-"My father, who is firstly a merchant of the highest class, is also a noble, Vincentio, descended from the illustrious Bentivolii. It shall, therefore, become his son, myself, to deck that name and fortune with virtuous acts." Few of the later editors, however, are satisfied with this reading and explanation, and they adopt Hanmer's emendation-" Vincentio's come of the Bentivolii," as meaning, that "Pisa gave me being, and before me my father, that father descended of the Bentivolii."

"ME PERDONATO"-" Me Pardonato" is the original text, for which Stevens and Malone say that we should read Mi Pardonate; and this emendation has been generally adopted. We retain the old text, with the change of a letter, for the reason well stated by Mr. C. Armitage Brown, who thus objects to Mi Pardonate:

"Indeed we should read no such thing as two silly errors in two common words. Shakespeare may have written Mi perdoni, or Perdonatemi; but why disturb

the text further than by changing the syllable par into per? It then expresses, (instead of pardon me,) me being pardoned; and is suitable both to the sense and the metre

Me perdonato,-gentle master mine."

"Or so devote to Aristotle's ETHICKS"-The original text has "Aristotle's checks," which Knight and other editors retain. There is no very evident sense of checks which will suit the context, and therefore Judge Blackstone considered this as a misprint or error of a copyist for "ethicks;" which supposition is right. The error is natural for a copyist or compositor, and the context supports the correction. Tranio, speaking of the sciences, runs over the circle of them according to the familiar division of the times, and speaks of logic, rhetoric, music, poetry, mathematics, metaphysics; and "ethicks" would follow of course in such an enumeration. Besides, Aristotle's "Ethicks" were familiar to the stage, for Ben Jonson mentions them in his "Silent Woman."

"BALK logic"--This word of the original was changed into talk, by Rowe, and is adopted in most editions, except those of Knight and Singer. "Balk" seems to me used in its primitive sense, "to pass over; to leave untouched;" and Tranio means-Leave logic alone with your acquaintance, and talk rhetoric with them, etc.

"To make a STALE of me"-"She means, 'Do you intend to make a strumpet of me among these companions?' But the expression seems to have a quibbling allusion to the chess term of stale-mate. So in Bacon's 'Twelfth Essay'-'They stand like a stale at chess, where it is no mate, but yet the game cannot stir.' Shakespeare sometimes uses stale' for a decoy, as in the second scene of the third act of this play."SINGER.

"A pretty PEAT!"-"Peat or pet," says Johnson, “is a word of endearment, from petit, little."

"for to CUNNING men"-i. e. Knowing, learned. "Cunning," or conning, was originally knowledge, or skill; and is so used in our translation of the Bible. Shakespeare, in general, uses " cunning" in the modern sense, as in LEAR:

66

Time shall unfold what plaited cunning hides. But, in this play, the adjective is used in two other instances in its older sense :

Cunning in music, and the mathematics.

- cunning in Greek, Latin, and other languages. "THEIR love is not so great"—"It seems that we should read Your love:' yr in old writing, stood for either their or your. If their' love be right, it must mean-The goodwill of Baptista and Bianca towards us."-MALONE.

"I will WISH him to her father"-i. e. I will recommend him to wish was often used in this sense. In act i. scene 2, of this play, Hortensio says, "And wish thee to a shrewd ill-favoured wife."

"Happy man be his DOLE"-A proverbial expression. "Dole" is any thing dealt out or distributed. The phrase is equivalent to " happy man be his lot or portion."

sion," as Douce remarks, "to the sport of running at the "He that runs fastest gets the RING"-" An alluring."

"REDIME TE CAPTUM," etc.-This line is in Lily's "Grammar," and, as Dr. Farmer observes, it is quoted as it stands in the Grammar, and not as in TERENCE.

"Because she WILL not be annoy'd with suitors"— Thus the old folios; the meaning being, that Bianca wishes not to be fruitlessly annoyed with suitors. Rowe, and other editors, substituted shall for "will."

"BASTA; content thee"-i. e. Enough; Italian and Spanish. The same word is used by Beaumont and Fletcher.