Whom, would to God, I had well knock'd at first, Then had not Grumio come by the worst. PET. A senseless villain!-good Hortensio, I bade the rascal knock upon your gate, And could not get him for my heart to do it. GRU. Knock at the gate?- heavens! Spake you not these words plain, Sirrah, knock me here, Rap me here, knock me well, and knock me soundly ? And come you now with-knocking at the gate? PET. Sirrah, be gone, or talk not, I advise you. HOR. Petruchio, patience; I am Grumio's pledge: Why, this a heavy chance 'twixt him and you; Your ancient, trusty, pleasant servant, Grumio! And tell me now, sweet friend, what happy gale Blows you to Padua here, from old Verona? PET. Such wind as scatters young men through the world, To seek their fortunes farther than at home, Where small experience grows. But, in a few,d Signior Hortensio, thus it stands with me: Antonio, my father, is deceas'd; And I have thrust myself into this maze, Haply to wive, and thrive, as best I may: And wish thee to a shrew'd ill-favour'd wife? PET. Signior Hortensio, 'twixt such friends as we Few words suffice; and, therefore, if thou know GRU. Nay, look you, sir, he tells you flatly what his mind is: why, give him gold enough and marry him to a puppet, or an aglet-baby; or an old trot with ne'er a tooth in her head, though she have as many diseases as two-and-fifty horses. Why, nothing comes amiss, so money comes withal. HOR. Petruchio, since we are stepp'd thus far in, I will continue that I broach'd in jest. And shrew'd, and froward, so beyond all measure, PET. Hortensio, peace; thou know'st not gold's effect: Tell me her father's name, and 'tis enough; For I will board her, though she chide as loud "You think, because you served my lady's mother, are thirtytwo years old, which is a pip out, you know a Petruchio!] In "The Supposes" this name is spelt correctly, Petrucio; and Malone suggests that Shakespeare wrote it Petruchio for the purpose of teaching the actors the right pronunciation. b. Nay, 'tis no matter, what he 'leges in Latin.-] Grumio, a native of Italy, is here made to mistake his own language for Latin! It is true that he speaks English all through the play, and Shakespeare might have thought of him only as a type of this country; but I am strongly in favour of Tyrwhitt's proposal to read, "Nay, 'tis no matter, sir, what be leges, in Latin, if this be not a lawful cause for me to leave his service," &c. The amendment is effected by the change of a single letter, and we obtain from it a very natural and humorous rejoinder, "'Tis no matter what is law, if this be not a lawful cause," &c. By the way, upon what plea do the majority of modern editors omit the sir in this passage? Two-and-thirty, -a pip out?] A pip is a spot upon a card, and the allusion is to the now obsolete diversion of Bone-ace, or oneand-thirty. So in Massinger's play of "The Fatal Dowry," Act II. Sc. 2, d But, in a few, -] In a few means, in short, to be brief, in a few words. • Florentius' love,-] This refers to a story in Gower's "Confessio Amantis," b. I., where the hero, a knight named Florent, bound himself to marry a deformed hag on the condition that she taught him the solution of an enigma on which his life depended. The legend is very ancient and has been often repeated. f Were she as rough-] The first folio reads, "Were she is as rough," which was corrected in the second folio. gAn aglet-baby;] 'Aglets (aiguilettes) were the tags to the strings used to fasten dresses, and these aulets sometimes represented small images. Mr. Singer has shown that aglet also signified a brooch or jewel in one's cap; aglet-baby might therefore mean a diminutive figure on the tags just mentioned, or one carved on a jewel. As thunder, when the clouds in autumn crack. PET. I know her father, though I know not her, GRU. I pray you, sir, let him go while the humour lasts. O' my word, an she knew him as well as I do, she would think scolding would do little good upon him. She may, perhaps, call him half a score knaves, or so: why, that's nothing; an he begin once, he'll rail in his rope-tricks. I'll tell you what, sir,-an she stand him but a little, he will throw a figure in her face, and so disfigure her with it, that she shall have no more eyes to see withal than a cat: you know him not, sir. HOR. Tarry, Petruchio, I must go with thee; (For those defects I have before rehears'd,) A title for a maid, of all titles the worst. HOR. Now shall my friend Petruchio do me grace; And offer me, disguis'd in sober robes, Enter GREMIO; with him LuCENTIO disguised, with books under his arm. GRU. Here's no knavery! see; to beguile the old folks, how the young folks lay their heads & He'll rail in his rope-tricks.] Ropery, or rope-tricks, Malone says, originally signified abusive language, without any determinate idea. In this instance, Grumio, perhaps, plays upon the resemblance of rhetoric and rope-tricks, as he does upon the word figure, and cat for Kate, in the next sentence. b From me, and other more-] The folio, 1623, reads, from me. Other more. Theobald, at the suggestion of Dr. Thirlby, added the conjunction, and his reading has been adopted by every editor since. c This order hath Baptista ta'en,-] To take order meant to adopt measures. The expression in this sense is a common one not only with our author, but with his contemporaries. Thus in "Othello," Act V. Sc. 1, together! Master, master, look about you: who goes there? ha! Hor. Peace, Grumio; it is the rival of my love : Petruchio, stand by a while. GRU. A proper stripling, and an amorous! [They retire. GRE. O, very well: I have perus'd the note. Hark you, sir; I'll have them very fairly bound : All books of love, see that at any hand; And see you read no other lectures to her: You understand me:-over and beside Signior Baptista's liberality, I'll mend it with a largess:-take your papers* too, Luc. Whate'er I read to her, I'll plead for you, GRE. O this learning! what a thing it is! HOR. Grumio, mum! God save you, signior GRE. And you 're well met, signior Hortensio : trow you, Whither I am going?-to Baptista Minola. HOR. 'T is well: and I have met a gentleman, GRE. Belov'd of me, and that my deeds shall (*) First folio, paper. (+) First folio, one. "Honest Iago hath ta'en order for 't." Again in "Henry IV.," Part II. Act III. Sc. 2, "I will take such order, that thy friends shall ring for thee." And in "Richard III." Act IV. Sc. 2, "I will take order for her keeping close." d Well seen-] Well versed, well skilled. Thus Spenser, -"Well scene in every science that mote bee." Faërie Queen, b. iv. c. 2. GRU. Will he woo her? ay, or I'll hang her. [Aside. PET. Why came I hither, but to that intent? Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets' clang, As will a chestnut in a farmer's fire? Tush! tush! fear boys with bugs.b 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. Luc. Well begun, Tranio. HOR. [Aside. 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. To whom my father is not all unknown; GRE. What! this gentleman will out-talk us all. PET. Hortensio, to what end are all these words? HOR. Sir, let me be so bold as 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, PET. Sir, sir, the first's for me; let her go by. And let it be more than Alcides' twelve. PET. Sir, understand you this of me, in sooth ;The youngest daughter, whom you hearken for, Her father keeps from all access of suitors, And will not promise her to any mau, 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 amongst the rest; An if you break the ice, and do this feat,Achieve the elder, set the younger free (*) First folio, Butonios. ▲ A blow to hear,-1 Thus the folio, 1623. The ordinary and perhaps preferable reading is, to the ear. b Fear boys with bugs.] Fright children with bugbears. A bug meant an object of terror, a goblin. "This hand shall hale them down to deepest hell, Where none but furies, bugs, and tortures dwell." The Spanish Tragedy, Act V. c And do this feat,-] The old copies read "and do this seek;" feat was substituted by Rowe 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,b And quaff carouses to our mistress' health; Hor. The motion's good indeed, and be it Petruchio, I shall be your ben venuto. [Exeunt. • Beholden.] Here and elsewhere, the old editions have beholding; the active and past participle, in Shakespeare and his contemporaries, being used indiscriminately. b We may contrive this afternoon, -] We may pass away, or wear 80; out, this afternoon; from contrivi, the preterite of contero. "Ambulando totum hunc contrivi diem." TERENCE'S Hecyra, Act V. Sc. 3. Enter KATHArina and BIANCA. ACT II. BIAN. Good sister, wrong me not, nor wrong yourself, To make a bondmaid and a slave of me; Room in Baptista's House. Whom thou lov'st best: see thou dissemble not. KATH. Minion, thou liest: is't not Hortensio ? KATH. Of all thy suitors, here I charge thee,* Nay, then you jest; and now I well perceive, tell You have but jested with me all this while : stituted gawds. Mr. Collier's MS. annotator reads guards, in the old sense of ornaments. |