When did she cross thee with a bitter word? KATH. Her silence flouts me, and I'll be reveng'd. [Flies after BIANCA. BAP. What, in my sight? -Bianca, get thee in. [Exit BIANCA. KATH. What, will you not suffer me? nay, now I see She is your treasure, she must have a husband; [Exit KATHARINA. BAP. Was ever gentleman thus griev'd as I? But who comes here? I am a gentleman of Verona, sir, That, hearing of her beauty and her wit, Her affability, and bashful modesty, Am bold to show myself a forward guest & Lead apes in hell.] "To lead apes," as Malone remarks, was one of the employments of a bear-ward, but why or when old maids were condemned to the care of them in hell, we are ignorant. Beatrice, in "Much Ado About Nothing," Act II. Sc. 1, has the same phrase, "I will even take sixpence in earnest of the bear-herd, and lead his apes into hell." b As a musician;] In the old copies Hortensio's entrance is not mentioned. 242 Within your house, to make mine eye the witness [Presenting HORTENSIO. Cunning in music, and the mathematics, BAP. You're welcome, sir; and he for your But for my daughter Katharine, this I know, She is not for your turn, the more my grief. PET. I see you do not mean to part with her; Or else you like not of my company. BAP. Mistake me not, I speak but as I find. Whence are you, sir? what may I call your name? PET. Petruchio is my name; Antonio's son, A man well known throughout all Italy. BAP. I know him well: you are welcome for his sake. GRE. Saving your tale, Petruchio, I pray, Let us, that are poor petitioners, speak too : Baccare! you are marvellous forward. PET. O, pardon me, signior Gremio; I would fain be doing. GRE. I doubt it not, sir; but you will curse your wooing. Neighbour, this is a gift very grateful, I am sure of it. To express the like kindness myself, that have been more kindly beholden to you than any, I freely give unto youd this young scholar, [presenting LUCENTIO] that hath been long studying at Rheims; as cunning in Greek, Latin, and other languages, as the other in music and mathematics: his name is Cambio; pray accept his service. BAP. A thousand thanks, signior Gremio: welcome, good Cambio. But, gentle sir, [to TRANIO] methinks, you walk like a stranger: may I be so bold to know the cause of your coming? TRA. Pardon me, sir, the boldness is mine own Nor is your firm resolve unknown to me, (*) First folio, neighbours. • Baccare!] An old proverbial saying of doubtful derivation, but meaning stand back. "Backare, quoth Mortimer to his sow, d I freely give unto you-1 The folio, 1623, omits I and you, which appear to have been first introduced by Capell. We will go walk a little in the orchard, PET. Signior Baptista, my business asketh haste, And every day I cannot come to woo. You knew my father well; and in him, me, PET. And, for that dowry, I'll assure her of PET. Why, that is nothing; for I tell you, father, I am as peremptory as she proud-minded; For I am rough, and woo not like a babe. HOR. I think, she'll sooner prove a soldier; Iron may hold with her, but never lutes. BAP. Why, then thou canst not break her to the lute? HOR. Why, no; for she hath broke the lute to me. I did but tell her she mistook her frets, them: And, with that word, she struck me on the head, PET. Now, by the world, it is a lusty wench; BAP. Well, go with me, and be not SO discomfited: Proceed in practice with my younger daughter; PET. I pray you do; I will attend her here, — [Exeunt BAPTISTA, GREMIO, TRANIO, and HORTENSIO. And woo her with some spirit when she comes. Say, that she frown; I'll say, she looks as clear And say she uttereth piercing eloquence: BAP. Well mayst thou woo, and happy be thy If she do bid me pack, I'll give her thanks speed! But be thou arm'd for some unhappy words. As though she bid me stay by her a week; If she deny to wed, I'll crave the day (*) First folio, had she. b Mistook her frets,-] A fret is the point at which a string on the lute or guitar is to be stopped. When I shall ask the banns, and when be married:But here she comes; and now, Petruchio, speak. Enter KATHARINA. Good morrow, Kate; for that's your name, I hear. KATH. Well have you heard, but something hard of hearing; They call me Katharine, that do talk of me. PET. You lie, in faith; for you are call'd plain And bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst; KATH. Mov'd! in good time: let him that mov'd you hither Remove you hence: I knew you at the first, You were a moveable. KATH. A joint-stool. Why, what's a moveable? Thou hast hit it: come, sit on me. KATH. Asses are made to bear, and so are you. PET. Women are made to bear, and so are you. KATH. No such jade as you, if me you mean.b PET. Alas, good Kate! I will not burthen thee: For, knowing thee to be but young and light, KATH. Too light for such a swain as you to And yet as heavy as my weight should be. Well ta'en, and like a buzzard. take thee? KATH. Ay, for a turtle, as he takes a buzzard.d PET. Come, come, you wasp, i' faith, you are too angry. KATH. If I be waspish, best beware my sting. In his tail. his sting? KATH. I chafe you, if I tarry; let me go. PET. No, not a whit; I find you passing gentle: 'Twas told me, you were rough, and coy, and sullen, And now I find report a very liar; For thou art pleasant, gamesome, passing courteous, KATH. Go, fool, and, whom thou keep'st, a A joint-stool.] "Cry you mercy, I took you for a join'd-stool," is an old proverbial saying. It occurs as a proverb in Lyly's Mother Bombie," 1594. and also in "King Lear," Act III. Sc. 6. b No such jade as you, if me you mean.] Petruchio's reply shows clearly there is some omission or misprint in this line. e Should be, should buz!] A quibble is intended on the buzz 244 of the bee, and buz, applied to a din of words:"But you wyl choplogick And be Bee-to-busse." The Contention betwyxte Churchyeard and Camell, &c. 1560. d A buzzard.] A beetle: so called on account of its humming, buzzing noise. speech? PET. It is extempore, from my mother-wit. Yes; keep you warm. PET. Marry, so I mean, sweet Katharine, in thy bed: And, therefore, setting all this chat aside, Thus in plain terms:-your father hath consented That you shall be my wife; your dowry 'greed on; And, will you, nill you, I will marry you. Now, Kate, I am a husband for your turn; a Yes; keep you warm.] An allusion to a proverbial phrase, of which the sense is not apparent. It is found again in "Much Ado about Nothing," Act I. Sc. 1, that if he have wit enough to keep himself warm-." For, by this light, whereby I see thy beauty, Re-enter BAPTISTA, GREMIO, and TRANIO. BAP. Now, Signior Petruchio, how speed you with my daughter? PET. How but well, sir? how but well? It were impossible I should speed amiss. BAP. Why, how now, daughter Katharine? in your dumps? b From a wild Kate-] Modern editors usually read "a wild cat," but the intended play on the words Kate cat, and Kates cats, is sufficiently obvious without altering the text. 245 KATH. Call you me daughter? now I promise | And venture madly on a desperate mart. you, You have show'd a tender fatherly regard, That thinks with oaths to face the matter out. TRA. 'Twas a commodity lay fretting by you; PET. Father, 't is thus, -yourself and all the Now is the day we long have looked for; world, hanged first. TRA. Is this your speeding? nay, then, good night our part! PET. Be patient, gentlemen; I choose her for myself; If she and I be pleas'd, what's that to you? a BAP. I know not what to say: but give me your hands; God send you joy, Petruchio! 'tis a match. I am your neighbour, and was suitor first. TRA. And I am one that love Bianca more Than words can witness, or your thoughts can guess. GRE. Youngling! thou canst not love so dear as I. TRA. Greybeard! thy love doth freeze. GRE. But thine doth fry. Skipper, stand back; 'tis age that nourisheth. TRA. But youth, in ladies' eyes that flourisheth. BAP. Content you, gentlemen; I will compound this strife: 'Tis deeds must win the prize; and he, of both, That can assure my daughter greatest dower, Shall have Bianca's love. Say, signior Gremio, what can you assure her? GRE. First, as you know, my house within the Is richly furnished with plate and gold; TRA. That only came well in. Sir, list to me: GRE. Two thousand ducats by the year of land! My land amounts not to so much in all : array; a 'Tis a world to see,-] An expression frequently found in the old writers, meaning, it is wonderful to see. b A meacock-] A milk-livered, chicken-hearted fellow. The word, Nares thinks, was originally applied to denote a hen-pecked husband. c Counterpoints,-] Coverings for beds, now called counterpanes. "Counterpoints were, in ancient times, extremely costly. In Wat Tyler's rebellion, Stowe informs us, when the insurgents broke into the wardrobe in the Savoy, they destroyed a coverlet, worth a thousand marks." - MALONE. (*) First folio, me. (+) First folio, my Bianca's. d Tents,-] Hangings; so called, it has been suggested, from the tenters upon which they were hung. e Pewter-] This composite metal, common as it is now, was so expensive formerly, that vessels made of it were hired by some of the nobility by the year. See Holinshed's "Description of England," pp. 188, 189. f My land amounts not to so much in all:] Warburton proposed to substitute but for not; and I believe either but or yst was Shakespeare's word. |