Fit for her turn; well read in poetry, And other books,-good ones, I warrant ye. Gre. Belov'd of me, and that my deeds shall prove. Gru. And that his bags shall prove. Hor. Gremio, 'tis now no time to vent our love. I'll tell you news indifferent good for either. Gre. No, say'st me so, friend? What countryman? My father dead, my fortune lives for me; 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. 9 1 to help ME to another,] Folios, one for "me:" corrected by Rowe. Rage like an angry boar, chafed with sweat? Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets' clang? And do you tell me of a woman's tongue, That gives not half so great a blow to hear2, As will a chestnut in a farmer's fire? Tush tush! fear boys with bugs. Gru. Gre. Hortensio, hark. For he fears none. This gentleman is happily arriv'd, My mind presumes, for his own good, and yours. Gre. And so we will, provided that he win her. Enter TRANIO, bravely apparelled; and BIONDELLO. Bion. He that has the two fair daughters-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. 2 That gives not half so great a blow TO HEAR,] This, as the old reading, is to be preferred; and it is perfectly intelligible without altering " to hear" into "to the ear," as Sir Thomas Hanmer, Malone, Steevens, &c., thought fit to do. -FEAR boys with BUGS.] i. e. Frighten boys with bug-bears. 3 Hark you, sir: you mean not her to―] In the old copies there is a dash after "to," as if Gremio were interrupted by Tranio, who appears to have anticipated that Gremio meant to conclude by the word woo. 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? That she's the choice love of signior Gremio. Hor. That she's the chosen of signior Hortensio. To whom my father is not all unknown, Gre. What! this gentleman will out-talk us all. Pet. Sir, sir, the first's for me; let her go by. Pet. Sir, understand you this of me: insooth, Until the elder sister first be wed; For our access, whose hap shall be to have her Hor. Sir, you say well, and well you do conceive; Tra. Sir, I shall not be slack: in sign whereof, Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends. begone. Fellows, let's Hor. The motion's good indeed, and be it so.Petruchio, I shall be your ben venuto3. [Exeunt. 5 AND if you break the ice, and do this SEEK,] Rowe substituted feat for "seek," but unnecessarily. Tranio refers of course to Petruchio's enterprise to "seek" and "achieve the elder." All the modern editors have here abandoned the ancient authorities. "And do this seek," is equivalent to, "and do this one seek." 6 generally BEHOLDING.] Such was the language of the time (see Vol. ii. p. 83, note 8, &c.), though modern editors have substituted beholden. Shakespeare always employs the active participle, and it was the universal practice of his contemporaries. 7 Please ye we may CONTRIVE this afternoon,] i. e. Spend the afternoon, or wear out the afternoon: from the Latin contero. The word is used in the same sense in the novel of Romeo and Juliet, in Painter's "Palace of Pleasure :" "Juliet, knowing the fury of her father, &c. retired for the day into her chamber, and contrived that whole night more in weeping than sleeping." 8 Petruchio, I shall be your ben venuto.] The beginning of Act ii. is not marked in the old copies, although we meet with "Actus Primus," "Actus Tertia," ," "Actus Quartus," and "Actus Quintus." The first act probably ended here; but in the folios the divisions are so obviously wrong, that it has been necessary to vary from them. ACT II. SCENE I. The Same. A Room in BAPTISTA'S House. Enter KATHARINA and BIANCA. Bian. Good sister, wrong me not, nor wrong yourself To make a bondmaid, and a slave of me: Kath. Of all thy suitors, here I charge thee, tell1 Kath. Minion, thou liest. Is't not Hortensio ? Bian. Is it for him you do envy me so? Kath. If that be jest, then all the rest was so. Enter BAPTISTA. [Strikes her. Bap. Why, how now, dame! whence dame! whence grows this insolence? 9 but for these other GOODS,] Theobald read gawds, and all the modern editors have followed him, but without any necessity for the change from the old reading. 1 here I charge THEE, tell-] An obvious omission was here supplied by the editor of the second folio, who inserted " thee." |