PET. Why, how now, Kate! I hope thou art not mad: This is a man, old, wrinkled, faded, wither'd ; KATH. Pardon, old father, my mistaking eyes, PET. Do, good old grandsire; and, withal, make known Which way thou travelest: if along with us, VIN. Fair sir,-and you my merry mistress 3, That with your strange encounter much amaz'd me; My name is call'd-Vincentio; my dwelling-Pisa; And bound I am to Padua; there to visit Golding's translation of Ovid's Metamorphosis, book iv. edit. 1587, p. 56: "right happie folke are they 66 By whome thou camst into this world; right happie is (I say) Thy mother and thy sister too (if anie be :) good hap "That woman had that was thy nurse, and gave thy mouth hir рар. "But far above all other far, more blist than these is shee "Whome thou vouchsafest for thy wife and bed-fellow for to bee." I should add, however, that Ovid borrowed his ideas from the sixth book of the Odyssey, 154, &c.: Τρισμάκαρες μὲν σοί γε πατὴρ καὶ πότνια μήτηρ, STEEVENS. That every thing I look on seemeth green:] Shakspeare's observations on the phenomena of nature are very acurate. When one has sat long in the sunshine, the surrounding objects will often appear tinged with green. The reason is assigned by many of the writers on opticks. BLACKSTONE. mistress,] is here used as a trisyllable. STEEVENS. A son of mine, which long I have not seen. VIN. Lucentio, gentle sir. PET. Happily met; the happier for thy son.. And now by law, as well as reverend age, I may entitle thee-my loving father; The sister to my wife, this gentlewoman, Thy son by this hath married: Wonder not, Nor be not griev'd: she is of good esteem, Her dowry wealthy, and of worthy birth; Beside, so qualified as may beseem The spouse of any noble gentleman. Let me embrace with old Vincentio : And wander we to see thy honest son, Who will of thy arrival be full joyous. VIN. But is this true? or is it else your pleasure, Like pleasant travellers, to break a jest Upon the company you overtake? HOR. I do assure thee, father, so it is. PET. Come, go along, and see the truth hereof; For our first merriment hath made thee jealous. [Exeunt PETRUchio, Katharina, and VINCENTIo. HOR. Well, Petruchio, this hath put me in heart. Have to my widow; and if she be forward, Then hast thou taught Hortensio to be untoward. [Exit. ACT V. SCENE I. Padua. Before LUCENTIO's House. Enter on one side BIONDELLO, LUCENTIO, and BION. Softly and swiftly, sir; for the priest is ready. Luc. I fly, Biondello: but they may chance to need thee at home, therefore leave us. BION. Nay, faith, I'll see the church o' your back; and then come back to my master as soon as I can*. [Exeunt LUCENTIO, BIANCA, and BIONDELLO. GRE. I marvel Cambio comes not all this while. Enter PETRUCHIO, KATHARINA, VINCENTIO, and Attendants. PET. Sir, here's the door, this is Lucentio's house, My father's bears more toward the market-place; Thither must I, and here I leave you, sir. VIN. You shall not choose but drink before you go; I think, I shall command your welcome here, And, by all likelihood, some cheer is toward. [Knocks. GRE. They're busy within, you were best knock louder. Enter Pedant above, at a window. PED. What's he, that knocks as he would beat down the gate ? VIN. Is signior Lucentio within, sir? PED. He's within, sir, but not to be spoken withal. VIN. What if a man bring him a hundred pound or two, to make merry withal? 4 and then come back to my MASTER as soon as I can.] The editions all agree in reading mistress; but what mistress was Biondello to come back to? he must certainly mean-Nay, faith, sir, I must see you in the church; and then for fear I should be wanted, I'll run back to wait on Tranio, who at present personates you, and whom therefore I at present acknowledge for my master THEOBALD. Probably an M was only written in the MS. See p. 396. The same mistake has happened again in this scene: "Didst thou never see thy mistress' father, Vincentio?" The present emendation was made by Mr. Theobald, who observes rightly, that by "master," Biondello means his pretended master, Tranio. MALONE. PED. Keep your hundred pounds to yourself; he shall need none, so long as I live. PET. Nay, I told you, your son was beloved in Padua.-Do you hear, sir ?-to leave frivolous circumstances, I pray you, tell signior Lucentio, that his father is come from Pisa, and is here at the door to speak with him. PED. Thou liest; his father is come from Pisa 5, and here looking out at the window. VIN. Art thou his father? PED. Ay, sir; so his mother says, if I may believe her. PET. Why, how now, gentleman! [To VINCEN.] why, this is flat knavery, to take upon you another man's name. PED. Lay hands on the villain; I believe, 'a means to cozen somebody in this city under my countenance. Re-enter BIONDELLO. BION. I have seen them in the church together; God send 'em good shipping!-But who is here ? mine old master, Vincentio? now we are undone, and brought to nothing. VIN. Come hither, crack-hemp. [Seeing BIONDEllo. BION. I hope, I may choose, sir. from Pisa,] The reading of the old copies is from Padua, which is certainly wrong. The editors have made to Padua ; but it should rather be from Pisa. Both parties agree that Lucentio's father is come from Pisa, as indeed they necessarily must; the point in dispute is, whether he be at the door, or looking out of the window. TYRWHITT. I suspect we should read-from Mantua, from whence the Pedant himself came, and which he would naturally name, supposing he forgot, as might well happen, that the real Vincentio was of Pisa. In The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Padua and Verona occur in two different scenes, instead of Milan. MALONE. VIN. Come hither, you rogue; What, have you forgot me ? BION. Forgot you? no, sir: I could not forget you, for I never saw you before in all my life. VIN. What, you notorious villain, didst thou never see thy master's father, Vincentio ? 6 BION. What, my old, worshipful old master? yes, marry, sir; see where he looks out of the window. VIN. Is't so, indeed? [Beats BIONDELLO. BION. Help, help, help! here's a madman will murder me. PED. Help, son! help, signior Baptista! [Exit. [Exit, from the window. PET. Pr'ythee, Kate, let's stand aside, and see the end of this controversy. [They retire. Re-enter Pedant below; BAPTISTA, TRANIO, and Servants. TRA. Sir, what are you, that offer to beat my servant? VIN. What am I, sir? nay, what are you, sir ?O immortal gods! O fine villain! A silken doublet! a velvet hose! a scarlet cloak! and a copatain hat-O, I am undone! I am undone! while I 6 thy MASTER's father, Vincentio ?] Old copy-thy mistress' father. Corrected by the editor of the second folio. MALONE. 7 - a copatain hat!] is, I believe, a hat with a conical crown, such as was anciently worn by well-dressed men. JOHNSON. This kind of hat is twice mentioned by Gascoigne. Hearbes, p. 154: "A coptankt hat made on a Flemish block." And again, in his Epilogue, p. 216: 66 See With high copt hats, and feathers flaunt a flaunt." In Stubbs's Anatomie of Abuses, printed 1595, there is an entire chapter "on the hattes of England," beginning thus: 66 Sometimes they use them sharpe on the crowne, pearking up like the speare or shaft of a steeple, standing a quarter of a yard above the crowne of their heads," &c. STEEVENS. |