BAPTISTA, a rich gentleman of Padua. Appears, Act I. sc. 1. Act II. sc. 1. Act III. sc. 2. Act IV. sc. 4. Act V. sc. 1; se. 2.

VINCENTIO, an old gentleman of Pisa.
Appears, Act IV. sc. 5. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 2.

LUCENTIO, Son to Vincentio, in love with Bianca.

Appears, Act I. sc. 1; sc. 2. Act II. sc. 1.

Act III. sc. 1;

se. 2. Act IV. sc. 2; sc. 4. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 2.

PETRUCIO, a gentleman of Verona, a suitor to
Katharina.

Appears, Act I. sc. 2. Act II. sc. 1. Act III. sc. 2. Act IV. se. 1; sc. 3; sc. 5. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 2.

GREMIO, a suitor to Bianca.

Appeers, Act I. sc. 1; sc. 2. Act II. sc. 1. Act III. sc. 2. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 2.

HORTENSIO, a suitor to Bianca.

Appears, Act 1. se 1; sc.2. Act II. sc. 1. Act III. sc. 1; se. 2. Act IV. sc. 2; sc. 3; sc. 5. Act V. sc. 2.

TRANIO, servant to Lucentio.

A Lord.

Host. You will not pay for the glasses you have burst fe

Sly. No, not a denier: Go-by S. Jeronimy-Go to thy cold bed, and warm thee.

Host. I know my remedy, I must go fetch the thirdborough.4

[Exit. Sly. Third, or fourth, or fifth borough, I 'll answer him by law: I'll not budge an inch, boy; let him come, and kindly. [Lies down on the ground, and falls asleep.

"Pheese. Gifford affirms that this is a common word in the west of England, meaning to beat, to chastise, to humble.

Pavons pallabris-pocas pallabras-few words, as they have it in Spain. Sessa, in the same way, is the cessa of the Spaniards -be quiet.

• Burst-broken.

Thirdborough-a petty constable-appears, in recent times, to have been peculiar to Warwickshire: "There are in several counties of this realm other officers; that is, by other titles, but not much tatenor to our constables; as, in Warwickshire, a thirdborough.”

Wind Horns. Enter a Lord from hunting, with hia Train

Lord. Huntsman, I charge thee, tender well my hounds:

Brach Merriman,-the poor cur is emboss'd;
And couple Clowder with the deep-mouth'd brach.
Saw'st thou not, boy, how Silver made it good
At the hedge corner, in the coldest fault?
I would not lose the dog for twenty pound.

1 Hun. Why, Belman is as good as he, my lord,
He cried upon it at the merest loss,
And twice to-day pick'd out the dullest scent:
Trust me, I take him for the better dog.

Lord. Thou art a fool; if Echo were as fleet,
I would esteem him worth a dozen such.
But sup them well, and look unto them all;
To-morrow I intend to hunt again.
1 Hun. I will, my lord.

Lord. What's here? one dead, or drunk? See, doth he breathe?

2 Hun. He breathes, my lord: Were he not warın'd with ale,

This were a bed but cold to sleep so soundly.

Brach. In Lear' Shakspere uses this word as indicating a dog of a particular species. But he in other places employs it in the way indicated in an old book on sports, The Gentle man's Recreation.'-" A brach is a mannerly-name for all hound

bitches."

Christopher Sly, old Sly's son, of Burton-heath; by birth a pedler, by education a card-maker, by transmutation a bear-herd, and now by present profession a tinker? Ask Marian Hacket, the fat ale-wife of Wincut, if she know me not: if she say I am not fourteen pence on the score for sheer ale, score me up for the lyingest knave in Christendom. What! I am not bestraught Here 's

1 Serv. O, this it is that makes your lady mourn. 2 Serv. O, this it is that makes your servants droop.

Lord. Hence comes it that your kindred shun your house,

As beaten hence by your strange lunacy.

O, noble lord, bethink thee of thy birth;

Call home thy ancient thoughts from banishment,
And banish hence these abject lowly dreams.
Look how thy servants do attend on thee,
Each in his office ready at thy beck.
Wilt thou have music? hark! Apollo plays,
And twenty caged nightingales do sing:

[Music.

Or wilt thou sleep? we 'll have thee to a couch,
Softer and sweeter than the lustful bed
On purpose trimm'd up for Semiramis.
Say, thou wilt walk: we will bestrew the ground:
Or wilt thou ride? thy horses shall be trapp'd,
Their harness studded all with gold and pearl.
Dost thou love hawking? thou hast hawks will soar
Above the morning lark: Or wilt thou hunt?
Thy hounds shall make the welkin answer them,
And fetch shrill echoes from the hollow earth.

1 Sere. Say, thou wilt course; thy greyhounds are as swift

As breathed stags, ay, fleeter than the roe.

2 Sert. Dost thou love pictures? we will fetch thee straight

Adonis, painted by a running brook;

And Cytherea all in sedges hid,

Which seem to move and wanton with her breath,
Even as the waving sedges play with wind.

Lord. We ll show thee Io, as she was a maid;
And how she was beguiled and surpris'd,
As lively painted as the deed was done.

3 Sere. Or Daphne, roaming through a thorny wood;

Scratching her legs that one shall swear she bleeds:
And at that sight shall sad Apollo weep,
So workmanly the blood and tears are drawn.

Lord. Thou art a lord, and nothing but a lord:
Thou hast a lady far more beautiful

Than any woman in this waning age.

1 Sere. And, till the tears that she hath shed for thee,

Like envious floods o'er-ran her lovely face,
She was the fairest creature in the world;
And yet she is inferior to none.

Sly. Am I a lord? and have I such a lady?
Or do I dream, or have I dream'd till now?
I do not sleep: I see, I hear, I speak;

1 smell sweet savours, and I feel soft things:-
Upon my life. I am a lord, indeed;
And not a tinker, nor Christopher Sly.
Well, bring our lady hither to our sight;
And, once again, a pot o' the smallest ale.

Barton-on-the-Heath is a small village on the borders of Warwickshire and Oxfordshire. In Domesday Book,' according Dugdale, it is written Bertone-so that the Burton of the It may be correct.

We believe that in this passage, as in 'Henry IV., Part II,' the place to which Shakspere alludes is the hamlet of Wilmeanciently Wylmyncote, about three miles to the north of d, in the parish of Aston-Cantlow, Wilmecote is a ag village with a few old houses, amongst whose seellel fields cur poet, no doubt, passed many of his boyish • instruught, synonymous with distraught, distracted

2 Serv. Will 't please your mightiness to wash your

hands?

[Servants present an ewer, bason, and napkin. O, how we joy to see your wit restor❜d! O, that once more you knew but what you are! These fifteen years you have been in a dream; Or, when you wak'd, so wak'd as if you slept. Sly. These fifteen years? by my fay, a goodly

nap.

But did I never speak of all that time?

1 Serv. O yes, my lord; but very idle words :-
For though you lay here in this goodly chamber,
Yet would you say ye were beaten out of door;
And rail upon the hostess of the house;

And say, you would present her at the leet,
Because she brought stone jugs and no seal'd quarts :^
Sometimes you would call out for Cicely Hacket.
Sly. Ay, the woman's maid of the house.

3 Serv. Why, sir, you know no house, nor no such Nor no such men as you have reckon'd up,maid,

As Stephen Sly, and Old John Naps of Greece,
And Peter Turf, and Henry Pimpernell;
And twenty more such names and men as these,
Which never were, nor no man ever saw.

Sly. Now, Lord be thanked for my good amends!
All. Amen.

Sly. I thank thee; thou shalt not lose by it.

Enter the Page, as a lady, with Attendants. Page. How fares my noble lord?

Sly. Marry, I fare well; for here is cheer enough. Where is my wife?

Page. Here, noble lord. What is thy will with

her?

Sly. Madam wife, they say that I have dream'd, And slept above some fifteen year or more.

Page. Ay, and the time seems thirty unto me;
Being all this time abandon'd from your bed.
Sly. T is much. Servants, leave me and her
alone.

Madam, undress you, and come now to bed.
Page. Thrice noble lord, let me entreat of you
To pardon me yet for a night or two;

Or, if not so, until the sun be set :

For your physicians have expressly charg'd,
In peril to incur your former malady,
That I should yet absent me from your bed:
I hope, this reason stands for my excuse.

Sly. Ay, it stands so, that I may hardly tarry so long. But I would be loth to fall into my dreams again. I will therefore tarry, in despite of the flesh and the blood.

Enter a Servant.

Serv. Your honour's players, hearing your amend.

ment,

Are come to play a pleasant comedy,
For so your doctors hold it very meet:

a At the leet, or court-leet, of a manor, the jury presented those who used false weights and measures; and, amongst others, those who, like the "fat ale wife of Wincot," used jug of irregular capacity instead of the sealed or liceused quart.

Seeing too much sadness hath congeal'd your blood,
And melancholy is the nurse of frenzy,
Therefore, they thought it good you hear a play,
And frame your mind to mirth and merriment,
Which bars a thousand harms, and lengthens life.

Sly. Marry, I will let them play: Is it not a commonty, a Christmas gambol, or a tumbling-trick?

Page. No, my good lord; it is more pleasing stufl. Sly. What, household stuff?

Page. It is a kind of history.

Sly. Well, we 'll see 't:

Come, madam wife, sit by my side,

And let the world slip; we shall ne'er be younger. [They sit down

SCENE I.-Padua. A public Place.

Enter LUCENTIO and TRANIO.

Luc. Tranio, since, for the great desire I had
To see fair Padua, nursery of arts,
I am arriv'd for fruitful Lombardy,
The pleasant garden of great Italy;

And, by my father's love and leave, am arm'd
With his good will, and thy good company,
My trusty servant, well approv'd in all;
Here let us breathe, and haply institute
A course of learning, and ingenious studies.
Pisa, renowned for grave citizens,
Gave me my being, and my father first,

A merchant of great traffic through the world,
Vincentio, come of the Bentivolii.
Vincentio's son, brought up in Florence,
It shall become, to serve all hopes conceiv'd,
To deck his fortune with his virtuous deeds :b
And therefore, Tranio, for the time I study,
Virtue, and that part of philosophy
Will I apply, that treats of happiness
By virtue 'specially be achiev'd.
Tell me thy mind: for I have Pisa left,
And am to Padua come, as he that leaves
A shallow plash, to plunge him in the deep,
And with satiety seeks to quench his thirst.
Tra. Mi perdonate, gentle master mine,
I am in all affected as yourself;
Glad that you thus continue your resolve,
To suck the sweets of sweet philosophy.
Only, good master, while we do admire
This virtue, and this moral discipline,
Let's be no stoics, nor no stocks, I pray;
Or so devote to Aristotle's checks.

As Ovid be an outcast quite abjur'd:

C

Balk logic with acquaintance that you have,
And practise rhetoric in your common talk:
Music and poesy use to quicken you;
The mathematics, and the metaphysics,

Fall to them, as you find your stomach serves you : No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en ;—

In brief, sir, study what you most affect.

Luc. Gramercies, Tranio, well dost thou advise.

If, Biondello, thou wert come ashore,
We could at once put us in readiness;
And take a lodging, fit to entertain
Such friends as time in Padua shall beget.
But stay awhile: What company is this?

Tra. Master, some show, to welcome us to town

Haply-in the sense of probably.

Pisa gave me my being, and also first gave my father being -that father was Vincentio, &c. It shall become Vincentio's son, that he may fulfil the hopes conceived of him, to deck his fortune with his virtuous deeds.

Balk. Tranio draws a distinction between the dry and the grerable of the liberal sciences. Balk logic--pass over logicwith your acquaintance, but practise rhetoric in your common talk;-use (in the legitimate sense of resorting to frequently) music and poetry to quicken you, but fall to mathematics aud metaphysics as you find your inclination serves.

Enter BAPTISTA, KATHARINA, BIANCA, GREMIO, and
HORTENSIO. LUCENTIO and TRANIO stand aside.
Bap. Gentlemen, importune me no farther,
For how I firmly am resolv'd you know:
That is, not to bestow my youngest daughter,
Before I have a husband for the elder:
If either of you both love Katharina,
Because I know you well, and love you well,
Leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure.
Gre. To cart her rather: She's too rough for me:
There, there, Hortensio, will you any wife?

Kath. I pray you, sir, [to BAP.] is it your will

To make a stale of me amongst these mates? b Hor. Mates, maid! how mean you that? no mates for you,

Unless you were of gentler, milder mould.

Kath. I' faith, sir, you shall never need to fear;

I wis, it is not half way to her heart:

But, if it were, doubt not her care should be

To comb your noddle with a three-legg'd stool,

And paint your face, and use you like a fool.

Hor. From all such devils, good Lord, deliver us! Gre. And me too, good Lord!

Tra. Hush, master! here is some good pastime

toward;

Bap. Gentlemen, that I may soon make good
What I have said, Bianca, get you in:
And let it not displease thee, good Bianca;
For I will love thee ne'er the less, my girl.

Kath. A pretty peat; 't is best

Put finger in the eye-an she knew why.

Bian. Sister, content you in my discontent.
Sir, to your pleasure humbly I subscribe:
My books and instruments shall be my company;
On them to look, and practise by myself.

Luc. Hark, Tranio! thou mayst hear Minerva speak.

[Asule. Hor. Signior Baptista, will you he so strange? Sorry am I that our good will effects Bianca's grief.

Gre.

Why, will you mew her,
Signior Baptista, for this fiend of hell,
And make her bear the penance of her tongue?
Bap. Gentlemen, content ye; I am resolv'd:
Go in, Bianca.
[Exit BIANCA.

And, for I know she taketh most delight
In music, instruments, and poetry,

a We print these lines as in the original, where they stand as verse. Are they not a portion of an old song, and intended to be sung?

b A stale is a thing stalled-exposed for common sale. Bap tista has offered Katharina to Gremio and Hortensio, "either of you;" and she is justly indignant at being set up for the bidding of these companions.

l'eat-pet, spoiled child.

Schoolmasters will I keep within my house,
Fit to instruct her youth. If you, Hortensio,
Or, signior Gremio, you know any such,
Prefer them hither; for to cunning" men
I will be very kind, and liberal

To mine own children in good bringing-up;
And so farewell. Katharina, you may stay;
For I have more to commune with Bianca.

[Exit.

Kath. Why, and I trust I may go too. May I not? What, shall I be appointed hours; as though, belike, I knew not what to take, and what to leave? Ha! [Exit. Gre. You may go to the devil's dam; your gifts are so good here's none will hold you. Their love is not so great, Hortensio, but we may blow our nails together, and fast it fairly out; our cake's dough on both sides. Farewell:-Yet, for the love I bear my sweet Bianca, if I can by any means light on a fit man to teach her that wherein she delights, I will wish him to her father. Hor. So will I, signior Gremio: But a word, I pray. Though the nature of our quarrel yet never brooked parle, know now, upon advice, it toucheth us both, that we may yet again have access to our fair mistress, and be happy rivals in Bianca's love,-to labour and effect one thing specially.

Gre. What 's that, I pray?

Hor. Marry, sir, to get a husband for her sister. Gre. A husband! a devil.

Hor. I say, a husband.

b

Gre. I say, a devil: Think'st thou, Hortensio, though her father be very rich, any man is so very a fool as to be married to hell?

Hor. Tush, Gremio, though it pass your patience and mine to endure her loud alarums, why, man, there be good fellows in the world, an a man could light on them, would take her with all faults, and money enough.

Gre. I cannot tell; but I had as lief take her dowry with this condition,-to be whipped at the high-cross every morning.

Hor. Faith, as you say, there's small choice in rotten apples. But, come; since this bar in law makes us friends, it shall be so far forth friendly maintained, till, by helping Baptista's eldest daughter to a husband, we at his youngest free for a husband, and then have to 't afresh.-Sweet Bianca !-Happy man be his dole! He that runs fastest gets the ring. How say you, signior Gremio!

Gre. I am agreed: and 'would I had given him the best horse in Padua to begin his wooing, that would thoroughly woo her, wed her, and bed her, and rid the honse of her. Come on. [Exeunt GRE. and HOR. Tra. [Adrancing.] I pray, sir, tell me,-Is it possible

That love should of a sudden take such hold?
Luc. O Tranio, till I found it to be true,

I never thought it possible, or likely;
But see! while idly I stood looking on,
I found the effect of love in idleness:
And now in plainness do confess to thee,—
That art to me as secret, and as dear,
As Anna to the queen of Carthage was,-
Tranio, I burn, I pine, I perish, Tranio,
If I achieve not this young modest girl:
Counsel me, Tranio, for I know thou canst;
Assist me, Tranio, for I know thou wilt.

Tra. Master, it is no time to chide you now;
Affection is not rated from the heart:

If love have touch'd you, nought remains but so,-
Redime te captum quam queas minimo.

Luc. Gramercies, lad; go forward, this contents; The rest will comfort, for thy counsel's sound. Cunning-knowing, learned.

Wish him-commend him.

Tra. Master, you look'd so longly on the maid, Perhaps you mark'd not what 's the pith of all. Luc. O yes, I saw sweet beauty in her face, Such as the daughter of Agenor had,

That made great Jove to humble him to her hand, When with his knees he kiss'd the Cretan strand.

Tra. Saw you no more? mark'd you not, how her sister

Began to scold; and raise up such a storm,
That mortal ears might hardly endure the din?

Luc. Tranio, I saw her coral lips to move,
And with her breath she did perfume the air;
Sacred, and sweet, was all I saw in her.

Tra. Nay, then, 't is time to stir him from his

trance.

I pray, awake, sir: If you love the maid,
Bend thoughts and wits to achieve her. Thus it stands :-
Her elder sister is so curst and shrewd,
That, till the father rids his hands of her,
Master, your love must live a maid at home;
And therefore has he closely mew'd her up,
Because she shall not be annoy'd with suitors.

Luc. Ah, Tranio, what a cruel father's he!
But art thou not advis'd, he took some care
To get her cunning schoolmasters to instruct her?
Tra. Ay, marry, am I, sir; and now 't is plotted.
Luc. I have it, Tranio.

Tra.

Master, for my hand,
Both our inventions meet and jump in one.
Luc. Tell me thine first.
Tra.

You will be schoolmaster,
And undertake the teaching of the maid:
That 's your device.

Luc.

It is May it be done?
Tra. Not possible. For who shall bear your part,
And he in Padua here Vincentio's son?
Keep house, and ply his book; welcome his friends;
Visit his countrymen, and banquet them?

Luc. Basta; content thee; for I have it full.
We have not yet been seen in any house;
Nor can we be distinguish'd by our faces,
For man or master: then it follows thus ;-
Thou shalt be master, Tranio, in my stead,
Keep house, and port," and servants, as I should:
I will some other be; some Florentine,
Some Neapolitan, or meaner man of Pisa.

T is hatch'd, and shall be so :-Tranio, at once
Uncase thee, take my colour'd hat and cloak :b
When Biondello comes, he waits on thee;
But I will charm him first to keep his tongue.
Tra. So had you need. [They exchange habits.
In brief, sir, sith it your pleasure is,
And I am tied to be obedient,

(For so your father charg'd me at our parting;
"Be serviceable to my son," quoth he,
Although, I think, 't was in another sense,)
I am content to be Lucentio,

Because so well I love Lucentio.

Luc. Tranio, be so, because Lucentio loves : And let me be a slave, t' achieve that maid Whose sudden sight hath thrall'd my wounded eye.

Enter BIONDELLO.

Here comes the rogue.-Sirrah, where have you been? Bion. Where have I been? Nay, how now, where are you?

Master, has my fellow Tranio stol'n your clothes? Or you stol'n his? or both? pray, what 's the news? Luc. Sirrah, come hither; 't is no time to jest,

a Port-state, show.

Colour'd hat and cloak. Servants formerly wore clothes of sober hue-black or sad colour; their masters bore about the hues of the rainbow in their doublets and mantles, and hats and feathers. Such gay vestments were called emphatically coloured.