Tra. Is this your speeding? nay, then, good night our part!

Pet.

If she and I be pleas'd, what's that to you?
'Tis bargain'd 'twixt us twain, being alone,
That she shall still be curst in company.
I tell you, 'tis incredible to believe

How much she loves me : oh, the kindest Kate!

She hung about my neck; and kiss on kiss
She vied 30 so fast, protesting oath on oath,
That in a twink she won me to her love.
Oh, you are novices! 'tis a world to see,31
How tame, when men and women are alone,
A meacock 32 wretch can make the curstest shrew.-
Give me thy hand, Kate: I will unto Venice,33
To buy apparel 'gainst the wedding-day.-
Provide the feast, father, and bid the guests;

I will be sure my Katharine shall be fine.

Bap. I know not what to say: but give me your hands;

God send you joy, Petruchio! 'tis a match.

Gre. Tra. Amen, say we we will be witnesses. Pet. Father, and wife, and gentlemen, adieu; I will to Venice; Sunday comes apace :— We will have rings, and things, and fine array ; And, kiss me, Kate, we will be married o' Sunday. [Exeunt PETRUCHIO and KATHARINĄ severally. Gre. Was ever match clapp'd up so suddenly? Bap. Faith, gentlemen, now I play a merchant's part,

Bap. The gain I seek is quiet in the match. Gre. No doubt but he hath got a quiet catch, But now, Baptista, to your younger daughter: Now is the day we long have looked for :

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

30. Vied. Proffered in competition. To "vie" and "revie" were terms used in the game of Primero, fashionable when Shakespeare wrote. To "vie" at cards was to stake or wager the goodness of one hand against another; and the word came to be applied to competing in the production of one thing against another. Petruchio means to say, that as often as he kissed her, she kissed him.

31. 'Tis a world to see. Meaning it is wonderful to see.' See Note 73, Act iii., "Much Ado about Nothing."

32. Meacock. Timorous, too-yielding; probably from meekcock, and generally applied to a hen-pecked husband.

33. I will unto Venice. Not only was Venice the great mart for rich articles in Shakespeare's time, but it is still famous for its gold chains, and other articles of delicately-worked jewellery, which are displayed in profusion in the shop-windows under the arcades that surround the Piazza di San Marco. There is peculiar appropriateness, therefore, in making Petruchio repair to Venice to provide himself with wedding finery.

34. Mart. Here used for 'bargain.'

35. 'Twas a commodity. Twice in this speech 'T, or it, is used in reference to an implied particular; by Tranio, in the coarse way, of which the father himself has set an example, when speaking of Katharine, meaning a marriageable or saleable daughter.

36. Youngling. A word used by Shakespeare, compounded of 'youngster' and 'stripling.' German, jüngling.

37. Skipper. This word seems to be here used by Shakespeare with allusion to the nimbleness and forwardness of youth, and to the frivolity and lightness which he implies in the word skipping." See Note 48, Act ii., "Merchant of Venice."

38. In cypress chests. To this very day, chests made of

cypress wood are used in Italian households for storing woollen goods during the summer season, because the scent of the wood is very effectual in keeping away moths. The Italians have still the habit of retaining much of their property in the shape of valuables, such as are enumerated in the text. The old family mansions and palaces of Genoa (as in other Italian localities) abound in hoards and hoarding-places like those mentioned in this passage by Shakespeare; which circumstance has given rise to the belief that he himself at one time must have visited Italy, and have been an actual eye-witness of particulars he has so accurately described. Nevertheless, when we bear in mind his wonderful memory, his wonderful tact in acquiring knowledge from various persons practically acquainted with the subjects he treated, and his wonderful power of making his own and employing such acquired knowledge, we can well imagine that from his Italian friend, Florio, or from his travelled English friends, he may have gained all the details here introduced with so graphic and appropriate a vividness.

39. Counterpoints. Coverings for beds; now (and likewise formerly) called 'counterpanes,' they being formed of patchwork, in 'panes' or points of variously contrasted colours. They were, in ancient times, expensive articles: Stowe, the chronicler, recording that during Wat Tyler's rebellion a coverlet was destroyed worth a thousand marks.

Fine linen, Turkey cushions boss'd with pearl,
Valance of Venice gold in needlework;
Pewter and brass, and all things that belong
To house or housekeeping: then, at my farm
I have a hundred milch-kine to the pail,
Sixscore fat oxen standing in my stalls,
And all things answerable to this portion.
Myself am struck in years, I must confess;
And if I die to-morrow, this is hers,

If whilst I live she will be only mine.

Tra. That "only" came well in.-Sir, list to

me:

I am my father's heir and only son:

If I may have your daughter to my wife,
I'll leave her houses three or four as good,
Within rich Pisa walls, as any one
Old Signior Gremio has in Padua ;
Besides two thousand ducats by the year
Of fruitful land, all which shall be her jointure.--
What! have I pinch'd you, Signior Gremio?
Gre. Two thousand ducats by the year
land!

My land amounts not to so much 42 in all :
That she shall have; besides an argosy
That now is lying in Marseilles' 43 road.—
What! have I chok'd you with an argosy ?44

of

Tra. Gremio, 'tis known my father hath no less Than three great argosies; besides two galliasses, 45 And twelve tight galleys: these I will assure her, And twice as much, whate'er thou offer'st next.

Gre. Nay, I have offer'd all,—I have no more; And she can have no more than all I have:If you like me, she shall have me and mine.

properly that hangeth aboute beddes to keep away gnattes, sometimes a tent or pavilion, some have used it for a testorne [or tester] to hang over a bed.'

41. Pewter. Vessels and utensils of pewter were formerly so valuable, as sometimes to be hired by the year in the households of the nobility.

42. My land amounts not to so much. It has been plausibly proposed to change "not" to 'but' in this passage. Nevertheless, Gremio may mean to say that though his land does not amount to the sum offered by his rival, yet, such as it is, Bianca shall have it all, "besides an argosy," &c.

43 Marseilles'. This must here be sounded as a trisyllable. It is printed "Marcellus" in the Folio.

44 Chok'd you with an argosy?

Argosy" was the name of

a large vessel, either for war or merchandise. See Note 4, Act i, "Merchant of Venice."

Tra. Why, then the maid is mine from all the world,

By your firm promise: Gremio is out-vied.
Bap. I must confess your offer is the best;
And, let your father make her the assurance,
She is your own; else, you must pardon me :
If you should die before him, where's her dower?
Tra. That's but a cavil: he is old, I young.
Gre. And may not young men die, as well as
old?

Bap. Well, gentlemen,

I am thus resolv'd :

:-on Sunday next you know
My daughter Katharine is to be married:
Now, on the Sunday following, shall Bianca
Be bride to you, if you make this assurance;
If not, to Signior Gremio:

And so, I take my leave, and thank you both.
Gre. Adieu, good neighbour. [Exit BAPTISTA.
Now I fear thee not:

Sirrah young gamester," your father were a fool
To give thee all, and in his waning age

Set foot under thy table: tut, a toy!

An old Italian fox is not so kind, my boy. [Exit. Tra. A vengeance on your crafty wither'd

hide!

Yet I have fac'd it with a card of ten.48
'Tis in my head to do my master good-
I see no reason but suppos'd Lucentio
Must get a father, call'd-suppos'd Vincentio;
And that's a wonder: fathers commonly
Do get their children; but in this case of wooing,
A child shall get a sire, if I fail not of my cunning.
[Exit.

45. Galliasses. A"galiass" (Italian, galeazza) was a heavilybuilt galley with three masts, and seats for thirty-two rowers; so that it could be propelled by sails or oars, or both.

46. Out-vied. To "out-vie" was a gaming term, as was to "vie." See Note 30 of this Act.

47. Gamester. Gremio uses this term half in allusion to Tranio's having staked offers against him (" out-vied" him), half in the way that Shakespeare occasionally employs the word to express a lively, forward, venturesome fellow. See Note 21, Act i., "As You Like It."

48. Fac'd it with a card of ten. This was a proverbial expression for bullying, or maintaining a point with an impudent face. It was derived from a gaming term, indicating a bold stand made by playing "a card of ten," or one of the highest in the pack.

Hac ibat Simois; bic est Sigeia tellus ;
Hic steterat Priami regia celsa senis.?
Construe them.

Bian. Luc. Hac ibat, as I told you before,-Simois, I am Lucentio,—bic est, son unto Vincentio of Pisa,-Sigeia tellus, disguised thus to get your love ;-Hic steterat, and that Lucentio that comes a-wooing,-Priami, is my man Tranio,-regia, bearing my port,-celsa senis, that we might beguile the old pantaloon.

3. As I told you before. Other writers of Shakespeare's time introduced the joke of translating Latin sentences into English with an entirely different meaning from the original.

4 Pantaloon. A name given to a pottering old man. See Note 89, Act ii., "As You Like It.”

5. Let me see if I can construe it. Here we see Bianca in her true colours. No sooner is she out of sight of her father, than she drops the coating of demure paint which she wears in public to obtain the reputation of "beauteous modesty," and in private behaves like the imperious coquette, which she truly is. She begins by telling her masters that she will "learn my les sons as I please myself;" orders one aside while she listens to the other; and no sooner discovers that he is not a teacher, but a lover in diguise, than she falls into his plan of addressing her clandestinely, follows his lead of making the lesson a pretence for discussing his suit, and shows herself to be a thoroughly sly, artful girl. Shakespeare has drawn her consistently throughout See Note 20, Act i.; and Note 2, Act ii.

More pleasant, pithy, and effectual,
Than hath been taught by any of my trade:
And there it is in writing, fairly drawn.

Bian. Why, I am past my gamut long ago.
Hor. Yet read the gamut of Hortensio.
Bian. [Reads.]

Call

Gamut I am, the ground of all accord,
A re, to plead Hortensio's passion,
B mi, Bianca, take him for thy lord,
C fa ut, that loves with all affection:
D sol re, one cliff," two notes have I:
E la mi, show pity, or I die.

you this gamut ? tut, I like it not:

6. Pedascule. Said to be a word coined by Shakespeare, from "pedant." The Folio here assigns the various speeches to the different speakers in an obviously blundering way.

7. Eacides was Aiax. This is said by Lucentio as if it were part of the lesson he is giving, in order to mislead Hortensio, should he overhear him. Ajax was sometimes named acides,

in accordance with a custom explained in Note 11, Act ii., "Merchant of Venice;" Ajax, like Achilles, being grandson to Eacus.

8. That doubt. Bianca says this in order that Hortensio may take it as applying to the question as to whether Ajax were rightly called acides, and that Lucentio may take it as referring to his profession of love She is a proficient in quibbling speech, as she also has the coquettish art of saying a word of ingratiatory deprecation to each of her suitors, so that she may keep both of them dangling at once.

9. But I be deceiv'd. "But" is here used in the sense of unless.'

10. Gamut. The scale of musical notes. The gamut is in musical notation what the alphabet is in letters and language. 11. Cliff. The mark placed on the lines of music (or stave) at the commencement of a piece, indicating what pitch, or portion of the gamut is thus appropriated; whether bass (on the F line). tenor (on the C line), or treble (on the G line).

Before BAPTISTA's house.

SCENE II-PADUA,
Enter BAPTISTA, GREMIO, TRANIO, KATHARINA,
BIANCA, LUCENTIO, and Attendants.

Bap. [To TRANIO.] Signior Lucentio, this is the 'pointed day

That Katharine and Petruchio should be married,
And yet we hear not of our son-in-law.
What will be said? what mockery will it be,
To want the bridegroom when the priest attends
To speak the ceremonial rites of marriage!
What says Lucentio to this shame of ours?

Kath. No shame but mine: I must, forsooth, be forc'd

To give my hand, oppos'd against my heart,
Unto a mad-brain rudesby, full of spleen ;13
Who woo'd in haste, and means to wed at leisure.
I told you, I, he was a frantic fool,
Hiding his bitter jests in blunt behaviour:

12. Nice. Shakespeare uses this word with divers meanings. He employs it (as Chaucer does) for 'silly,' 'unwise;' for 'trivial;' for 'precise,' 'punctilious,' 'ceremonious;' and for 'particular,' 'fastidious.' Here it seems to bear a mingled meaning-foolishly particular,' 'sillily fastidious.'

13. To change true rules for odd inventions. The first Folio misprints 'charge' for "change" (the word in the second Folio), and 'old' for "odd" (Theobald's correction).

14. Stale. The word is here used in combined reference to its meaning of 'decoy,' 'lure,' or 'bait' (see Note 24, Act iv., "Tempest "), and to its meaning of 'common,' 'worthless.' See Note 50, Act ii., "Much Ado about Nothing'

15. Rudesby, full of spleen. Shakespeare uses the expressive term, "rudesby," again in "Twelfth Night," Act iv., sc. r., to convey the idea of an ill-bred, overbearing fellow. "Spleen" here means 'caprice,' 'splenetic whimsicality.'

16. Make friends invited. 'Cause friends to be invited.' The Folio prints 'make friends invite ;' which has been variously altered to make friends, invite, yes;' 'make friends, invite

them,' &c. But the present Editors believe that a 'd' was omitted by the printer of the Folio; which, when restored to the text, gives not only sense to the passage, but makes it accord with Petruchio's words to Baptista in Act ii., sc. 1. :-" Provide the feast, father, and bid the guests." Moreover, "make friends invited," for "cause friends to be invited," is in Shakespeare's style; as he elsewhere has similar phraseology. It may be well to mention that this reading was given in the edition prepared by Mary Cowden Clarke for New York (published in 1860) during the years 1857-8-9.

17. Old news. The Folio omits "old;" by mistake, as is apparent from Baptista's rejoinder. "Old" is here used in the sense of 'excessive,' 'outrageous.' See Note 56, Acti, "Merry Wives of Windsor." Presently after, Biondello turns it punningly (in reference to Petruchio's "old jerkin," "old rusty sword," &c.) when Tranio asks what is his "old news."

18. Boots that have been candle-cases. Boots that have been used as recipients for candle-ends, and now are re-taken into use as riding-boots.