previous scenes, for example, of iv. 4; ii. 1. But these parts of the play are those in which Catharine and Petruchio are on the stage together: they are just the parts which any critical reader would pick out as far superior to the rest; they are, in fact, the salt of the whole." Mr. Fleay also finds 2671 lines in the play, and ascribes only 1064 of these to Shakespeare, thus leaving 1607 to the other author or authors. The particular portions which he marks off to Shakespeare are as follows: Act ii., scene 1, the line, I pray you do: I will attend her here," and what comes after down to the line, "I am your neighbour, and was suitor first"; 158 lines. Also iii. 2, down to the exit of Baptista, and again from "Enter GREMIO " to "Exeunt PETRUCHIO, CATHARINA, and GRUMIO." Also iv. 1, 2, 4, and 6. Also v. 2. I find no reason for dissenting materially from Mr. Fleay's distribution of the matter; and leave the subject with a judicious passage from Mr. Grant White: 66 "A play in Shakespeare's day was as often written by two, or three, or four persons as by one: each theatre had several poets and playwrights in its pay, if not in its company, ready to write or rewrite, as the spirit moved, or occasion required; and Shakespeare's own company was of course not an exception to the general rule. Our Taming of the Shrew is an example of the result of this system. In it three hands at least are traceable; that of the author of the old play, that of Shakespeare himself, and that of a colabourer. The first appears in the structure of the plot, and in the incidents and the dialogue of most of the minor scenes; to the last must be assigned the greater part of the love business between Bianca and her two suitors; while to Shakespeare belong the strong, clear characterization, the delicious humour, and the rich verbal colouring of the recast Induction, and all the scenes in which Catharina and Petruchio and Grumio are prominent figures, together with the general effect produced by scattering lines and words and phrases here and there, and removing others elsewhere, throughout the rest of the play.” SCENE. Sometimes in Padua, and sometimes in Petruchio's House in the Country. INDUCTION. SCENE I.-Before an Alehouse on a Heath. Enter Hostess and SLY. 1 Sly. I'll pheeze 1 you, in faith. Host. A pair of stocks, you rogue! 1 In Jonson's Alchemist, we have "Come, will you quarrel? I will feize you, sirrah." In a note upon this, Gifford, a West-of-England man, says that in that part of the country the word pheeze means to beat, chastise, or humble." Staunton says "it was equivalent exactly to our figurative saying, I'll tickle you, and had a meaning, amorous or villainous, according to the circumstances under which it was uttered." Shakespeare has the word again in Troilus and Cressida, ii. 3: "An he be proud with me, I'll pheeze his pride." Sly. You're a baggage: the Slys are no rogues; look in the Chronicles; we came in with Richard Conqueror. Therefore, paucas pallabris; 2 let the world slide : sessa !3 Host. You will not pay for the glasses you have burst? 4 Sly. No, not a denier. Go by, Saint Jeronimy, 5-go to thy cold bed, and warm thee.6 Host. I know my remedy; I must go fetch the thirdborough.7 [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.8 [Lies down on the ground and falls asleep. 2 Paucas pallabris is a corruption of the Spanish pocas palabras, which means few words. 3" Sessa, or cessa, be quiet," says Staunton, was probably another scrap from Sly's Spanish vocabulary." According to Nares, it is from the French cessez, and means about the same as the Latin cessa, have done.world slide" is an old proverbial saying. Let the 4 The Poet has burst repeatedly for break. The two were used synonymously in his time. 5 Sly, in his alement, seems to have got things somewhat mixed, and it is not very easy to trace out his allusions. Thomas Kyd's play, The Spanish Tragedy, became a sort of by-word. It has the line, "Not I:- Hieronimo, beware; go by, go by"; and the phrase go by, Hieronimo, is often quoted and sneered at by the wits of Shakespeare's time. From them our tinker seems to have caught the trick, at the same time confounding Jeronimo with Saint Jerome. Such appears the most likely explanation of the passage. 6 "Go to thy cold bed, and warm thee," seems to have been another proverbial saying. It occurs again in King Lear, iii. 4. It means "Go to thy bed cold, and warm thee." 7 Ritson, a lawyer, says “The office of third-borough is the same with that of constable except in places where there are both, in which case the former is little more than the constable's assistant." 8 Kindly seems to be used here very much as in Romeo and Juliet, ii. 4: "Thou hast most kindly hit it;" that is, aptly, or pertinently. This use of the word is rare; but Staunton quotes an apposite instance from Middleton's Mayor of Queenborough, iii. 3: Hengist having cut the hide into thongs, Vortigern tells him his castle shall be called Thong Castle, and he replies, "there your grace quites me kindly." Horns winded. Enter a Lord from hunting, with Huntsmen and Servants. Lord. Huntsman, I charge thee, tender well my hounds: Bathe Merriman,—the poor cur is emboss'd; 9 And couple Clowder with the deep-mouth'd brach.10 1 Hun. Why, Belman is as good as he, my lord ; He cried upon it at the merest loss,12 9 The word embossed was much used of any swelling or diseased protuberance; the boss being the protuberant or bulging part of a shield. So Shakespeare applies the term to Falstaff on account of his plumpness; and he has the phrases "embossed sores" and "embossèd carbuncle." Embossed was also a term of the chase, and was used of a deer, boar, or other animal, when foaming at the mouth from fatigue. Some editors so understand the word here; but Keightley observes that "any one who has been out with hounds knows that when fatigued they pant and put out their tongues, but never foam." On the whole, the probable meaning in the text is, that the dog Merriman has got a hurt which causes swelling, and needs to be dressed and cared for. See Critical Notes. 10 Brach, from the French brac or braque, or from the German bract, properly means a dog that hunts by the scent; according to Spelman, “a lurcher, or beagle; or any fine-nosed hound." The word was also used as "a mannerly name for all hound-bitches"; probably from similarity of sound. 11 Fault, in the language of the chase, was used, very much as it is in Geology, for a breach in the continuity of the trail. Such a breach might be caused either by a long leap of the animal or by the scent growing cold. 12 The Poet often uses mere in the sense of entire or absolute. So that "the merest loss" means the same here as "the coldest fault" just before; that is, the most complete interruption of the trail. The Huntsman means that Belman is such a very fine-nosed hound, that even the worst fault, or "the coldest scent," did not put him from the trail. Keen-scented hounds, while pursuing the trail of the game," cry upon it," that is, keep up a joyous barking: if they lose the trail, they stop barking till they recover it, and then cry upon it again. So in Venus and Adonis: The hot scent-snuffing hounds are driven to doubt, With much ado the cold fault cleanly out; Then do they spend their mouths: &c. |