Yea, and to marry her, if her dowry please.
Gre. So faid, fo done, is well:-

Hortenfio, have you told him all her faults?
Pet. I know, he is an irkfome brawling fcold;
If that be all, mafters, I hear no harm.

Gre. No, fay'ft me fo, friend? what countryman?
Pet. Born in Verona, old Antonio's fon:
My father's dead, my fortune lives for me;
And I do hope good days and long to fee.

Gre. Oh, fir, fuch a life with fuch a wife were ftrange:

But, if you have a ftomach, to't, o'God's name;
You fhall have me affifting 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.
Pet. Why came I hither, but to that intent?
Think you a little din can daunt mine ears?
Have I not in my time heard lions roar?
Have I not heard the fea, puff'd up with winds,
Rage like an angry boar, chafed with fweat?
Have I not heard great ordinance in the field?
And heaven's artillery thunder in the skies?
Have I not in a pitched battle heard

Loud 'larums, neighing fteeds, and trumpet's clang?
And do ye tell me of a woman's tongue,

and trumpets clang?] Probably the word clang is here ufed adjectively, as in the Paradise Loft. b. xi. v. 829, and not as a verb.

an iflad falt and bare,

The baunt of feals, and ores, and fea-mews clang.

WARTON.

I believe Mr. Warton is millaken. Clang as a substantive, is ufed in The Noble Gentleman of Beaumont and Fletcher:

I hear the clang of trumpets in this bufe

The trumpet's clang is certainly the clang of trumpets, and not an epithet bestowed on that inftrument. STEEVENS.

That

That gives not half fo great a blow to the ear
As will a chefnut in a farmer's fire ?

Tufh, tufh! fear boys with bugs.
Gru. For he fears none.-
Gre. Hortenfio, hark!

This gentleman is happily arriv'd,

My mind prefumes, for his own good, and ours.
Hor. I promis'd, we would be contributors;
And bear his charge of wooing, whatfoe'er.

Gre. And fo we will; provided that he win her Gru. I would I were as fure of a good dinner.

To them Tranio bravely apparell'd, and Biondello. Tra. Gentlemen, God fave you! if I may be bold, Tell me, I beseech you, which is the readiest way To the house of fignior Baptifta Minola?

Bion. He that has the two fair daughters? Is't he you mean?

Tra. Even he, Biondello.

Gre. Hark you, fir; you mean not her to

Tra. Perhaps him and her, fir: What have you to do?

Pet. Not her that chides, fir, at any hand, I pray. Tra. I love no chiders, fir: Biondello, let's away. Luc. Well begun, Tranio.

Hor. Sir, a word ere you go :—

That gives not half fo great a blow to HEAR,] This aukward phrafe could never come from Shakespeare. He wrote, without question,

-fo great a blow to TH'EAR. with bugs.] i. e. with bug-bears.

So in Cymbeline,

WARBURTON.

are become

He that has the two fair daughters, &c.] This fpeech fhould rather be given to Gremio; to whom, with the others, Tranio has addreffed himself. The following paffages might be written thus,

Tra. Even he. Biondello!

Gre. Hark you, fir; you mean not her too.

T. T.

Are

Are you a fuitor to the maid you talk of, yea or no? Tra. An if I be, fir, is it any offence?

Gre. No; if without more words you will get you

hence.

Tra. Why, fir, I pray, are not the streets as free For me, as for you?

Gre. But fo is not fhe.

Tra. For what reafon, I beseech you?
Gre. For this reafon, if you'll know,--
That fhe's the choice love of fignior Gremio.
Hor. That he's the chofen of fignior Hortenfio.
Tra. Softly, my masters! if you be gentlemen,
Do me this right; hear me with patience.
Baptifta is a noble gentleman,

To whom my father is not all unknown;
And, were his daughter fairer than fhe is,
She may more fuitors have, and me for one.
Fair Leda's daughter had a thousand wooers;
Then well one more may fair Bianca have;
And fo fhe fhall. Lucentio fhall make one,
Tho' Paris came, in hope to speed alone.

Gre. What, this gentleman will out-talk us all! Luc. Sir, give him head; I know, he'll prove a jade.

Pet. Hortenfio, to what end are all these words? Hor. Sir, let me be fo bold as to ask you, Did you yet ever fee Baptifta's daughter?

Tra. No, fir; but hear I do, that he hath two: The one as famous for a fcolding tongue, As the other is for beauteous modefty.

Pet. Sir, fir, the firft's for me; let her go by. Gre. Yea, leave that labour to great Hercules; And let it be more than Alcides' twelve.

Pet. Sir, understand you this of me, infooth:The youngest daughter, whom you hearken for, Her father keeps from all accefs of fuitors, And will not promife her to any man,

Until the eldeft fifter first be wed:

The

The

younger then is free, and not before. Tra. If it be fo, fir, that you are the man Must stead us all, and me amongst the reft; And if you break the ice, and do this feat,Atchieve the elder, fet the younger free For our accefs,-whose hap fhall be to have her, Will not fo gracelefs be, to be ingrate. Hor. Sir, you fay well, and well And fince you do profefs to be a fuitor, You must, as we do, gratify this gentleman, To whom we all reft generally beholden.

you

do conceive:

Tra. Sir, I fhall not be flack: in fign whereof, Please ye, we may contrive this afternoon," And quaff caroufes to our mistress' health; And do as adverfaries do in law,

Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.

Gru. Bion. O excellent metion! Fellows, let's be

gone.

Hor. The motion's good indeed, and be it fo, Petruchio, I fhall be your ben venulo.

[Exeunt.

[The Prefenters, above, speak here. I Man. My lord, you nod; you do not mind the play. Sly. Yea, by St. Ann, do I. A good matter, furely, -comes there any more of it?

Lady. My Lord, 'tis but begun.

Sly. 'Tis a very excellent piece of work, madam lady. 'Would, 'twere done!

Please ye, we may contrive this afternoon,] Mr. Theobald asks what they were to contrive? and then fays, a foolish corruption poffeffes the place, and fo alters it to convive; in which he is followed, as he pretty conftantly is, when wrong, by the Oxford editor. But the common reading is right, and the critic was only ignorant of the meaning of it. Contrive does not fignify here to project but to spend, and wear out. As in this paffage of Spenfer,

Three ages fuch as mortal men CONTRIVE.

Fairy Queen. b. xi. ch. 9.
WARBURTON.

The word is ufed in the fame fenfe of Spending or wearing out in the

Palace of Pleasure. JOHNSON.

ACT

Are you a fuitor to the maid you talk of, yea or no? Tra. An if I be, fir, is it any offence?

Gre. No; if without more words you will get you hence.

Tra. Why, fir, I pray, are not the streets as free For me, as for you?

Gre. But fo is not fhe.

Tra. For what reason, I beseech you?
Gre. For this reafon, if you'll know,--
That fhe's the choice love of fignior Gremio.
Hor. That he's the chofen of fignior Hortenfio.
Tra. Softly, my mafters! if you be gentlemen,
Do me this right; hear me with patience.
Baptifta is a noble gentleman,

To whom my father is not all unknown;
And, were his daughter fairer than the is,
She may more fuitors have, and me for one.
Fair Leda's daughter had a thousand wooers;
Then well one more may fair Bianca have;
And fo fhe fhall. Lucentio fhall make one,
Tho' Paris came, in hope to fpeed alone.

Gre. What, this gentleman will out-talk us all! Luc. Sir, give him head; I know, he'll prove a jade.

Pet. Hortenfio, to what end are all thefe words? Hor. Sir, let me be fo bold as to ask you, Did you yet ever fee Baptifta's daughter?

Tra. No, fir; but hear I do, that he hath two: The one as famous for a fcolding tongue, As the other is for beauteous modefty.

Pet. Sir, fir, the first's for me; let her go by. Gre. Yea, leave that labour to great Hercules; And let it be more than Alcides' twelve.

Pet. Sir, understand you this of me, infooth :— The youngest daughter, whom you hearken for, Her father keeps from all accefs of fuitors, And will not promife her to any man, Until the eldeft fifter first be wed:

The