My father dead, my fortune lives for me; And I do hope good days, and long, to see. Gre. O, sir, such a life, with such a wife, were strange : But if you have a stomach, to't o'God's name; You shall have me assisting you in all. Pet. Will I live? Gru. Will he woo her? ay, or I'll hang her. [Aside. Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets' clang? That gives not half so great a blow to the ear, As will a chesnut in a farmer's fire? Tush! tush! fear boys with bugs. Gru. Gre. Hortensio, hark! This gentleman is happily arriv'd, For he fears none. [Aside. My mind presumes, for his own good, and yours. And bear his charge of wooing, whatsoeʼer. Gre. And so we will; provided, that he win her. Gru. I would, I were as sure of a good dinner. [Aside. Enter TRANIO, bravely apparell'd; and BIONDELLO. Tra. Gentlemen, God save you! If I may be bold, Tell me, I beseech you, which is the readiest way To the house of Signior Baptista Minola? Bion. He that has the two fair daughters :-is't [aside to TRANIO] he you mean? d with bugs.] i. e. With bugbears. He that has the two fair daughters :-] Mr. Tyrwhitt attributes this speech to Gremio; but as there is no need for any such deviation from the old copy, I have followed Malone in restoring it to the original proprietor. Tra. Even he. Biondello! Gre. Hark you, sir; You mean not her to Tra. Perhaps, him and her, sir; What have you to do? Tra. I love no chiders, sir :-Biondello, let's away. Hor. Sir, a word ere you go ;— [Aside. Are you a suitor to the maid you talk of, yea, or no? Gre. No; if, without more words, you will get you Tra. Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free For me, as for you? Gre. But so is not she. Tra. For what reason, I beseech you? To whom my father is not all unknown; Gre. What! this gentleman will out-talk us all. Did you yet ever see Baptista's daughter? Pet. Sir, understand you this of me, insooth;— The youngest daughter, whom you hearken for, Tra. If it be so, sir, that you are the man For our access,-whose hap shall be to have her, Hor. Sir, you say well, and well you do conceive; Tra. Sir, I shall not be slack: in sign whereof, Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends. Gru. Bion. O excellent motion! Fellows, let's begone." Hor. The motion's good indeed, and be it so ;--- Petruchio, I shall be your ben venuto. ACT II. [Exeunt. SCENE I.-The same. A Room in Baptista's House. Enter KATHARINA and BIANCA. Bian. Good sister, wrong me not, nor wrong yourself, To make a bondmaid and a slave of me: That I disdain; but for these other gawds, Unbind my hands, I'll pull them off myself, f - contrive this afternoon,] i. e. Wear out the afternoon: contrive, from contero. So, in the Hecyra of Terence, totum hunc contrivi diem.-STEEVENS. as adversaries do in law,] By adversaries in law, I believe, our author means not suitors, but barristers, who, however warm in their opposition to each other in the courts of law, live in greater harmony and friendship in private, than perhaps those of any other of the liberal professions. Their clients seldom "eat and drink with their adversaries as friends."-MALONE. h Fellows, let's begone.] Fellows means fellow-servants. Grumio and Biondello address each other.-MALONE. Yea, all my raiment, to my petticoat; Kath. Of all thy suitors, here I charge thee, tell Which I could fancy more than any other. Kath. Minion, thou liest; Is't not Hortensio? Bian. Is it for him you do envy me so? Kath. If that be jest, then all the rest was so. Enter BAPTISTA. [Strikes her. Bap. Why, how now, dame! whence grows this insolence? Bianca stand aside;-poor girl! she weeps :- Go ply thy needle; meddle not with her.- Why dost thou wrong her that did ne'er wrong thee? Kath. Her silence flouts me, and I'll be reveng'd. [Flies after BIANCA. Bap. What, in my sight?-Bianca, get thee in. [Exit. BIANCA. Kath. Will you not suffer me? Nay, now I see, i keep you fair.] i. e. Keep you richly. k hilding-] The word hilding or hindeling, is a low wretch: it is applied to Katharine for the coarseness of her behaviour.-JOHNSON. lead apes in hell.] This phrase is still in use, and though Mr. Hayley, in Essay on Old Maids, gives several fanciful conjectures as to the origin of the Talk not to me; I will go sit and weep, Till I can find occasion of revenge. [Exit KATHARINA. Bap. Was ever gentleman thus griev'd as I? But who comes here? Enter GREMIO, with LUCENTIO in the habit of a mean man; PETRUCHIO, with HORTENSIO as a musician; and TRANIO, with BIONDELLO bearing a lute and books. Gre. Good-morrow, neighbour Baptista. Bap. Good-morrow, neighbour Gremio: God save you, gentlemen! Pet. And you, good sir! Pray, have you not a daughter Call'd Katharina, fair, and virtuous? Bap. I have a daughter, sir, call'd Katharina. Gre. You are too blunt, go to it orderly. Pet. You wrong me, signior Gremio; give me leave.— I am a gentleman of Verona, sir, That, hearing of her beauty, and her wit, Her affability, and bashful modesty, Her wondrous qualities, and mild behaviour,- Within your house, to make mine eye the witness [Presenting HORTENSIO. Bap. You're welcome, sir; and he for your good sake: But for my daughter Katharine,-this I know, She is not for your turn, the more my grief. Pet. I see you do not mean to part with her; Or else you like not of my company. Bap. Mistake me not, I speak but as I find. Whence are you, sir? what may I call your name? proverb, none of them are satisfactory. "That'women," says Steevens "who refused to bear children, should, after death, be condemned to the care of apes in leading-strings, might have been considered as an act of posthumous retribution." 1 |