mis'd to enquire carefully about a school-mafter for the fair Bianca; and by good fortune I have lighted well on this young man; for Learning and Behaviour fit for her turn, well read in Poetry, and other books, good ones, I warrant ye.

Hor. 'Tis well; and I have met a gentleman,
Hath promis'd me to help me to another,
A fine mufician to inftruct our mistress;
So fhall I no whit be behind in duty
To fair Bianca, fo belov'd of me.
Gre. Belov'd of me, and that my deeds fhall
deeds fhall prove.
Gru. And that his bags fhall prove.

Hor. Gremio, 'tis now no time to vent our love.
Listen to me, and, if you fpeak me fair,
I'll tell you news indifferent good for either.
Here is a Gentleman whom by chance I met,
Upon agreement from us to his liking,
Will undertake to wooe curft Catharine;
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, fhe is an irksome brawling Scold;
If that be all, mafters, I hear no harm.

Gre. No, fayeft me fo, friend? what Countryman?
Pet. Born in Verona, old Antonio's Son;

My Father's dead, my fortune lives for me,
And I do hope good days and long to fee.

Gre. Oh, Sir, fuch a life with fuch a wife were ftrange;
But if you have a stomach, to't, o' God's name :
You fhall have me affifting you in all.

But will you wooe this wild cat?

Pet. Will I live?

Gru. Will he wooe her? ay, or I'll hang her.
Pet. Why came I hither, but to that intent?
Think you, a little din can daunt my 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 Ordnance in the field?
And heav'n's artillery thunder in the skies?

Have I not in a pitched battel heard

Loud larums, neighing fteeds, and trumpets clangue?
And do you tell me of a woman's tongue,
That gives not half fo great a blow to hear,
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 Signior Baptifta Minola?

Bion. He, that has the two fair Daughters? is't he you mean?

Tra. Even he, Biondello,

Gre. Hark you, Sir, you mean not her, to

Tra. Perhaps, him and her; what have you to do? Pet. Nor her that chides, Sir, at any hand, I pray. Tra. I love no chiders, Sir: Biondello, let's away. Luc. Well begun, Tranio.

Hor. Sir, a word ere you go:

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

Gre. No; if without more words you will get you hence, Tra. Why, Sir, 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 reason, if you'll know:
That the's the choice love of Signior Gremio.
Hor. That he's the chofen of Signior Hortenfio.
Tra. Softly, my mafters; if you be gentlemen,
Do me this Right; hear me with patience.

U 4

Baptifta

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, Sir; but, hear I do, that he hath two: The one as famous for a fcolding tongue, As the other is for beauteous modefty.

by.

Pet. Sir, Sir, the firft's for me; let her go
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 access of fuitors,
And will not promife her to any man,
Until the eldeft Sifter firft be wed:
The younger then is free, and not before.

Tra. If it be fo, Sir, that you are the man
Muft fteed 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 graceless be, to be ingrate.

Hor. Sir, you fay well, and well you do conceive: And fince you do profefs to be a fuitor,

You muft, as we do, gratifie this Gentleman,

To whom we all reft generally beholden.

Tra. (10) Sir, I fhall not be flack; in fign whereof,

Please ye, we may convive this afternoon,

(10) Sir, I shall not be flack; in fign whereof,

And

Pleafe you, we may contrive this Afternoon,]

What were they to contrive? Or how is it any Teftimony of Tranio's

con

And quaff carouses to our Mistress' health;
And do as adversaries do in law,

Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.

Gru. Bion. O excellent motion: fellows, let's be gone.

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

[Exeunt.

[The Prefenters, above, Speak here. 1 Man. My Lord, you nod; you do not mind the Play. Sly. Yea, by St. Ann, do Is 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!

confenting to be liberal, that he will join in contriving with them? In' fhort, a foolish Corruption poffeffes the Place, that quite strips the Poet of his intended Humour. What was faid here is purely cv de, as the old Scholiafts call it, in Character. Tranio is but a fuppos'd Gentleman: His Habit is all the Gentility he has about him; and the Poet, I am perfuaded, meant that the Servingman's Qualities fhould break out upon him; and that his Mind fhould rather run on good Cheer than ContriI have therefore ventur'd to fufpect;

vances.

Pleafe you, we may convive this Afternoon,

This agrees with, quaff Carowfes; and with What he fays at the Conclufion of this Speech, but eat and drink as Friends. And this word convive, however quaint and uncommon it may be, is again used by our Poet in his Troilus and Creffida:

Firf, all You Peers of Greece, go to my Tent;

There in the full convive You.

It is regularly deriv'd from Convivium of the Latines; and the Active Verb, used more obfoletely instead of the Paffive.

And,

Si Calendis convivant, Idibus cœnant foris.

Malo bercle fuo magno convivant fine modo..

Say Pomponius and Ennius, as quoted by Nonius Marcellus.

ACT

A C T II.

SCENE, Baptifta's Houfe in Padua.

G

Enter Catharina and Bianca.

BIANC A.

OOD Sifter, wrong me not, nor wrong your

felf,

To make a bond-maid and a flave
of me,
That I difdain; (11) but for these other Gawds,
Unbind my hands, I'll pull them off my self;
Yea, all my raiment, to my petticoat,
Or, what you will command me, will I do,
So well I know my duty to my elders.

Cath. Of all thy Suitors here, I charge thee, tell Whom thou lov't beft: fee, thou diffemble not. Bian. Believe me, Sifter, of all men alive

I never yet beheld that special face,

(11)

But for thefe other Goods,] This is fo trifling and unexpreffive a Word, that, I am fatisfied, our Author wrote, Gawds, (i. e. Toys, trifling Ornaments;) a Term that he frequently ufes and feems fond of.

Midfummer Night's Dream.

With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits,
Knacks, trifles,-

And again,

As the remembrance of an idle Gawde,
Which in my Childhood I did doat upon.

King John.

Is all too wanton, and too full of Gawds,
To give me Audience.

So Beaumont and Fletcher in their Women pleas'd;

Her Rules and Precepts hung with Gawds and Ribbands.

And in their Two Noble Kinsmen z

What a mere Child is Fancy,

That having Two fair Gawds of equal Sweetness,
Cannot diftinguish, but must cry for Both.

&c. &c. &c.