Master, has my fellow Tranio stolen your clotnes? Bion. I, sir, ne'er a whit. Bion. The better for him. 'Would I were so too! after, That Lucentio indeed had Baptista's youngest daughter. But, sirrah,-not for my sake, but your master's-I advise You use your manners discreetly in all kind of com panies. When I am alone, why then I am Tranio; But in all places else, your master Lucentio. One thing more rests, that thyself execute;— why, If thou ask me. Sufficeth, my reasons are both good and weighty. [Exeunt.1 1 Serv. My lord, you nod; you do not mind the play. Sly. Yes, by Saint Anne, do I. A good matter, surely. Comes there any more of it? 1 Here, in the old copy, we have, "The presenters above speak; meaning Sly, &c., who were placed in a balcony raised at the back of the stage. After the words "Would it were done," the marginal direction is They sit and mark. Page. My lord, 'tis but begun. Sly. 'Tis a very excellent piece of work, madam lady. 'Would 'twere done! SCENE II. The same. Before Hortensio's House. Enter PETRUCHIO and Grumio. Pet. Verona, for a while I take my leave, Gru. Knock, sir! Whom should I knock ?- Is there any man has rebused your worship? Pet. Villain, I say, knock me here soundly. Gru. Knock you here, sir? Why, sir, what am I, sir, that I should knock you here, sir?1 Pet. Villain, I say, knock me at this gate, And then I know after who comes by the worst. 'Faith, sirrah, an you'll not knock, I'll wring it; I'll try how you can sol, fa, and sing it. [He wrings GRUMIO by the ears. Gru. Help, masters, help! My master is mad. Pet. Now, knock when I bid you; sirrah! villain ! Enter HORTENSIO. Hor. How now? what's the matter?-My old friend Grumio, and my good friend Petruchio!-How do you all at Verona! 1 Malone remarks that Grumio's pretensions to wit have a strong resemblance to Dromio's, in The Comedy of Errors; and the two plays were probably written at no great distance of time from each other. Pet. Seignior Hortensio, come you to part the fray? Con tutto il core bene trovato, may I say. Hor. Alla nostra casa bene venuto, Molto honorato, signor mio Petruchio.1 Rise, Grumio, rise; we will compound this quarrel. Gru. Nay, 'tis no matter what he leges in Latin. -If this be not a lawful cause for me to leave his service,-Look you, sir, he bid me knock him, and rap him soundly, sir. Well, was it fit for a servant to use his master so; being, perhaps, (for aught I see,) two and thirty, a pip out ?3 Whom, 'would to God, I had well knocked at first; Then had not Grumio come by the worst. Pet. A senseless villain !-Good Hortensio, I bade the rascal knock upon your gate, Spake you not these words plain,-Sirrah, knock me here, Rap me here, knock me well, and knock me soundly? Pet. Such wind as scatters young men through the world, To seek their fortunes farther than at home, Where small experience grows. But, in a few,^ Gascoigne, in his Supposes, has spelled this name correctly Petrucio; but Shakspeare wrote it as it appears in the text, in order to teach the actors how to pronounce it. 2 i. e. what he alleges in Latin. Grumio mistakes the Italian spoken for Latin. 3 The allusion is to the old game of Bone-ace, or one-and-thirty. A pip is a spot upon a card. The old copy has it peepe. 4 In short, in a few words. And I have thrust myself into this maze, Crowns in my purse I have, and goods at home, Hor. Petruchio, shall I then come roundly to thee, And very rich.-But thou'rt too much my friend, Pet. Seignior Hortensio, 'twixt such friends as we. Few words suffice; and, therefore, if thou know One rich enough to be Petruchio's wife, (As wealth is burden of my wooing dance,) She moves me not, or not removes, at least, I come to wive it wealthily in Padua ; 2 Gru. Nay, look you, sir, he tells you flatly what his mind is. Why, give him gold enough, and marry him to a puppet, or an aglet-baby; or an old trot with ne'er a tooth in her head, though she have as many diseases as two-and-fifty horses: why, nothing comes amiss, so money comes withal. Hor. Petruchio, since we have stepped thus far in, I will continue that I broached in jest. I can, Petruchio, help thee to a wife With wealth enough, and young, and beauteous; 1 This allusion is to a story told by Gower in the first book of his Confessio Amantis. Florent is the name of a knight who bound himself to marry a deformed hag provided she taught him the solution of a riddle on which his life depended. 2 An aglet-baby was a diminutive figure carved on an aglet or jewel. 3 The fifty diseases of a horse seems to be proverbial; of which, probably, the text is only an exaggeration. Is, that she is intolerably curst, And shrewd, and froward; so beyond all measure, I would not wed her for a mine of gold. Pet. Hortensio, peace; thou know'st not gold's effect. Tell me her father's name, and 'tis enough; Renowned in Padua for her scolding tongue. I will not sleep, Hortensio, till I see her; Gru. I pray you, sir, let him go while the humor lasts. O' my word, an she knew him as well as I do, she would think scolding would do little good upon him. She may, perhaps, call him half a score knaves or so why, that's nothing; an he begin once, he'll rail in his rope-tricks. I'll tell you what, sir,-an she stand him but a little, he will throw a figure in her face, and so disfigure her with it, that she shall have no more eyes to see withal than a cat. You know him not, sir. 1 Hor. Tarry, Petruchio; I must go with thee; For in Baptista's keep my treasure is. He hath the jewel of my life in hold, His youngest daughter, beautiful Bianca; And her withholds from me, and other more 1 i. e. roguish tricks. Ropery is used by Shakspeare in Romeo and Juliet for roguery. A rope-ripe is one for whom the gallows groans, according to Cotgrave. 2 Withstand. 3 Mr. Boswell remarks "that nothing is more common in ludicrous or playful discourse than to use a comparison where no resemblance is intended." |