me in the skirts of it, and beat me to death with a
bottom of brown thread. I said, a gown.

Pet. Proceed.
Tai. With a small compassed cape;
Gru. I confess the cape.
Tai. With a trunk sleeve ;-
Gru. I confess two sleeves.
Tai. The sleeves curiously cut.
Pet. Ay, there's the villany.

Gru. Error i’the bill, sir ; error i’the bill. I commanded the sleeves should be cut out, and sewed up again; and that I'll prove upon thee, though thy little finger be armed in a thimble.

Tai. This is true, that I say; an I had thee in place where, thou shouldst know it.

Gru. I am for thee straight. Take thou the bill, give me thy mete-yard, and spare not me.

Hor. God-a-mercy, Grumio! then he shall have

no odds.

Pet. Well, sir, in brief, the gown is not for me.
Gru. You are i’the right, sir ; 'tis for my mistress. .
Pet. Go, take it up unto thy master's use.

Gru. Villain, not for thy life. Take up my mistress gown for thy master's use!

Pet. Why, sir, what's your conceit in that?

Gru. O, sir, the conceit is deeper than you think for. .
Take up my mistress' gown to his master's use !
O, fie, fie, fie!
Pet. Hortensio, say thou wilt see the tailor paid.

[Aside. Go, take it hence; be gone, and say no more.

Hor. Tailor, I'll pay thee for thy gown to-morrow.
Take no unkindness of his hasty words:
Away, I say ; commend me to thy master.

Exit Tailor:
Pet. Well, come, my Kate; we will unto your

father's,

1 A round cape.

2 A quibble is intended between the written bill and the bill or weapon of a foot-soldier.

. Even in these honest, mean habiliments.
Our purses shall be proud, our garments poor ;
For 'tis the mind that makes the body rich;
And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,
So honor peereth in the meanest habit.
What, is the jay more precious than the lark,
Because his feathers are more beautiful ?
Or is the adder better than the eel,
Because his painted skin contents the eye?
O, no, good Kate; neither art thou the worse
For this poor furniture, and mean array.
If thou account'st it shame, lay it on me:
And therefore, frolic; we will hence forthwith,
To feast and sport us at thy father's house.-
Go, call my men, and let us straight to him;
And bring our horses unto Long-lane end;
There will we mount, and thither walk on foot.
Let's see; I think ’tis now some seven o'clock,
And well we may come there by dinner timer

Kath. I dare assure you, sir, ?tis almost two;
And 'twill be supper time, ere you come there.

Pet. It shall be seven, ere I go to horse; Look, what I speak, or do, or think to do, You are still crossing it. Sirs, let't alone. I will not go to-day; and ere I do, It shall be what o'clock I say it is. Hor. Why, so! This gallant will command the sun.

[Exeunt.

1

1 After this exeunt the characters before whom the play is supposed to pe exhibited, were introduced, from the old play, by Mr. Pope in his edition.

“ Lord. Who's within there? [Enter Servants.] Asleep again! Go take him easily up, and put him in his own apparel again. But see you wake him not in any case. Serv. It shall be done, my lord; come, help to bear him hence.

[They bear off Sly, Johnson thought the fifth act should begin here.

520

TAMING OF THE SHREW.

[ACT IV.

SCENE IV. Padua. Before Baptista's House.

Enter TRANIO, and the Pedant dressed like VIN

CENTIO.
Tra. Sir, this is the house. Please it you

that
I call ?
Ped. Ay, what else ? And, but I be deceived,
Seignior Baptista may remember me,
Near twenty years ago, in Genoa, where
We were lodgers at the Pegasus.
Tra.

'Tis well; And hold your own, in any case, with such Austerity as 'longeth to a father.

Enter BIONDELLO. Ped. I warrant you. But, sir, here comes your boy, 'Twere good he were schooled.

Tra. Fear you not him. Sirrah, Biondello,
Now do your duty throughly, I advise you;
Imagine 'twere the right

Vincentio.
Bion. Tut! fear not me.
Tra. But hast thou done thy errand to Baptista ?

Bion. 'I told him, that your father was at Venice; And that you looked for him this day in Padua.

Tra. Thou’rt a tall fellow ; hold thee that to drink. Here comes Baptista.--Set your countenance, sir.

ܪ

Enter BAPTISTA and LUCENTIO.
Seignior Baptista, you are happily met.-
Sir, [To the Pedant.]
This is the gentleman I told you of;
I

pray you, stand good father to me now, Give me Bianca for my patrimony.

Ped. Soft, son!

1 i. e, a high fellow, a brave boy.

Sir, by your leave: Having come to Padua
To gather in some debts, my son Lucentio
Made me acquainted with a weighty cause
Of love between your daughter and himself:
And,-for the good report I hear of you ;
And for the love he beareth to your daughter,
And she to him,--to stay him not too long,
I am content, in a good father's care,
To have him matched; and,—if you please to like
No worse than I, sir,-upon some agreement,
Me shall

you

find most ready and most willing With one consent to have her so bestowed; For curious 1 I cannot be with

you, Seignior Baptista, of whom I hear so well.

Bap. Sir, pardon me in what I have to say.-Your plainness, and your shortness, please me well. Right true it is, your son Lucentio here Doth love my daughter, and she loveth him, Or both dissemble deeply their affections; And, therefore, if you say no more than this, That like a father you will deal with him, And pass? my daughter a sufficient dower, The match is fully made, and all is done: Your son shall have my daughter with consent. Tra. I thank you, sir. Where then do you know

best, We be affied ;3. and such assurance ta’en, As shall with either part's agreement stand?

Bap. Not in my house, Lucentio; for you know, Pitchers have ears, and I have many servants. Besides, old Gremio is hearkening still ; And, happily,' we might be interrupted. Tra. Then at my lodging, an it like

you,

sir.
There doth my father lie; and there, this night,
We'll pass the business privately and well.
Send for your daughter by your servant here;

1 i. e. scrupulous.
2 Assure or convey; a law term.
3 Retrothed.

4 Happily, in Shakspeare's time, signified peradventure, as well as for. tinately; we now write it haply.

66

VOL. 11.

522

TAMING OF THE SHREW.

[ACT IV

your cheer.

My boy shall fetch the scrivener presently.
The worst is this,—that, at so slender warning,
You're like to have a thin and slender pittance.

Bap. It likes me well.-Cambio, hie you home,
And bid Bianca make her ready straight.
And, if you will, tell what hath happened ;
Lucentio's father is arrived in Padua,
And how she's like to be Lucentio's wife.

Luc. I pray the gods she may, with all my heart !

Tra. Dally not with the gods, but get thee gone. Seignior Baptista, shall I lead the way? Welcome! one mess is like to be Comé, sir; we'll better it in Pisa. Bap.

[Exeunt TRANIO, Pedant, and BAPTISTA. Bion. Cambio,Luc.

What say'st thou, Biondello? Bion. You saw my master wink and laugh upon you? Luc. Biondello, what of that?

Bion. Faith, nothing; but he has left me here behind, to expound the meaning or moral of his signs and tokens.

Luc. I pray thee, moralize them.

Bion. Then thus. Baptista is safe, talking with the deceiving father of a deceitful son.

Luc. And what of him?
Bion. His daughter is to be brought by you to

I follow you.

the supper.

Luc. And then ?

Bion. The old priest at St. Luke's church is at your command at all hours.

Luc. And what of all this?

Bion. I cannot tell ; except they are busied about a counterfeit assurance. Take you assurance of her, cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum, to the church; -take the priest, clerk, and some sufficient honest witnesses:

i The first folio reads expect.

2 These were the words of the old exclusive privilege for imprinting a book. A quibble is meant.