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GRE. I am agreed: and 'would I had given him the best horse in Padua to begin his wooing, that would thoroughly woo her, wed her, and bed her, and rid the house of her. Come on.

[Exeunt GREMIO and HORTENSIO.

TRA. [Advancing.] I pray, sir, tell me,-Is it possible

That love should of a sudden take such hold?
Luc. O Tranio, till I found it to be true,
I never thought it possible, or likely;
But see! while idly I stood looking on,
I found the effect of love in idleness:
And now in plainness do confess to thee,-
That art to me as secret, and as dear,
As Anna to the queen of Carthage was,-
Tranio, I burn, I pine, I perish, Tranio,
If I achieve not this young modest girl :
Counsel me, Tranio, for I know thou canst;
Assist me, Tranio, for I know thou wilt.

TRA. Master, it is no time to chide you now; Affection is not rated from the heart:

distributed, though its original meaning was the provision given away at the doors of great men's houses. STEEVENS.

In Cupid's Revenge, by Beaumont and Fletcher, we meet with a similar expression, which may serve to explain that before us: "Then happy man be his fortune!" i. e. May his fortune be that of a happy man! MALONE.

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He that runs fastest, gets the ring.] An allusion to the sport of running at the ring. DOUCE.

is not rated - Is not driven out by chiding.

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MALONE.

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If love have touch'd you, nought remains but so, Redime te captum quam queas minimo.

Luc. Gramercies, lad; go forward: this contents;

The rest will comfort, for thy counsel's sound. TRA. Master, you look'd so longly on the maid, Perhaps you mark'd not what's the pith of all.

Luc. O yes, I saw sweet beauty in her face, Such as the daughter of Agenor3 had, That made great Jove to humble him to her hand, When with his knees he kiss'd the Cretan strand.

TRA. Saw you no more? mark'd you not, how her sister

• If love have touch'd you, nought remains but so,] The next line from Terence shows that we should read:

If Love hath toyl'd you,

i. e. taken you in his toils, his nets. Alluding to the captus est, habet, of the same author. WARBURTON.

It is a common expression at this day to say, when a bailiff has arrested a man, that he has touched him on the shoulder. Therefore touch'd is as good a translation of captus, as toyl'd would be. Thus, in As you like it, Rosalind says to Orlando: " Cupid hath clapt him on the shoulder, but I warrant him heart-whole."

M. MASON.

Redime &c.] Our author had this line from Lilly, which I mention, that it may not be brought as an argument for his learning. JOHNSON.

Dr. Farmer's pamphlet affords an additional proof that this line was taken from Lilly, and not from Terence; because it is quoted, as it appears in the grammarian, and not as it appears in the poet. It is introduced also in Decker's Bellman's NightWalk, &c. It may be added, that captus est, habet, is not in the same play which furnished the quotation. STEEVENS.

2

longly-] i. e. longingly. I have met with no example

of this adverb. STEEVENS.

3

daughter of Agenor

transformed himself into a bull.

Europa, for whose sake Jupiter
STEEVENS.

Began to scold; and raise up such a storm, That mortal ears might hardly endure the din ?

Luc. Tranio, I saw her coral lips to move, And with her breath she did perfume the air; Sacred, and sweet, was all I saw in her.

TRA. Nay, then, 'tis time to stir him from his

trance.

I pray, awake, sir; If you love the maid,
Bend thoughts and wits to achieve her. Thus it

stands :

Her elder sister is so curst and shrewd,
That, till the father rid his hands of her,
Master, your love must live a maid at home;
And therefore has he closely mew'd her up,
Because she shall not be annoy'd with suitors.

Luc. Ah, Tranio, what a cruel father's he!
But art thou not advis'd, he took some care
To get her cunning schoolmasters to instruct her?
TRA. Ay, marry, am I, sir; and now 'tis plotted.

Luc. I have it, Tranio.

TRA.

Master, for my hand,

Both our inventions meet and jump in one.

Luc. Tell me thine first.

TRA.

२.

You will be schoolmaster,

And undertake the teaching of the maid :

That's your device.

Luc.

It is: May it be done?

TRA. Not possible; For who shall bear your part,

And be in Padua here Vincentio's son ?

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- she shall not be annoy'd-] Old copy-she will not.

Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

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Keep house, and ply his book; welcome his friends; Visit his countrymen, and banquet them?

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Luc. Basta; content thee; for I have it full. We have not yet been seen in any house; Nor can we be distinguished by our faces, For man, or master: then it follows thus ;Thou shalt be master, Tranio, in my stead, Keep house, and port, and servants, as I should : I will some other be; some Florentine, Some Neapolitan, or mean man of Pisa. 'Tis hatch'd, and shall be so :-Tranio, at once Uncase thee; take my colour'd hat and cloak : When Biondello comes, he waits on thee; But I will charm him first to keep his tongue.

TRA. So had you need. [They exchange habits.
In brief then, sir, sith it your pleasure is,
And I am tied to be obedient;

(For so your father charg'd me at our parting;
Be serviceable to my son, quoth he,
Although, I think, 'twas in another sense,)
I am content to be Lucentio,

Because so well I love Lucentio.

* Basta ;] i. e. 'tis enough; Italian and Spanish. This expression occurs in The Mad Lover, and The Little French Lawyer, of Beaumont and Fletcher. STEEVENS.

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I have it full.] i. e. conceive our stratagem in its full extent, I have already planned the whole of it. So, in Othello: " I have it, 'tis engender'd-." STEEVENS.

7

port,] Port is figure, show, appearance. JOHNSON.

So, in The Merchant of Venice :

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" 'Tis not unknown to you, Antonio,

"How much I have disabled mine estate

" By something showing a more swelling port

" Than my faint means would grant continuance."

REED.

- or mean man of Pisa.] The old copy, regardless of metre, reads-meaner. STEEVENS.

1

Luc. Tranio, be so, because Lucentio loves : And let me be a slave, to achieve that maid Whose sudden sight hath thrall'd my wounded eye.

roulland is Enter BIONDELLO.

Here comes the rogue. --Sirrah, where have you been?

BION. Where have I been? Nay, how now, where are you?

Master, has my fellow Tranio stol'n your clothes? Or you stol'n his? or both? pray, what's the news?

Luc. Sirrah, come hither; 'tis no time to jest, And therefore frame your manners to the time. Your fellow Tranio here, to save my life, Puts my apparel and my countenance on, And I for my escape have put on his; For in a quarrel, since I came ashore, I kill'd a man, and fear I was descried:o Wait you on him, I charge you, as becomes, While I make way from hence to save my life: You understand me?

BION.

I, sir? ne'er a whit.

Luc. And not a jot of Tranio in your mouth; Tranio is chang'd into Lucentio.

9

BION. The better for him; 'Would I were so

too!

TRA. So would I,' 'faith, boy, to have the next wish after,

and fear I was descried:] i.e. I fear I was observed in the act of killing him. The editor of the third folio reads-I am descried; which has been adopted by the modern editors.

MALONE.

So would I,] The old copy has-could. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

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