Till Katharine the curst have got a husband.
Gru. Katharine the curst!

A title for a maid, of all titles the worst.

Hor. Now shall my friend Petruchio do me grace; And offer me, disguis'd in sober robes,

To old Baptista as a schoolmaster

Well seen in musick,3 to instruct Bianca:

That so I may by this device, at least,
Have leave and leisure to make love to her,
And, unsuspected, court her by herself.

Enter GREMIO; with him LUCENTIO disguised, with books under his arm.

Gru. Here's no knavery! See; to beguile the old folks, how the young folks lay their heads together! Master, master, look about you: Who goes there? ha! Hor. Peace, Grumio; 'tis the rival of my love:Petruchio, stand by a while.

Gru. A proper stripling, and an amorous! [They retire.
Gre. O, very well; I have perus'd the note.
Hark you, sir; I'll have them very fairly bound:
All books of love, see that at any hand;4

And see you read no other lectures to her:
You understand me:-Over and beside
Signior Baptista's liberality,

I 'Il mend it with a largess:-Take your papers too,
And let me have them very well perfum'd;

For she is sweeter than perfume itself,

To whom they go." What will you read to her?

3 Well seen in musick,] Seen is versed, practised. So, in a very ancient comedy called The longer thou livest the more Fool thou art:

"Sum would have you seen in stories,

"Sum to feates of arms will you allure, &c.
"Sum will move you to reade Scripture.

"Marry, I would have you seene in cardes and dise."

Again, in Spenser's Fairy Queen, B. IV, c. ii:

"Well scene in every science that mote bee."

Again, in Chapman's version of the 19th Iliad:

"Seven ladies excellently seen in all Minerva's skill."

Steevens.

4 — at any hand;] i. e. at all events. So, in All's well that ends well:

66 let him fetch off his drum, in any hand." Steevens.

Luc. Whate'er I read to her, I'll plead for you,
As for my patron, (stand you so assur'd)
As firmly as yourself were still in place:
Yea, and (perhaps) with more successful words
Than you, unless you were a scholar, sir.
Gre. O this learning! what a thing it is!
Gru. O this woodcock! what an ass it is!
Pet. Peace, sirrah.

Hor. Grumio, mum!-God save you, signior Gremio!
Gre. And you're well met, signior Hortensio.

you,

Whither I am going?-To Baptista Minola.
I promis'd to inquire carefully

About a schoolmaster for fair Bianca:6

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 you.
Hor. 'Tis well: and I have met a gentleman,
Hath promis'd me to help me to another,

A fine musician to instruct our mistress;

So shall I no whit be behind in duty

To fair Bianca, so belov'd of me.

Trow

Gre. Belov'd of me,-and that my deeds shall prove.
Gru. And that his bags shall prove.

[Aside. Hor. Gremio, 'tis now no time to vent our love:

Listen to me, and if you speak 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 woo curst Katharine;
Yea, and to marry her, if her dowry please.
Gre. So said, so done, is well:-
Hortensio, have you told him all her faults?

Pet. I know she is an irksome brawling scold;
If that be all, masters, I hear no harm.

5 To whom they go.] The old copy reads-To whom they go

6

Steevens.

to.

-for fair Bianca:] The old copy redundantly reads-" for the fair Bianca."

7

Steevens.

help me ] The old copy reads-help one. Steevens. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. Malone.

Gre. No, say'st me so, friend? What countryman? Pet. Born in Verona, old Antonio's son;8 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.

But will you woo this wild cat?

Pet.

Will I live?

Gru. Will he woo her? ay, or I'll hang her. [Aside.
Pet. Why came I hither, but to that intent?
Think you, a little din can daunt mine ears?
Have I not in my time heard lions roar?
Have I not heard the sea, puff'd up with winds,
Rage like an angry boar, chafed with sweat?
Have I not heard great ordnance in the field,
And heaven's artillery thunder in the skies?
Have I not in a pitched battle heard
Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets' clang?

8 old Antonio's son:
:] The old copy reads-Butonio's son.

Corrected by Mr. Rowe. Malone.

Steevens.

9 and trumpet's clang?] Probably the word clang is here used adjectively, as in the Paradise Lost, B. XI, v. 834, and not as a verb.

66 — an island salt and bare,

"The haunt of seals, and orcs, and sea-mews clang."

T. Warton.

I believe Mr. Warton is mistaken. Clang, as a substantive, is used in The Noble Gentleman of Beaumont and Fletcher: "I hear the clang of trumpets in this house."

Again, in Tamburlaine, &c. 1590:

66 hear you the clang

"Of Scythian trumpets?"

Again, in The Cobler's Prophecy, 1594:

"The trumpets clang, and roaring noise of drums."

Again, in Claudius Tiberius Nero, 1607:

"Hath not the clang of harsh Armenian troops," &c. Again, in Drant's translation of Horace's Art of Poetry, 1567:

"Fit for a chorus, and as yet the boystus sounde and shryll "Of trumpetes clang the stalles was not accustomed to fill." Lastly, in Turberville's translation of Ovid's epistle from Medea to Fason:

"Doleful to me than is the trumpet's clang."

The Trumpets' clang is certainly the clang of trumpets, and not an -epithet bestowed on those instruments. Steevens.

And do you tell me of a woman's tongue;
That gives not half so great a blow to the ear,1
As will a chesnut in a farmer's fire?

Tush! tush! fear boys with bugs.2

Gru.

Gre. Hortensio, hark!

This gentleman is happily arriv'd,

For he fears none.

[Aside.

"

ours My mind presumes, for his own good, and yours."
Hor. I promis'd, we would be contributors,
And bear his charge of wooing, whatsoe❜er.
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?

Gre. He that has the two fair daughters:-is 't [aside to TRA.] he you mean?3

1 so great a blow to the ear,] The old copy reads-to hear. Steevens.

This aukward phrase could never come from Shakspeare. He wrote, without question:

so great a blow to th' ear.

Warburton.

The emendation is Sir T. Hanmer's. Malone.
So, in King John:

2

"Our ears are cudgell'd; not a word of his
"But buffets better than a fist of France."
with bugs.] i. e. with bug-bears.

Steevens.

He that has the two fair daughters: &c.] In the old copy, this speech is given to Biondello. Steevens.

It should rather be given to Gremio; to whom, with the others, Tranio has addressed himself. The following passages might be written thus:

Gre. Hark you, sir; you mean not her too. Tyrwhitt.

I think the old copy, both here and in the preceding speech is right. Biondello adds to what his master had said, the words"He that has the two fair daughters," to ascertain more precisely the person for whom he had inquired; and then addresses Tranio: "is 't he you mean?""

Gre. Hark you, sir; You mean not her to

Tra. Perhaps, him and her, sir; What have you to do?

Pet. Not 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;—

[Aside.

Are you a suitor 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 so is not she.

Tra. For what reason, I beseech you?

Gre. For this reason, if you 'll know,

That she's the choice love of signior Gremio.

Hor. That she's the chosen of signior Hortensio.
Tra. Softly, my masters! if you be gentlemen,
Do me this right,—hear me with patience.
Baptista is a noble gentleman,

To whom my father is not all unknown;
And, were his daughter fairer than she is,
She may more suitors have, and me for one.
Fair Leda's daughter had a thousand wooers;
Then well one more may fair Bianca have:
And so she shall; Lucentio shall make one,
Though 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. Hortensio, to what end are all these words?
Hor. Sir, let me be so bold as to ask you,
Did you yet ever see Baptista's daughter?
Tra. No, sir; but hear I do, that he hath two;
The one as famous for a scolding tongue,

woo.

You mean not her to-] I believe, an abrupt sentence was intended; or perhaps Shakspeare might have written-her to Tranio in his answer might mean, that he would woo the father, to obtain his consent, and the daughter for herself. This, however, will not complete the metre. I incline, therefore, to my first supposition. Malone.

I have followed Mr. Tyrwhitt's regulation. Steevens.