8 Then give me leave to read philosophy, HOR. You'll leave his lecture when I am in tune? Luc. Here madam : Hac ibat Simois; hic est Sigeia tellus; BIAN. Construe them. Luc. Hac ibat, as I told you before, Simois, I am Lucentio,-hic est, son unto Vincentio of Pisa, -Sigeia tellus, disguised thus to get your love ;Hic steterat, and that Lucentio that comes a wooing, -Priami, is my man Tranio,-regia, bearing my 8 no breeching scholar-] i. e. no school-boy liable to corporal correction. So, in King Edward the Second, by Marlow, 1598: "Whose looks were as a breeching to a boy." Again, in The Hog has lost his Pearl, 1614: 66 he went to fetch whips, I think, and, not respecting my honour, he would have breech'd me." Again, in Amends for Ladies, 1618: "If I had had a son of fourteen that had served me so, I would have breech'd him." STEevens. port,-celsa senis, that we might beguile the old pantaloon." HOR. Madam, my instrument's in tune. BIAN. Let's hear; O fye! the treble jars. [Returning. [HORTENSIO plays. Luc. Spit in the hole, man, and tune again. BIAN. Now let me see if I can construe it: Hac ibat Simois, I know you not; hic est Sigeia tellus, I trust you not;-Hic steterat Priami, take heed he hear us not;-regia, presume not;—celsa senis, despair not. HOR. Madam, 'tis now in tune. Luc. All but the base. HOR. The base is right; 'tis the base knave that jars. How fiery and forward our pedant is! Now, for my life, the knave doth court my love: Pedascule,' I'll watch you better yet. BIAN. In time I may believe, yet I mistrust.2 Luc. Mistrust it not; for, sure, acides Was Ajax,3-call'd so from his grandfather. 9 - pantaloon.] The old cully in Italian farces. JOHNSON. 'Pedascule,] He should have said, Didascale, but thinking this too honourable, he coins the word Pedascule, in imitation of it, from pedant. WARBURTON, I believe it is no coinage of Shakspeare's, it is more probable that it lay in his way, and he found it. STEEVENS. 2 In time I may believe, yet I mistrust.] This and the seven verses that follow, have in all the editions been stupidly shuffled and misplaced to wrong speakers; so that every word said was glaringly out of character. THEOBALD. -for, sure, Eacides &c.] This is only said to deceive BIAN. I must believe my master; else, I promise you, I should be arguing still upon that doubt: you both. HOR. You may go walk, [To LUCENTIO.] and give me leave awhile; My lessons make no musick in three parts. [Aside. BIAN. Why, I am past my gamut long ago. Hortensio, who is supposed to listen. The pedigree of Ajax, however, is properly made out, and might have been taken from Golding's version of Ovid's Metamorphosis, Book XIII: 5 66 66 The highest Jove of all Acknowledgeth this Eacus, and dooth his sonne him call. "Thus am I Ajax third from Jove." STEEVENS. Good masters,] Old copy-master. Corrected by Mr. Pope. but I be deceiv'd,] But has here the signification of unless. MALone. BIAN. [Reads.] Gamut I am, the ground of all accord, A re, to plead Hortensio's passion; Call you this-gamut? tut! I like it not: Enter a Servant." SERV. Mistress, your father prays you leave your books, And help to dress your sister's chamber up; stay. • To change true rules for odd inventions.] The old copy reads -To charge true rules for old inventions: The former emendation was made by the editor of the second folio; the latter by Mr. Theobald. Old, however, may be right. I believe, an opposition was intended. As change was corrupted into charge, why might not true have been put instead of new? Perhaps the author wrote: To change new rules for old inventions. i. e. to accept of new rules in exchange for old inventions. MALONE. 7 Enter a Servant.] The old copy reads-Enter a Messenger -who, at the beginning of his speech is called-Nicke. RITSON. Meaning, I suppose, Nicholas Tooley. See Mr. Malone's Historical Account of the English Stage. STEEVENS. Yet if thy thoughts, Bianca, be so humble, [Exit. SCENE II. The same. Before Baptista's House. Enter BAPTISTA, GREMIO, TRANIO, KATHARINE, BIANCA, LUCENTIO, and Attendants. BAP. Signior Lucentio, [To TRANIO.] this is the 'pointed day That Katharine and Petruchio should be married, KATH. No shame but mine: I must, forsooth, be forc❜d To give my hand, oppos'd against my heart, Hiding his bitter jests in blunt behaviour: And, to be noted for a merry man, He'll woo a thousand, 'point the day of marriage, '-full of spleen;] That is, full of humour, caprice, and inconstancy. JOHNSON. So, in The First Part of King Henry IV: "A hare-brain'd Hotspur, govern'd by a spleen." M. MASON. |