That, hearing of her beauty, and her wit, Her wondrous qualities, and mild behaviour,- Within your house, to make mine eye the witness [Presenting HORTENSIO. BAP. You're welcome, sir; and he, for your good sake: But for my daughter Katharine,—this I know, PET. I see, you do not mean to part with her Or else you like not of my company. ; BAP. Mistake me not, I speak but as I find. Whence are you, sir? what may I call your name? PET. Petruchio is my name; Antonio's son, A man well known throughout all Italy. BAP. I know him well: you are welcome for his sake. GRE. Saving your tale, Petruchio, I pray, Let us, that are poor petitioners, speak too: Baccare! you are marvellous forward.3 3 Baccare! you are marvellous forward.] We must readBaccalare; by which the Italians mean, thou arrogant, presumptuous man! the word is used scornfully upon any one that would assume a port of grandeur. WARBURTON, The word is neither wrong nor Italian: it was an old prover . PET. O, pardon me, signior Gremio; I would fain be doing. GRE. I doubt it not, sir; but you will curse your wooing. Neighbour, this is a gift very grateful, I am sure of it. To express the like kindness myself, that have been more kindly beholden to you than any, I freely give unto you this young scholar," [Present bial one, used by John Heywood; who hath made, what he pleases to call, Epigrams upon it. Take two of them, such as they are: "Backare, quoth Mortimer to his sow, "Went that sow backe at that bidding, trow you?" "Mortimer's sow speaketh as good Latin as he." Howel takes this from Heywood, in his Old Sawes and Adages: and Philpot introduces it into the proverbs collected by Camden. FARMER. Again, in the ancient Enterlude of The Repentance of Mary Magdalene, 1567: "Nay, hoa there, Backare, you must stand apart: Again, in John Lyly's Midas, 1592: "The masculine gender is more worthy than the feminine, and therefore, Licio, Backare." Again, in John Grange's Golden Aphroditis, 1577: "—yet wrested he so his effeminate bande to the siege of backwarde affection, that both trumpe and drumme sounded nothing for their larum, but Baccare, Baccare." STEEVENS. Neighbour,] The old copy has-neighbours. Corrected by Mr. Theobald. MALONE. • I doubt it not, sir; but you will curse your wooing.Neighbour, this is a gift-] The old copy gives the passage as follows: I doubt it not, sir. But you will curse Your wooing neighbors: this is a guift-. STEEVENS. This nonsense may be rectified by only pointing it thus: I doubt it not, sir, but you will curse your wooing. Neighbour, this is a gift, &c. addressing himself to Baptista. WARBURTON. • I freely give unto you this young scholar,] Our modern edi ing LUCENTIO.] that hath been long studying at Rheims; as cunning in Greek, Latin, and other languages, as the other in musick and mathematicks: his name is Cambio; pray, accept his service. BAP. A thousand thanks, signior Gremio: wel come, good Cambio. But,gentle sir, [To TRANIO.] methinks, you walk like a stranger; May I be so bold to know the cause of your coming? TRA. Pardon me, sir, the boldness is mine own; Nor is your firm resolve unknown to me, I may have welcome 'mongst the rest that woo, tors had been long content with the following sophisticated reading:-free leave give to this young scholar. STEEVENS. This is an injudicious correction of the first folio, which reads freely give unto this young scholar. We should read, I believe: I freely give unto you this young scholar, That hath been long studying at Rheims; as cunning If this emendation wanted any support, it might be had in the preceding part of this scene, where Petruchio, presenting Hortensio to Baptista, uses almost the same form of words: "And, for an entrance to my entertainment, "I do present you with a man of mine, Free leave give, &c. was the absurd correction of the editor of the third folio. MALONE. And this small packet of Greek and Latin books:" If you accept them, then their worth is great. BAP. Lucentio is your name ?8 of whence, I pray? TRA. Of Pisa, sir; son to Vincentio. BAP. A mighty man of Pisa; by report I know him well: you are very welcome, sir. 7 this small packet of Greek and Latin books:] In Queen Elizabeth's time the young ladies of quality were usually instructed in the learned languages, if any pains were bestowed on their minds at all. Lady Jane Grey and her sisters, Queen Elizabeth, &c. are trite instances. PERCY. • Lucentio is your name?] How should Baptista know this? Perhaps a line is lost, or perhaps our author was negligent. Mr. Theobald supposes they converse privately, and that thus the name is learned; but then the action must stand still; for there is no speech interposed between that of Tranio and this of Baptista. Another editor imagines that Lucentio's name was written on the packet of books. MALOne. 9 I know him well:] It appears in a subsequent part of this play, that Baptista was not personally acquainted with Vincentio. The pedant indeed talks of Vincentio and Baptista having lodged together twenty years before at an inn in Genoa; but this appears to have been a fiction for the nonce; for when the pretended Vincentio is introduced, Baptista expresses no surprise at his not being the same man with whom he had formerly been acquainted; and, when the real Vincentio appears, he supposes him an impostor. The words therefore, I know him well, must mean, "I know well who he is." Baptista uses the same words before, speaking of Petruchio's father: "I know him well; you are welcome for his sake"-where they must have the same meaning; viz. I know who he was; for Petruchio's father is supposed to have died before the commencement of this play. Some of the modern editors point the passage before us thus: A mighty man of Pisa; by report I know him well. but it is not so pointed in the old copy, and the regulation seems unnecessary, the very same words having been before used with equal licence concerning the father of Petruchio. Again, in Timon of Athens: "We know him for no less, though we are but strangers to him." MALONE. Take you [To HOR.] the lute, and you [To Luc.] the set of books, You shall go see your pupils presently. Sirrah, lead Enter a Servant. These gentlemen to my daughters; and tell them both, These are their tutors; bid them use them well. We will go walk a little in the orchard, PET. Signior Baptista, my business asketh haste, BAP. After my death, the one half of my lands: And, in possession, twenty thousand crowns. PET. And, for that dowry, I'll assure her of Her widowhood,2-be it that she survive me, And every day I cannot come to woo,] This is the burthen of part of an old ballad entitled The Ingenious Braggadocio: "And I cannot come every day to wooe." It appears also from a quotation in Puttenham's Arte of English Poesie, 1589, that it was a line in his Interlude, entitled The Woer: 2 "Iche praye you good mother tell our young dame "I cannot come a woing every day." STEEVENS. I'll assure her of Her widowhood,] Sir T. Hanmer reads-for her widowhood. |