PET. Alas, good Kate! I will not burden thee: For, knowing thee to be but young and light,—

4: KATH. Too light for such a swain as you to

catch;

And yet as heavy as my weight should be."

PET. Should be? should buz.

ΚΑΤΗ.

A

Well ta'en, and like a buzzard. PET. O, slow-wing'd turtle! shall a buzzard take thee?

KATH. Ay, for a turtle; as he takes a buzzard.2
PET. Come, come, you wasp; i'faith, you are

too angry.

KATH. If I be waspish, best beware my sting.
PET. My remedy is then, to pluck it out.
KATH. Ay, if the fool could find it where it lies.
PET. Who knows not where a wasp doth wear
his sting?

. In his tail.

KATH.

PET.

In his tongue.

Whose tongue?

3

KATH. Yours, if you talk of tails; and so fare

well.

Ay, for a turtle; as he takes a buzzard.] Perhaps we may

read better

Ay, for a turtle, and he takes a buzzard.

That is, he may take me for a turtle, and he shall find me a hawk. JOHNSON.

This kind of expression likewise seems to have been proverbial. So, in The Three Lords of London, 1590:

66 hast no more skill,

"Than take a faulcon for a buzzard?" STEEVENs.

Yours, if you talk of tails;] The old copy reads-tales, and it may perhaps be right." Yours, if your talk be no better than an idle tale." Our author is very fond of using words of

PET. What, with my tongue in your tail? nay,

come again,

Good Kate; I am a gentleman.

KATH.

d br

That I'll try.

[Striking him.

PET. I swear I'll cuff you, if you strike again. KATH. So may you lose your arms: If you strike me, you are no gentleman; And if no gentleman, why, then no arms.

PET. A herald, Kate? O, put me in thy books. KATH. What is your crest? a coxcomb?

PET. A combless cock, so Kate will be my hen. KATH. No cock of mine, you crow too like a

craven.1

PET. Nay, come, Kate, come; you must not look so sour.

KATH. It is my fashion, when I see a crab.
PET. Why, here's no crab; and therefore look

not sour.

KATH. There is, there is.

PET. Then show it me.

similar sounds in different senses.-I have, however, followed the emendation made by Mr. Pope, which all the modern editors have adopted. MALONE.

a craven.] A craven is a degenerate, dispirited cock. So, in Rhodon and Iris, 1631:

"That he will pull the craven from his nest.'

STEEVENS.

Craven was a term also applied to those who in appeals of battle became recreant, and by pronouncing this word, called for quarter from their opponents; the consequence of which was, that they for ever after were deemed infamous.

See note on 'Tis Pity she's a Whore. Dodsley's Collection of Old Plays, Vol. VIII, p. 10, edit. 1780. REED.

ΚΑΤΗ.

Had I a glass, I would.

Well aim'd of such a young one.

PET. What, you mean my face?

KATH.

PET. Now, by Saint George, I am too young

for you.

KATH. Yet you are wither'd.

PET.

ΚΑΤΗ.

'Tis with cares.

I care not.

PET. Nay, hear you, Kate: in sooth, you 'scape

not so.

KATH. I chafe you, if I tarry;

let me go.

PET. No, not a whit; I find you passing gentle. 'Twas told me, you were rough, and coy, and sullen, And now I find report a very liar;

For thou art pleasant, gamesome, passing courteous;
But slow in speech, yet sweet as spring-time flowers:
Thou canst not frown, thou canst not look askance,
Nor bite the lip, as angry wenches will;
Nor hast thou pleasure to be cross in talk;
But thou with mildness entertain'st thy wooers,
With gentle conference, soft and affable.
Why does the world report, that Kate doth limp?
O slanderous world! Kate, like the hazle-twig,
Is straight, and slender; and as brown in hue
As hazle nuts, and sweeter than the kernels.
O, let me see thee walk: thou dost not halt.
KATH. Go, fool, and whom thou keep'st com-
mand.5

PET. Did ever Dian so become a grove,

As Kate this chamber with her princely gait?

• Go, fool, and whom thou keep'st command.] This is exactly the ΠασσάμενΘ επιτασσε of Theocritus, Eid. xv. v. 90, and yet I would not be positive that Shakspeare had ever read even a translation of Theocritus. TYRWHITT.

O, be thou Dian, and let her be Kate;

And then let Kate be chaste, and Dian sportful! KATH. Where did you study all this goodly speech? PET. It is extempore, from my mother-wit. KATH. A witty mother! witless else her son. PET. Am I not wise?

KATH.

Yes; keep you warm.

PET. Marry, so I mean, sweet Katharine in thy bed:

And therefore, setting all this chat aside,
Thus in plain terms:-Your father hath consented
That you shall be my wife; your dowry 'greed on;
And, will you, nill you,' I will marry you.
Now, Kate, I am a husband for your turn;
For, by this light, whereby I see thy beauty,
(Thy beauty, that doth make me like thee well,)
Thou must be married to no man but me:
For I am he, am born to tame you, Kate;
And bring you from a wild cat to a Kate

6 Pet. Am I not wise?

Kath. Yes; keep you warm.] So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Lady:

66

your house has been kept warm, sir.

"I am glad to hear it; pray God, you are wise too." Again, in our poet's Much Ado about Nothing:

7

that if he has wit enough to keep himself warm.' STEEVENS.

nill you,] So, in The Death of Robert Earl of Huntington, 1601:

"Will you or nill you, you must yet go in.” Again, in Damon and Pithias, 1571:

8

"Neede hath no law; will I, or nill I, it must be done." STEEVENS

a wild cat to a Kate-] The first folio reads: —a wild Kate to a Kate, &c.

The second folio

- a wild Kat to a Kate &c. STEEVENS.

Conformable, as other houshold Kates.
Here comes your father; never make denial,
I must and will have Katharine to my wife.

Re-enter BAPTISTA, GREMIO, and TRANIO.

BAP. Now,

Signior Petruchio: How speed you with
My daughter?

PET.

How but well, sir? how but well? It were impossible, I should speed amiss.

BAP. Why, how now, daughter Katharine? in your dumps?

KATH. Call you me, daughter? now I promise

you,

You have show'd a tender fatherly regard,
To wish me wed to one half lunatick;

A mad-cap ruffian, and a swearing Jack,
That thinks with oaths to face the matter out.

PET. Father, 'tis thus,-yourself and all the world,

That talk'd of her, have talk'd amiss of her;
If she be curst, it is for policy:

For she's not froward, but modest as the dove;
She is not hot, but temperate as the morn;
For patience she will prove a second Grissel;"

The editor of the second folio with some probability readsfrom a wild Kat (meaning certainly cat). So before: "But will you woo this wild cat?" MAlone.

a second Grissel; &c.] So, in The Fair Maid of Bristow, 1604, bl. 1:

"I will become as mild and dutiful

"As ever Grissel was unto her lord,

"And for my constancy as Lucrece was."

There is a play entered at Stationers' Hall, May 28, 1599, called