PET. You lie, in faith; for you are call'd plain
Kate,

And bonny Kate, and sometimes Kate the curst;
But Kate, the prettiest Kate in Christendom,
Kate of Kate-Hall, my super-dainty Kate,

For dainties are all cates: and therefore, Kate,
Take this of me, Kate of my consolation;-
Hearing thy mildness prais'd in every town,
Thy virtues spoke of, and thy beauty sounded,
(Yet not so deeply as to thee belongs,)
Myself am mov'd to woo thee for my wife.

KATH. Mov'd! in good time: let him that mov'd
you hither,

Remove you hence I knew you at the first,
You were a moveable.

PET.

KATH. A joint-stool."

PET.

Why, what's a moveable?

Thou hast hit it: come, sit on me. KATH. Asses are made to bear, and so are you. PET. Women are made to bear, and so are you. KATH. No such jade, sir,' as you, if me you

mean.

• A joint-stool.] This is a proverbial expression:

Cry you mercy, I took you for a join'd stool."
See Ray's Collection. It is likewise repeated as a proverb in
Mother Bombie, a comedy, by Lyly, 1594, and by the Fool in
King Lear. STEEVENS.

No such jade, sir,] The latter word, which is not in the old copy, was supplied by the editor of the second folio. MALONE.

Perhaps we should read-no such jack. However, there is authority for jade in a male sense. So, in Soliman and Perseda, Piston says of Basilisco, " He just like a knight! He'll just like a jade." FARmer.

So, before, p. 68: "I know he'll prove a jade." MALONE

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

KATH.

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.

3

KATH.

PET.

In his tongue.

Whose tongue?

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:

3 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

[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. Ambless cock, so Kate will be

my hen. KATH. No cock of mine, you crow too like a

craven.4

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.

KATH.

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.

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

not so.

you,

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 Пaroάuey ETITATGE 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?

8

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

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:

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

7-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:

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

8 -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.