Therefore, they thought it good you hear a play,
And frame your mind to mirth and merriment,
Which bars a thousand harms, and lengthens life.

Sly. Marry, I will let them play it. Is not a commonty a Christmas gambol, or a tumbling-trick?

Page. No, my good lord: it is more pleasing stuff. Sly. What, household stuff?

Page. It is a kind of history.

Sly. Well, we'll see't. Come, madam wife, sit by my side,

And let the world slip: we shall ne'er be younger.

ACT I. SCENE I.

Padua. A public Place.

Enter LUCENTIO and TRANIO.

Luc. Tranio, since, for the great desire I had
To see fair Padua, nursery of arts,
I am arriv'd for fruitful Lombardy,
The pleasant garden of great Italy;

And, by my father's love and leave, am arm'd
With his good will, and thy good company,
My trusty servant, well approv'd in all,
Here let us breathe, and haply institute1o
A course of learning, and ingenious studies.
Pisa, renowned for grave citizens,

9 My trusty servant,] Malone's Shakespeare, by Boswell, has Most.

10

66

and HAPLY institute-] In the modern editions, "haply" is misprinted happily, which is a distinct word, with a different etymology. Haply" means perhaps, and not fortunately. So at the end of the first scene of the Induction, the lord says,

"haply, my presence

May well abate," &c.

In both cases, the line requires a word of two and not of three syllables. When the line requires that "haply" should be pronounced as a trisyllable, it was generally spelt "happily." A. iv. sc. 4, of this comedy affords examples of "happily" used in both senses.

Gave me my being; and my father, first
A merchant of great traffic through the world,
Vincentio's come of the Bentivolii'.

Vincentio's son, brought up in Florence,

It shall become, to serve all hopes conceiv'd,
To deck his fortune with his virtuous deeds:
And therefore, Tranio, for the time I study
Virtue, and that part of philosophy
Will I apply, that treats of happiness
By virtue specially to be achiev'd.
Tell me thy mind; for I have Pisa left,
And am to Padua come, as he that leaves
A shallow plash, to plunge him in the deep,
And with satiety seeks to quench his thirst.

Tra. Mi perdonate, gentle master mine,
I am in all affected as yourself,
Glad that you thus continue your resolve,
To suck the sweets of sweet philosophy:
Only, good master, while we do admire
This virtue, and this moral discipline,
Let's be no stoics, nor no stocks, I pray;
Or so devote to Aristotle's checks,
As Ovid be an outcast quite abjur'd.

Talk logic2 with acquaintance that you have,
And practise rhetoric in your common talk:
Music and poesy use to quicken you:
The mathematics, and the metaphysics,

Fall to them as you find your stomach serves you.
No profit grows, where is no pleasure ta’en :---
In brief, sir, study what you most affect.

Luc. Gramercies, Tranio, well dost thou advise.

If, Biondello, thou wert come ashore,

1 Vincentio's come of the Bentivolii.] i. e. "My father, first a merchant of great traffic through the world, Vincentio, is come of the Bentivolii." This is the old and rather obscure reading; but to vary from it, as has been usually done, makes the sense even less clear. By "Vincentio's son," in the next line, Lucentio, of course, means himself.

2 TALK logic-] Old copies, Balk. Corrected by Rowe.

We could at once put us in readiness,
And take a lodging fit to entertain

Such friends as time in Padua shall beget.
But stay awhile: what company is this?

Tra. Master, some show, to welcome us to town.

Enter BAPTISTA, KATHARINA, BIANCA, GREMIO, and HORTENSIO. LUCENTIO and TRANIO stand aside.

Bap. Gentlemen, importune me no farther, For how I firmly am resolv'd you know; That is, not to bestow my youngest daughter, Before I have a husband for the elder. If either of you both love Katharina, Because I know you well, and love you well, Leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure. Gre. To cart her rather: she's too rough for me.There, there, Hortensio, will you any wife?

Kath. [To BAP.] I pray you, sir, is it your will To make a stale of me amongst these mates?

Hor. Mates, maid! how mean you that? no mates

Unless

for you,

you were of gentler, milder mould. Kath. I'faith, sir, you shall never need to fear:

I wis, it is not half way to her heart;

But, if it were, doubt not her care should be
To comb your noddle with a three-legg'd stool,
And paint your face, and use you like a fool.
Hor. From all such devils, good Lord, deliver us!

Gre. And me too, good Lord!

Tra. Hush, master! here is some good pastime

toward:

That wench is stark mad, or wonderful froward.

Luc. But in the other's silence do I see

Maids' mild behaviour, and sobriety.

Peace, Tranio!

Tra. Well said, master: mum! and gaze your fill. Bap. Gentlemen, that I may soon make good

What I have said,-Bianca, get you in:
And let it not displease thee, good Bianca,
For I will love thee ne'er the less, my girl.
Kath. A pretty peat3! it is best

Put finger in the eye,-an she knew why.

Bian. Sister, content you in my discontent.—
Sir, to your pleasure humbly I subscribe:

My books, and instruments, shall be my company,
On them to look, and practise by myself.

Luc. Hark, Tranio! thou may'st hear Minerva speak. Hor. Signior Baptista, will you be so strange?

Sorry am I, that our good will effects

Bianca's grief.

Gre.

Why, will you mew her up,

Signior Baptista, for this fiend of hell,

And make her bear the penance of her tongue?
Bap. Gentlemen, content ye; I am resolv'd.—
Go in, Bianca.

And for I know, she taketh most delight

[Exit BIANCA.

In music, instruments, and poetry,
Schoolmasters will I keep within my house,
Fit to instruct her youth.—If you, Hortensio,
Or signior Gremio, you, know any such,
Prefer them hither; for to cunning men
I will be very kind, and liberal

To mine own children in good bringing-up';
And so farewell. Katharina, you may stay,
For I have more to commune with Bianca.

[Exit.
Kath. Why, and I trust, I may go too; may I not?
What! shall I be appointed hours, as though, belike,
I knew not what to take, and what to leave? Ha!

[Exit.

Gre. You may go to the devil's dam: your gifts are so good, here's none will hold you. Their love is not so great, Hortensio, but we may blow our nails toge3 A pretty PEAT !] "Peat or pet," says Johnson, "is a word of endearment, from petit, little." Possibly it is from petto, Ital.

ther, and fast it fairly out: our cake's dough on both sides. Farewell:-yet, for the love I bear my sweet Bianca, if I can by any means light on a fit man to teach her that wherein she delights, I will wish him to her father1.

Hor. So will I, signior Gremio: but a word, I pray. Though the nature of our quarrel yet never brook'd parle, know now upon advice, it toucheth us both, that we may yet again have access to our fair mistress, and be happy rivals in Bianca's love, to labour and effect one thing 'specially".

Gre. What's that, I pray?

Hor. Marry, sir, to get a husband for her sister.
Gre. A husband! a devil.

Hor. I say, a husband.

Gre. I say, a devil. Think'st thou, Hortensio, though her father be very rich, any man is so very a fool to be married to hell?

Hor. Tush, Gremio! though it pass your patience, and mine, to endure her loud alarums, why, man, there be good fellows in the world, an a man could light on them, would take her with all faults, and money enough.

Gre. I cannot tell, but I had as lief take her dowry with this condition,-to be whipped at the high-cross every morning.

Hor. 'Faith, as you say, there's small choice in rotten apples. But, come; since this bar in law makes us friends, it shall be so far forth friendly maintained, till by helping Baptista's eldest daughter to a husband, we set his youngest free for a husband, and then have

— I will WISH him to her father.] i. e. I will recommend him to wish was often used in this sense. In Act i. sc. 2, of this play, Hortensio says, " And wish thee to a shrewd ill-favour'd wife."

5- to labour and effect one thing 'specially.] The whole of this speech by Hortensio runs metrically, and, with very slight alteration, it might be reduced to regular verse. The same remark may apply, though not so obviously, to another speech by Hortensio, beginning, "Tush, Gremio!" They were, perhaps, measure in the original MS.