Bian. Fye! what a foolish duty call you this? Luc. I would, your duty were as foolish too: The wisdom of your duty, fair Bianca,

Hath cost me an hundred crowns since supper-time.
Bian. The more fool you, for laying on my duty.
Pet. Katharine, I charge thee, tell these headstrong

women

What duty they do owe their lords and husbands.

Wid. Come, come, you're mocking; we will have no telling.

Pet. Come on, I say; and first begin with her.
Wid. She shall not.

Pet. I say, she shall ;-and first begin with her.

Kath. Fye, fye! unknit that threat'ning unkind brow; And dart not scornful glances from those eyes,

To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor :

It blots thy beauty, as frosts bite the meads † ;
Confounds thy fame, as whirlwinds shake fair buds ;
And in no sense is meet, or amiable.

A woman mov'd, is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
And, while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip, or touch one drop of it.
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance: commits his body
To painful labour, both by sea and land;
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
While thou liest warm at home, secure and safe;
And craves no other tribute at thy hands,
But love, fair looks, and true obedience ;-
Too little payment for so great a debt.
Such duty as the subject owes the prince,
Even such, a woman oweth to her husband:
And, when she's froward, peevish, sullen, sour,

+ "As frosts do bite" &c.-MALONE.

And, not obedient to his honest will,
What is she, but a foul contending rebel,
And graceless traitor to her loving lord ?—
I am asham'd, that women are so simple
To offer war, where they should kneel for peace;
Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway,

When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.
Why are our bodies soft, and weak, and smooth,
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world;

But that our soft conditions, and our hearts,
Should well agree with our external parts?
Come, come, you froward and unable worms!
My mind hath been as big as one of yours,
My heart as great; my reason, haply, more,
To bandy word for word, and frown for frown;
But now,
I see our lances are but straws;
Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare,—
That seeming to be most, which we least are †.
Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot;
And place your hands below your husband's foot:
In token of which duty, if he please,

My hand is ready, may it do him ease.

Pet. Why, there's a wench!-Come on, and kiss me, Kate.

Luc. Well, go thy ways, old lad: for thou shalt ha't. Vin. 'Tis a good hearing, when children are toward. Luc. But a harsh hearing, when women are froward.

Pet. Come, Kate, we'll to-bed:

We three are married, but you two are sped.

2

our soft conditions,] The gentle qualities of our minds. + we indeed least are." MALONE.

66

3 Then vail your stomachs, -] i. e. abate your pride, your spirit.

you two are sped.] i. e. the fate of you both is decided; for you have wives who exhibit early proofs of disobedience. D d

VOL. III.

'Twas I won the wager, though you hit the white';

[TO LUCENTIO.

And, being a winner, God give you good night!

5

[Exeunt PETRUCHIO and KATH. Hor. Now go thy ways, thou hast tam'd a curst shrew. Luc. 'Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be tam'd

So.

[Exeunt.

though you hit the white ;] To hit the white is a phrase borrowed from archery: the mark was commonly white. Here it alludes to the name, Bianca, or white.

Of this play the two plots are so well united, that they can hardly be called two without injury to the art with which they are interwoven. The attention is entertained with all the variety of a double plot, yet is not distracted by unconnected incidents.

The part between Katharine and Petruchio is eminently spritely and diverting. At the marriage of Bianca the arrival of the real father, perhaps, produces more perplexity than pleasure. The whole play is very popular and diverting. JOHNSON.

Steevens and Malone have mentioned several authors by whom stories, like that of Sly in the induction, have been told, but it is rather singular they should make no mention of the " Sleeper Awakened," in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments, vol. iii. C.

WINTER'S TALE.