Tra. Not possible; For who shall bear your part, And be in Padua here Vincentio's son? Keep house, and ply his book; welcome his friends; Visit his countrymen, and banquet them? Luc. Basta;' content thee; for I have it full." We have not yet been seen in any house; Nor can we be distinguished by our faces, For man, or master: then it follows thus:Thou shalt be master, Tranio, in my stead, Keep house, and port,' and servants, as I should: I will some other be; some Florentine, Some Neapolitan, or mean man of Pisa. 'Tis hatch'd, and shall be so:-Tranio, at once Uncase thee; take my colour'd hat and cloak: When Biondella comes, he waits on thee; But I will charm him first to keep his tongue. Tra. So had you need. [They exchange habits. In brief then, sir, sith it your pleasure is, And I am tied to be obedient; (For so your father charg'd me at our parting; Although, I think, 'twas in another sense,) Because so well I love Lucentio. Luc. Tranio, be so, because Lucentio loves: And let me be a slave, to achieve that maid Whose sudden sight hath thrall'd my wounded eye. Enter BIONDello. Here comes the rogue.-Sirrah, where have you been? 6 5 Basta;] i. e. 'tis enough; Italian and Spanish. I have it full.] i. e. conceive our stratagem in its full extent, I have already planned the whole of it. 7 port,] Port is figure, show, appearance. Bion. Where have I been? Nay, how now, where are you? Master, has my fellow Tranio stol'n your clothes? Bion. I, sir? ne'er a whit. Bion. The better for him; 'Would I were so too! Tra. So would I, faith, boy, to have the next wish after, That Lucentio, indeed, had Baptista's youngest daughter. But, sirrah, not for my sake, but your master's, I advise You use your manners discreetly in all kind of com panies: When I am alone, why, then I am Tranio; One thing more rests, that thyself execute; To make one among these wooers: If thou ask me why, Sufficeth, my reasons are both good and weighty." [Exeunt. good and weighty.] The division for the second Act of this play is neither marked in the folio nor quarto editions. Shakspeare seems to have meant the first Act to conclude here, where 1 Serv. My lord, you nod; you play. Sly. Yes, by saint Anne, do I. surely; Comes there any more of it? Page. My lord, 'tis but begun. do not mind the A good matter, Sly. 'Tis a very excellent piece of work, madam lady; 'Would't were done! SCENE II. The same. Before Hortensio's House. Enter PETRUCHIO and GRUMIO. Pet. Verona, for a while I take my leave, To see my friends in Padua; but, of all, My best beloved and approved friend, Hortensio; and, I trow, this is his house: Here, sirrah Grumio; knock, I say. Gru. Knock, sir! whom should I knock? is there any man has rebused your worship? Pet. Villain, I say, knock me here soundly. Gru. Knock you here, sir? why, sir, what am I, sir, that I should knock you here, sir? Pet. Villain, I say, knock me at this gate, And rap me well, or I'll knock your knave's pate. Gru. My master is grown quarrelsome: I should knock you first, And then I know after who comes by the worst. Pet. Will it not be? 'Faith, sirrah, an you'll not knock, I'll wring it; I'll try how you can sol, fa, and sing it. [He wrings GRUMIO by the ears. the speeches of the Tinker are introduced; though they have been hitherto thrown to the end of the first Act, according to a modern and arbitrary regulation. STEEVENS. 9 wring it;] Here seems to be a quibble between ringing STEEVENS. at a door, and wringing a man's ears. Gru. Help, masters, help! my master is mad. Pet. Now, knock when I bid you: sirrah! villain! Enter HORTENSIO. Hor. How now? what's the matter?-My old friend Grumio! and my good friend Petruchio!How do you all at Verona? Pet. Signior Hortensio, come you to part the fray? Con tutto il core bene trovato, may I say. Hor. Alla nostra casa bene venuto, Molto honorato signor mio Petruchio. Rise, Grumio, rise; we will compound this quarrel. Gru. Nay, 'tis no matter, what he 'leges in Latin.'-If this be not a lawful cause for me to leave his service,-Look you, sir,-he bid me knock him, and rap him soundly, sir: Well, was it fit for a servant to use his master so; being, perhaps, (for aught I see,) two and thirty,-a pip out? Whom, 'would to God, I had well knock'd at first, Then had not Grumio come by the worst. Pet. A senseless villain!-Good Hortensio, I bade the rascal knock upon your gate, Spake you not these words plain,-Sirrah, knock me here, Rap me here, knock me well, and knock me soundly?2 And come you now with-knocking at the gate? 1 Pet. Sirrah, be gone, or talk not, I advise you. —what he 'leges in Latin.] i. e. I suppose, what he alleges in Latin. STEEVENS. 2 knock me soundly?] Shakspeare seems to design a ridicule on this clipped and ungrammatical phraseology; which yet he has introduced in Othello: "I pray talk me of Cassio." Hor. Petruchio, patience; I am Grumio's pledge: Why, this a heavy chance 'twixt him and you; Your ancient, trusty, pleasant servant Grumio. And tell me now, sweet friend,-what happy gale Blows you to Padua here, from old Verona? Pet. Such wind as scatters young men through the world, To seek their fortunes further than at home, And I have thrust myself into this maze, Hor. Petruchio, shall I then come roundly to thee, And wish thee to a shrewd ill-favour'd wife? And very rich:-but thou'rt too much my friend, Pet. Signior Hortensio, 'twixt such friends as we, As old as Sybil, and as curst and shrewd 3 Where small experience grows. But, in a few,] In a few, means the same as in short, in few words. JOHNSON. 4 (As wealth is burthen of my wooing dance,)] The burthen of a dance is an expression which I have never heard; the burthen of his wooing song had been more proper. JOHNSON. Be she as foul as was Florentius' love,] The allusion is to a story told by Gower in the first Book De Confessione Amantis. Florent is the name of a knight who had bound himself to marry a deformed hag, provided she taught him the solution of a riddle on which his life depended. |