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'Tis in my head to do my master good:-
I see no reason, but suppos'd Lucentio
Must get a father, call'd-suppos'd Vincentio;
And that's a wonder: fathers, commonly,

Do get their children; but, in this case of wooing,
A child shall get a sire, if I fail not of my cunning.

[Exit.

"She had in her hand the ace of harts and a coat-card. She led the board with her coat; I plaid the varlet, and took up her coat; and meaning to lay my finger on her ace of harts, up started a quite contrary card."

Again, in Rowley's When you see me you know me, 1621: "You have been at noddy, I see.

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Ay, and the first card comes to my hand is a knave. "I am a coat-card, indeed.

"Then thou must needs be a knave, for thou art neither queen nor king." Steevens.

if I fail not of my cunning.] As this is the conclusion of an act, I suspect that the poet designed a rhyming couplet. Instead of cunning we might read-doing, which is often used by Shakspeare in the sense here wanted, and agrees perfectly well with the beginning of the line-" a child shall get a sire." After this, the former editors add

"Sly. Sim, when will the fool come again ?*

"Sim. Anon, my lord.

"Sly. Give us some more drink here; where's the tapster? "Here, Sim, eat some of these things.

"Sim. I do, my lord.

"Sly. Here, Sim, I drink to thee."

These speeches of the presenters, (as they are called) are not in the folio. Mr. Pope, as in some former instances, introduced them from the old spurious play of the same name; and therefore we may easily account for their want of connexion with the present comedy. I have degraded them as usual into the note. By the fool in the original piece, might be meant Sander the servant to Ferando, (who is the Petruchio of Shakspeare) or Ferando himself.

It appears, however, from the following passage in the eleventh Book of Thomas Lupton's Notable Things, edit. 1660, that it was the constant office of the fool to preserve the stage from vacancy: "79. When Stage-plays were in use, there was in every place

when will the fool come again?] The character of the fool has not been introduced in this drama, therefore I believe that the word again should be omitted, and that Sly asks, When will the fool come? the fool being the favourite of the vulgar, or, as we now phrase it, of the upper gallery, was naturally expected in every interlude. Johnson.

ACT III.....SCENE I.

A Room in Baptista's House.

Enter LUCENTIO, HORTENSIO, and BIANCA.

Luc. Fiddler, forbear; you grow too forward, sir:
Have you so soon forgot the entertainment
Her sister Katharine welcom❜d you withal?
Hor. But, wrangling pedant, this is
The patroness of heavenly harmony:
Then give me leave to have prerogative;
And when in musick we have spent an hour,
Your lecture shall have leisure for as much.

Luc. Preposterous ass! that never read so far
To know the cause why musick was ordain'd!
Was it not, to refresh the mind of man,
After his studies, or his usual pain?"

Then give me leave to read philosophy,

And, while I pause, serve in your harmony.

Hor. Sirrah, I will not bear these braves of thine. Bian. Why, gentlemen, you do me double wrong, To strive for that which resteth in my choice: I am no breeching scholar1 in the schools;

one that was called the Foole; as the Proverb saies, Like a Fool in a Play. At the Red Bull Play-house it did chance that the Clown or the Fool, being in the attireing house, was suddenly called upon the stage, for it was empty. He suddenly going, forgot his Fooles-cap. One of the players bad his boy take it, and put it on his head as he was speaking. No such matter, (saies the Boy) there's no manners nor wit in that, nor wisdom neither; and my master needs no cap, for he is known to be a Fool without it, as well as with it." Steevens.

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this is] Probably our author wrote-this lady is, which completes the metre, wrangling being used as a trisyllable.

We should read, with Sir T. Hanmer:

1

But wrangling pedant, know this lady is. Ritson.

Malone.

no breeching scholar] i. e. no school-boy liable to corporal correction. So, in King Edward the Second, by Marlow, 1598:

"Whose looks were as a breeching to a boy." Again, in The Hog has lost his Pearl, 1614:

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he went to

fetch whips, I think, and, not respecting my honour, he would have breech'd me."

I'll not be tied to hours, nor 'pointed times,
But learn my lessons as I please myself.
And, to cut off all strife, here sit we down:-
Take you your instrument, play you the whiles;
His lecture will be done, ere you have tun'd.
Hor. You'll leave his lecture when I am in tune?
[TO BIAN. HOR. retires.
Luc. That will be never;-tune your instrument.
Bian. Where left we last?

Luc. Here, madam:

Hac ibat Simois; hic est Sigeia tellus;
Hic steterat Priami regia celsa senis.
Bian. Construe them.

Luc. Hac ibat, as I told you before,-Simois, I am Lucentio, hic est, son unto Vincentio of Pisa.-Sigeia tellus, disguised thus to get your love;-Hic steterat, and that Lucentio that comes a wooing,-Priami, is my man Tranio, regia, bearing my port,-celsa senis, that we might beguile the old pantaloon.2

Hor. Madam my instrument's in tune.
Bian. Let's hear;-

O fy! the treble jars.

[Returning. [HOR. plays.

Luc. Spit in the hole, man, and tune again.

Bian. Now let me see if I can construe it: Hac ibat Simois, I know you not; hic est Sigeia tellus, I trust you not;—Hic steterat Priami, take heed he hear us not;— regia, presume not;-celsa senis, despair not.

Hor. Madam, 'tis now in tune.

Luc.

All but the base.

Hor. The base is right; 'tis the base knave that jars. How fiery and forward our pedant is!

Now, for my life, the knave doth court my love:

3

Pedascule, I'll watch you better yet.

Again, in Amends for Ladies, 1618:

"If I had had a son of fourteen that had served me so, I would have breech'd him." Steevens.

2 pantaloon.] The old cully in Italian farces. Johnson.

3 Pedascule,] He should have said, Didascale, but thinking this too honourable, he coins the word Pedascule, in imitation of it, from pedant. Warburton.

I believe it is no coinage of Shakspeare's, it is more propable that it lay in his way, and he found it. Steevens.

Bian. In time I may believe, yet I mistrust.* Luc. Mistrust it not; for, sure, acides Was Ajax,5-call'd so from his grandfather.

Bian. I must believe my master; else, I promise you, I should be arguing still upon that doubt: But let it rest.-Now, Licio, to you:

Good masters, take it not unkindly, pray,

That I have been thus pleasant with you both.

Hor. You may go walk, [to Luc.] and give me leave awhile;

My lessons make no musick in three parts.

Luc. Are you so formal, sir? well, I must wait,
And watch withal; for, but I be deceiv'd,"
Our fine musician groweth amorous.

[Aside.

Hor. Madam, before you touch the instrument,
To learn the order of my fingering,
I must begin with rudiments of art;
To teach you gamut in a briefer sort,
More pleasant, pithy, and effectual,
Than hath been taught by any of my trade:
And there it is in writing, fairly drawn.

Bian. Why, I am past my gamut long ago.
Hor. Yet read the gamut of Hortensio.
Bian. [reads] Gamut I am, the ground of all accord,
A re, to plead Hortensio's passion:

B mi, Bianca, take him for thy lord,

C faut, that loves with all affection:

4 In time I may believe, yet I'mistrust.] This and the seven verses that follow, have in all the editions been stupidly shuffled and misplaced to wrong speakers; so that every word said was glaringly out of character. Theobald.

5

-for, sure,

acides &c.] This is only said to deceive Hortensio, who is supposed to listen. The pedigree of Ajax, however, is properly made out, and might have been taken from Golding's version of Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book XIII:

66

The highest Jove of all

"Acknowledgeth this Eacus, and dooth his sonne him call.

"Thus am I Ajax third from Jove." Steevens.

6 Good masters,] Old copy-master. Corrected by Mr. Pope.

Malone.

7 but I be deceiv'd,] But has here the signification of un

less. Malone.

D sol re, one cliff, two notes have I;
E la mi, show pity, or I die.

Call you this-gamut? tut! I like it not:

Old fashions please me best; I am not so nice,
To change true rules for odd inventions.

Enter a Servant.9

8

Serv. Mistress, your father prays you leave your books,

And help to dress your sister's chamber up;
You know, to-morrow is the wedding-day.

Bian. Farewel, sweet masters, both; I must be gone.

[Exeunt BIAN. and Serv. Luc. 'Faith, mistress, then I have no cause to stay.

Hor. But I have cause to pry into this pedant;
Methinks, he looks as though he were in love:-
Yet if thy thoughts, Bianca, be so humble,
To cast thy wand'ring eyes on every stale,
Seize thee, that list: If once I find thee ranging,
Hortensio will be quit with thee by changing.

SCENE II.

The same. Before Baptista's House.

[Exit.

[Exit.

Enter BAPTISTA, GREMIO, TRANIO, KATHARINA, BIANCA, LUCENTIO, and Attendants.

Bap. Signior Lucentio, [to TRA.] this is the 'pointed day

That Katharine and Petruchio should be married,

8 To change true rules for odd inventions.] The old copy reads -To charge true rules for old inventions: The former emendation was made by the editor of the second folio; the latter by Mr. Theobald. Old, however, may be right. I believe, an opposition was intended. As change was corrupted into charge, why might not true have been put instead of new? Perhaps the author wrote:

To change new rules for old inventions.

i. e. to accept of new rules in exchange for old inventions.

Malone.

9 Enter a Servant.] The old copy reads-Enter a Messenger -who, at the beginning of his speech is called-Nicke. Ritson. Meaning, I suppose, Nicholas Tooly. See Mr. Malone's Historical Account of the English Stage. Steevens.

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