Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

ACT III.

SCENE, Baptifta's House.

Enter Lucentio, Hortenfio, and Bianca.

[ocr errors]

LUCENT10.

Have you fo foon forgot the entertainment Her fifter Catharine welcom'd you withal ?

Hor. [Sheisa Shrew, but,] Wrangling Pedant, this is (13) The patronefs of heavenly harmony;

Then give me leave to have prerogative;
And when in mufick we have fpent an hour,
Your lecture shall have leifure for as much.
Luc. Prepofterous afs! that never read fo far
To know the cause why mufick was ordain'd:
Was it not to refresh the mind of man
After his ftudies, or his ufual pain?

Then give me leave to read philofophy,
And, while I paufe, ferve in your harmony.

Hor. Sirrah, I will not bear these braves of thine.
Bian. Why, gentlemen, you do me double wrong,
To ftrive for that which resteth in my choice:

(13)

Wrangling Pedant, this

The Patronefs of heavenly Harmony.]

There can be no Reafon, why Hortenfio fhould begin with an Hemiftich; the Words, which I have added to fill the Verfe, being purely by Conjecture, and fupply'd by the Senfe that feems required, without any Traces of a corrupted Reading left, to authorize or found them upon; I have for that Reafon inclofed them within Crotchets, to be embraced or rejected, at every Reader's pleasure.

[blocks in formation]

I am no breeching fcholar in the schools;
I'll not be tied to hours, nor 'pointed times,
But learn my leffons as I please myself;
And to cut off all ftrife, here fit we down,
'Take you your inftrument, play you the while;
His lecture will be done, ere you have tun'd.

Hor. You'll leave his lecture, when I am in tune?
[Hortenfio retires:
Luc. That will be never: tune your inftrument.
Bian. Where left we laft?

Luc. Here, Madam: Hac ibat Simois, bic eft Sigeia tellus, Hic fleterat Priami regia celfa fenis.

Bian. Conftrue them.

Luc. Hac ibat, as I told you before, Simois, I am Lucentio, bic eft, fon unto Vincentio of Pifa, Sigeia tellus, difguifed thus to get your love, hic fteterat, and that Lucentio that comes a wooing, Priami, is my man Tranio, regia, bearing my port, celfa fenis, that we might beguile the old Pantaloon.

Hor. Madam, my inftrument's in tune.

Bian. Let's hear.

[Returning.

O fie, the treble jars.
Luc. Spit in the hole, man, and tune again.

Bian. Now let me fee, if I can conftrue it; Hac ibat Simois, I know you not, hic eft Sigeia tellus, I trust you not, hic fteterat Priami, take heed he hear us not, regia, prefume not, celfa fenis, defpair not.

Hor. Madam, 'tis now in tune.

Luc. All but the base.

Hor. The bafe is right, 'tis the base knave that jars. How fiery and how froward is our Pedant!

Now, for my life, that knave doth court my love;
Pedafcule, I'll watch you better yet.

Bian. In time I may believe, yet I mistrust. (14)
Luc. Miftruft it not,- for, fure, Eacides
Was Ajax, call'd fo from his grandfather.

(14) In time I may believe, yet I miftruft.] [This and the feven Verfes, that follow, have in all the Editions been ftupidly fhuffled and mifplaced to wrong Speakers; fo that every Word faid was giaringly out of Character.

Bian. I muft believe my mafter, elfe I promise you, I fhould be arguing ftill upon that doubt;

But let it reft. 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, and give me leave a while; My leffons make no mufick in three parts.

[ocr errors]

Luc. Are you fo formal, Sir? well, I muft wait, And watch withal; for but I be deceived,

Our fine musician groweth amorous.

Hor. Madam, before you touch the inftrument,
To learn the order of my fingering,
I muit begin with rudiments of art;
To teach you Gamut in a briefer fort,
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 pait my Gamut long ago.
Hor. Yet read the Gamut of Hortenfio.

Bian. [reading.] Gamut I am, the ground of all accord,
Are, to plead Hortenfio's paflion;

B mi, Bianca, take him for thy lord,
Cfaut, that loves with all affection;

D folre, one cliff, but two notes have I.

E la mi, fhow pity, or I die.

Call you this Gamut? tut, I like it not;

Old fashions please me beft; I'm not so nice (15)
To change true rules for odd inventions.

Enter a Servant.

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

(15) Old fashions please me beft: I'm not so nice

To change true Rules for new Inventions.]

And

This is Senfe and the Meaning of the Paffage; but the Reading of the Second Verfe, for all that, is fophifticated.

Copies all concur in Reading,

To change true Rules for old Inventions.
R 3

The genuine

This

And help to dress your fifter's chamber up;
You know, to-morrow is the wedding day.
Bian. Farewel, fweet mafters, both; I muft be gone.
[Exit.
Luc. Faith, miftrefs, then I have no caufe to ftay.

Hor. But I have caufe to pry into this pedant,
Methinks, he looks as tho' he were in love:
Yet if thy thoughts, Bianca, be fo humble,
To caft thy wandring eyes on every ftale;
Seize thee, who lift; if once I find thee ranging,
Hortenfio will be quit with thee by changing.

[Exit.

[Exit.

Enter Baptifta, Gremio, Tranio, Catharina, Lu-
centio, Bianca, and attendants.

Bap. Signior Lucentio, this is the 'pointed day
That Cathrine and Petruchio fhould be married;
And yet we hear not of our fon-in-law.
What will be faid? what mockery will it be,
To want the Bridegoom, when the Priest attends
To fpeak the ceremonial rites of marriage?

What fays Lucentio to this fhame of ours?

Cath. No fhame, but mine; I muft, forfooth, be forc'd

To give my hand oppos'd against my heart,

Unto a mad brain Rudefby, full of spleen;

Who woo'd in hafte, and means to wed at leifure.
I told you, I, he was a frantick fool,
Hiding his bitter jefts in blunt behaviour:
And to be noted for a merry man,

He'll woo a thoufand, 'point the day of marriage,
Make friends, invite, yes, and proclaim the banns;
Yet never means to wed, where he hath woo'd.
Now muft the world point at poor Catharine,
And fay, lo! there is mad Petruchio's wife,

This, indeed, is contrary to the very Thing it should exprefs: But the eafy Alteration, which I have made, reftores the Senfe, and adds a Contraft in the Terms perfectly just. True Rules are oppos'd to ed! Inventions; i, e. Whimfies.

If

If it would please him come and marry her.
Tra. Patience, good Catharine, and Baptifta too;
Upon my life, Petruchio means but well;
What ever fortune ftays him from his word.
Tho' he be blunt, I know him paffing wife:
Tho' he be merry, yet withal he's honeft.

Cath. Would Catharine, had never feen him tho'!

[Exit weeping. Bap. Go, girl; I cannot blame thee now to weep; For fuch an injury would vex a Saint,

Much more a Shrew of thy impatient humour.

Enter Biondello.

Bion. Mafter, Mafter; old news, and fuch news as you never heard of.

[ocr errors]

Bap. Is it new and old too? how may that be?

Bion. Why, is it not news to hear of Petruchio's coming?

Bap. Is he come ?

Bion. Why, no, Sir,
Bap. What then?

Bion. He is coming.

Bap. When will he be here?

Bion. When he ftands where I am, and es you there.
Tra. But, fay, what to thine old new

Bion. Why, Petruchio is coming in a new hat and an old jerkin; a pair of old breeches thrice turn'd; a pair of boots that have been candle-cafes, one buckled, another lac'd; an old rufty fword ta'en out of the town-armory, with a broken hilt, and chapeless, with two broken points; his horfe hipp'd with an old mothy faddle, the stirrups of no kindred; befides, poffeft with the glanders, and like to mofe in the chine, troubled with the lampaffe, infected with the fashions, full of windgalls, fped with spavins, raied with the yellows, paft cure of the fives, ftark spoiled with the staggers, begnawn with the bots, waid in the back and fhoulderfhotten, near-legg'd before, and with a half-check't bit, and a headstall of sheep's leather, which being restrain'd,

« PredošláPokračovať »