1. The earliest known published copy of "THE TAMING OF THE SHREW" is in the 1623 Folio, where it stands eleventh in number of the plays. There was a comedy, printed in 1594, bearing the title, "A Pleasant Conceited Historie, called The Taming of a Shrew; " but the writer is unknown. Shakespeare adopted several of the main features of this comedy, and took some particulars, suited to his purpose, from a translation, by George Gascoigne, of Ariosto's "I Suppositi;" blending the borrowed materials together in his felicitous style, and setting them forth with such touches of his own as produced the lively play of "The Taming of the Shrew." The character of Petruchio is conceived and drawn with the poet's true knowledge of what is consistent in human nature: he is coarse, unscrupulous, resolvedly fond of having his own way, and supremely attached to money. There are several curious and less evident indications of this, in addition to the more broad and prominent tokens of his avarice. Moreover, what is naturally coarse and unscrupulous in his disposition, Petruchio carries into his manner; with a dash of humour, as well as for a set object. This was the man fit for Shakespeare's dramatic purpose; this was the man to break a woman's spirit, and the man to overcrow the overbearing Katharine. She is insolent and domineering to those who will give way to her; but she gives way to the man who will domineer over her. She despises and abuses her weak father for his partiality to his younger daughter; she tyrannises over her sister, in hatred of her demure manners and acted meekness; she violently resents the injustice with which she feels herself to be treated by all those who dislike her while they yield to her; whereas, she submits to the man who, while he thwarts, insults, starves, and hectors over her, gives her reason to imagine that he admires, and even likes her-certainly well enough to undertake the curing of her shrewishness. There is wonderful subtleness in the way whereby Shakespeare has conveyed the impression we have of Petruchio's influence over Katharine. It is not (to our minds, at least) so much in the obvious means of "taming "-the hectoring, the starving, the keeping awake, the contradicting, and the thwarting-as in the quiet little undertouches of quite another discipline used by Petruchio, which obtains him his ascendancy over his handsome, high-spirited wife. There are certain Shakespearian vestiges-slight, veiledly shown, sparingly introduced hints-which show Katharine's con

sciousness that Petruchio has personal liking for her, and which show that he possesses personal attraction for her; and these are the real causes of her submission, while the hectoring, &c., are the apparent ones. That Shakespeare himself felt and intended this, we think we have manifest proof by the concluding line of the play-""Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be tam'd so." Yes, it would have been a wonder had the superficial means employed been the taming of her. They would merely have wrought superficial submission. But we are inclined to believe that the influence and the submission lay deeper and more truly founded than such a man as Lucentio can fathom.

2. I'll pheese you. 'I'll tease you.' To "pheese" was used for 'vex,' 'worry,' 'torment,' 'tousle,' 'discompose;' and also for 'beat,' 'whip,' ' scourge,' 'chastise.' See Note 37, Act i, "Merry Wives."

3. Richard Conqueror. Sly's blunder for William the Conqueror.'

4. Paucas pallabris; let the world slide: sessa! "Paucas pallabris" (a corruption of pocas palabras, 'few words') is one of those Spanish phrases that came into familiar use in England just previously to Shakespeare's time; and " sessa (cessa, cease,' 'be silent,' 'be quiet') is another of them. "Let the world slide" was a proverbial phrase, tantamount to 'let things pass easily,' 'take matters quietly.'

5. Burst. Sometimes, as here, used for 'broken.'

6. Denier. An old French coin; value, the twelfth part of a sou, or halfpenny. It came to be used for expressing the lowest imaginable fraction of money.

7. Go by, Saint Jeronimy. In the Folio "Saint" is printed 'S.' The "by" before "Hieronimo" in the line of the old play, makes the drunken tinker fancy it must be an oath-' by Saint Jerome' and instead of "Go by, Hieronimo," which he has heard, and thinks he is quoting, he jumbles the two together into " 'Go by, Saint Jeronimy." See Note 40, Act i., "Much Ado."

8. Go to thy cold bed, and warm thee. This seems to have been a proverbial phrase; we find it again in “King Lear," Act ii., sc. 4.

9. Thirdborough. Printed in the Folio 'headborough ;'

What think you, if he were convey'd to bed, Wrapp'd in sweet clothes, rings put upon his fingers,

Horns winded. Enter a Lord from bunting, with Huntsmen and Servants.

Lord. Huntsman, I charge thee, tender well my hounds:

Trash Merriman," the poor cur is emboss'd; 12 And couple Clowder with the deep - mouth'd brach.13

Saw'st thou not, boy, how Silver made it good
At the hedge-corner, in the coldest fault?"
I would not lose the dog for twenty pound.

First Hun. Why, Belman is as good as he, my lord;

He cried upon it at the merest loss, 15
And twice to-day pick'd out the dullest scent:
Trust me, I take him for the better dog.

Lord. Thou art a fool: if Echo were as fleet,
I would esteem him worth a dozen such.
But sup them well, and look unto them all:
To-morrow I intend to hunt again.
First Hun. I will, my lord.

Lord. [Sees SLY.] What's here? one dead, or drunk? See, doth he breathe ?

Sec. Hun. He breathes, my lord. Were he not warmed with ale,

This were a bed but cold to sleep so soundly.

Would not the beggar then forget himself?
First Hun. Believe me, lord, I think he cannot
choose.
Sec. Hun.

It would seem strange unto him when he wak'd.

Lord. Even as a flattering dream or worthless fancy.

Then take him up, and manage well the jest :—
Carry him gently to my fairest chamber,
And hang it round with all my wanton pictures:
Balm his foul head in warm distilled waters,
And burn sweet wood to make the lodging

sweet

Procure me music ready when he wakes,
To make a dulcet and a heavenly sound:
And if he chance to speak, be ready straight,
And, with a low submissive reverence,
Say, What is it your honour will command?
Let one attend him with a silver bason
Full of rose-water, and bestrew'd with flowers;
Another bear the ewer, the third a diaper,
And say,-Will't please your lordship cool your
hands?

Some one be ready with a costly suit,
And ask him what apparel he will wear;

lies!

Grim Death, how foul and loathsome is thine image!—

Sirs, I will practise 18 on this drunken man.

which Sly's rejoinder shows to be a mistake for "thirdborough," an under-constable. See Note 26, Act i., 46 Love's Labour's Lost."

10. I'll not budge an inch, boy. This word "boy" is probably a drunken reminiscence, on the part of Sly, of the tapster, who makes his appearance, instead of the hostess, in the old play of "The Taming of a Shrew." There is one touch of humour here in the old version worth preserving. Sly, when he flings himself on the ground to have his tipsy sleep out, calls to the tapster-"Fill's a fresh cushion here!" This mixing up of the two ideas inspired by thirst and drowsiness is capitally characteristic.

11. Trash Merriman. This is misprinted in the Folio 'Brach Merriman;' the word "brach" at the end of the second line having probably caught the printer's eye. "Brach" was used in Shakespeare's time for a bitch-hound, while the words "Merriman" and "cur" show it to be a male dog in question. "And" at the commencement of the second line seems to demand a verb at the beginning of the first line; and various verbs were proposed-"Leech," by Sir Thomas Hanmer; "Breathe," by the Rev. J. Mitford; and "Bathe," by Johnson; but "Trash" (suggested by Mr. Dyce, adopted by Mr. Singer, and subsequently by Mr. Dyce himself, in his later edition) seems to be the word nearest to the original misprint, as well as being the most appropriate term; since Shakespeare uses "trash" elsewhere to signify 'check,' or 'stop' (see Note

And that his lady mourns at his disease:
Persuade him that he hath been lunatic;
And, when he says he is," say that he dreams,
For he is nothing but a mighty lord.

20, Act i., "Tempest"), and here the object is to prevent the dog from over-fatiguing itself, as it is "emboss'd."

12. Emboss'd. A hunting term; applied to animals foaming at the mouth, panting for breath, and wearied out. Used in this sense, the word is probably derived from the Italian ambascia, ambastia, or ambagia; which Florio interprets "noie, grief, torment, vexation, a loathsomeness, a dismaie, a swouning or qualm ouer the stomacke: an extasie or passion of the minde, a shortnes of one's breath."

13. Brach. A name for a dog used in the chase; almost always for a bitch-hound.

14. In the coldest fault? 'When the scent was at the coldest, and the dogs were most at fault.'

15. At the merest loss. 'When utterly or absolutely lost." Shakespeare elsewhere uses "mere " and " merely" in this sense. See Note 48, Act iii., "Merchant of Venice."

16. Practise. Used for 'play tricks,' 'contrive devices.' 17. Brave attendants. 'Attendants dressed showily or handsomely.' See Note 76, Act i., "As You Like It."

18. And, when he says he is. This is printed in most modern editions with a dash after "is," to represent the break which the lord is supposed to make in his speech, when at a loss to supply the name of Sly, which he is not likely to know. In the Folio the passage stands thus-" And when he sayes he is," which we think is very likely to be a misprint for 'And when he says he's this;' meaning, this beggarly fellow here, lying sprawling at