Tra. And I am one, that love Bianca more Than words can witness, or your thoughts can guefs. Gre. Youngling! thou canst not love fo dear as I. Tra. Grey-beard! thy love doth freeze.

Gre. But thine doth fry.

Skipper, ftand back; 'tis age that nourisheth.
Tra. But youth, in ladies' eyes that flourisheth.
Bap. Content you, Gentlemen, I will compound this
ftrife;

'Tis deeds must win the prize; and he, of Both, That can affure my daughter' greatest dower, Shall have Bianca's love.

Say, Signior Gremio, what can you affure her?

Gre. First, as you know, my house within the city
Is richly furnished with plate and gold,
Bafons and ewers to lave her dainty hands:
My hangings all of Tyrian tapestry;

In ivory coffers I have stuft my crowns;
In cypress chefts my arras, counterpanes,
Coftly apparel, tents and canopies,

Fine linnen, Turkey cushions bofs'd with pearl;
Valance of Venice gold in needle-work;
Pewter and brafs, and all things that belong
To house, or houfe-keeping: then, at my farm,
I have a hundred milch-kine to the pail,
Sixfcore fat oxen ftanding in my ftalls;
And all things answerable to this portion.
My felf am ftruck in years, I must confess,
And if I die to morrow, this is hers;
If, whilft I live, fhe will be only mine.

Sir, lift to me;

Tra. That only came well in
I am my father's heir, and only fon;
If I may have your daughter to my wife,
I'll leave her houfes three or four as good,
Within rich Pifa walls, as any one
Old Signior Gremio has in Padua ;
Befides two thousand ducats by the year
Of fruitful land; all which fhall be her jointure.
What, have I pinch'd you, Signior Gremio?

Gre.

Gre. Two thousand ducats by the year of land! (12) My land amounts but to fo much in all: That fhe fhall have, befides an Argofie That now is lying in Marseilles's road. What, have I choakt you with an Argofie?

Tra. Gremio, 'tis known, my father hath no less Than three great Argofies, befides two galliaffes And twelve tight gallies; thefe I will affure her, And twice as much, what e'er thou offer'ft next. Gre. Nay, I have offer'd all; I have no more; And she can have no more than all I have ; If you like me, fhe fhall have me and mine. Tra. Why, then the maid is mine from all the world,

By your firm promife; Gremio is out-vied.

Bap. I must confefs, your offer is the best; And let your father make her the affurance, She is your own, elfe you must pardon me: If you should die before him, where's her dower? Tra. That's but a cavil; he is old, I young. Gre. And may not young men die, as well as old? Bap. Well, gentlemen, then I am thus refolv'd: On Sunday next, you know,

(12) Gre. Two thousand Ducats by the year of Land! My Land amounts not to fo much in all:

Tho' all the Copies concur in this Reading, furely, if we exa mine the Reasoning, fomething will be found wrong. Gremio is ftartled at the high Settlement Tranio propofes; fays, his whole Estate in Land can't match it, yet he'll fettle so much a Year upon her, &c. This is Mock-reasoning, or I don't know what to call it. The Change of the negative in the 2d Line, which Mr. Warburton prescrib'd, salves the Abfurdity, and sets the Passage right. Gremio and Tranio are vyeing in their Offers to carry Bianca: The latter boldly propofes to fettle Land to the Amount of 2000 Ducats per Annum. Ay, fays the Other; My whole Eftate in Land amounts but to that Value: yet the fhall have That; I'll endow her with the Wholes and confign a rich Veffel to her Ufe, over and above. Thus all is intelligible, and he goes on to outbid his Rival.

VOL. II.

R

My

My daughter Catharine is to be married:
Now on the Sunday following fhall Bianca
Be bride to you, if you make this affurance;
If not, to Signior Gremio:

And fo I take my leave, and thank you both.
Gre. Adieu, good neighbour.

[Exit.

Now I fear thee not:

Sirrah, young gamefter, your father were a fool
To give thee all; and in his waining age
Set foot under thy table: tut! a toy !

An old Italian fox is not fo kind, my boy.

[Exit.

Tra. A vengeance on your crafty wither'd hide!
Yet I have fac'd it with a card of ten :
'Tis in my head to do my mafter good :
I fee no reason, but fuppos'd Lucentio

May get a father, call'd, fuppos'd Vincentio ;
And that's a wonder: fathers commonly

Do

get their children; but, in this cafe of wooing, A child fhall get a fire, if I fail not of my cunning.

[The Prefenters, above, fpeak here.

Sly. Sim, when will the fool come again?

Sim. Anon, my Lord.

[Exit.

Sly. Give's fome more drink bere· where's the tap

fer? here, Sim, eat fome of these things.

Sim. So I do, my Lord.

Sly. Here, Sim, I drink to thee.

ACT

F

SCENE, Baptifta's House.

Enter Lucentio, Hortenfio, and Bianca.

LUCENTI 0.

Idler, forbear; you grow too forward, Sir:
Have you fo foon forgot the entertainment

Her fifter Catharine welcom'd you withal? Hor. [She is a 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 spent an hour,
Your lecture fhall 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 pause, 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 refteth in my choice:
I am no breeching scholar in the fchools;

(13)

Wrangling Pedant, this

The Patronefs of Heavenly Harmony.]

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

R 2

I'll

I'll not be tied to hours, nor 'pointed times,
But learn my leffons as I pleafe my felf;
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, hic eft Sigeia
tellus,

Hic feterat 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. [Returning. Bian. Let's hear. 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, despair not.

Hor. Madam, 'tis now in tune.

Luc. All but the base,

Hor. The bafe is right, 'tis the bafe 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 miftruft. (14) Luc. Miftruft it not, for, fure, Eacides Was Ajax, call'd fo from his grandfather.

(14) In time I may believe, yet I mistrust.] This and the 7 Verfes, that follow, have in all the Editions been ftupidly fhuffled and misplac'd to wrong Speakers; so that every Word faid was glaringly out of Character,