Luc. Whate'er I read to her, I'll plead for you, Pet. Peace, sirrah. Hor. Grumio, mum!-God save you, signior Gremio! Gre. And you 're well met, signior Hortensio. Trow you, Whither I am going?-To. Baptista Minola. I promis'd to inquire carefully About a schoolmaster for fair Bianca:6 And, by good fortune, I have lighted well And other books,-good ones, I warrant you. A fine musician to instruct our mistress; So shall I no whit be behind in duty To fair Bianca, so belov'd of me. Gre. Belov'd of me,-and that my deeds shall prove. Gru. And that his bags shall prove. [Aside. Hor. Gremio, 'tis now no time to vent our love: Listen to me, and if you speak me fair, I'll tell you news indifferent good for either. Pet. I know she is an irksome brawling scold; 5 To whom they go.] The old copy reads-To whom they go to. 6 Steevens. - for fair Bianca:] The old copy redundantly reads-" for the fair Bianca." Steevens. 7 help me ] The old copy reads-help one. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. Malone. Steevens. Gre. No, say'st me so, friend? What countryman? Pet. Born in Verona, old Antonio's son;3 My father dead, my fortune lives for me; And I do hope good days, and long, to see. Gre. O, sir, such a life, with such a wife, were strange: But, if you have a stomach, to 't o' God's name; You shall have me assisting you in all. But will you woo this wild cat? Pet. Will I live? Gru. Will he woo her? ay, or I'll hang her. [Aside. Have I not heard the sea, puff'd up with winds, Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets' clang?9 8 old Antonio's son:] The old copy reads-Butonio's son. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. Malone. Steevens. 9 — and trumpet's clang?] Probably the word clang is here used adjectively, as in the Paradise Lost, B. XI, v. 834, and not as a verb. an island salt and bare, "The haunt of seals, and orcs, and sea-mews clang." T. Warton. I believe Mr. Warton is mistaken. Clang, as a substantive, is used in The Noble Gentleman of Beaumont and Fletcher: "I hear the clang of trumpets in this house." Again, in Tamburlaine, &c. 1590: 66 hear you the clang "Of Scythian trumpets?" Again, in The Cobler's Prophecy, 1594: "The trumpets clang, and roaring noise of drums." Again, in Claudius Tiberius Nero, 1607: "Hath not the clang of harsh Armenian troops," &c. Again, in Drant's translation of Horace's Art of Poetry, 1567: "Fit for a chorus, and as yet the boystus sounde and shryll "Of trumpetes clang the stalles was not accustomed to fill.” Lastly, in Turberville's translation of Ovid's epistle from Medea to Fason: "Doleful to me than is the trumpet's clang." The Trumpets' clang is certainly the clang of trumpets, and not an epithet bestowed on those instruments. Steevens. And do you tell me of a woman's tongue; Tush! tush! fear boys with bugs.2 Gru. Gre. Hortensio, hark! This gentleman is happily arriv❜d, For he fears none. [Aside. My mind presumes, for his own good, and yours. [Aside. Gre. He that has the two fair daughters:-is 't [aside to TRA.] he you mean?3 1 so great a blow to the ear,] The old copy reads-to hear. Steevens. This aukward phrase could never come from Shakspeare. He wrote, without question: so great a blow to th' ear. Warburton. The emendation is Sir T. Hanmer's. Malone. So, in King John: 2 "Our ears are cudgell'd; not a word of his "But buffets better than a fist of France." Steevens. So, in Cymbeline: " are become "The mortal bugs o' the field." Steevens. 3 He that has the two fair daughters: &c.] In the old copy, this speech is given to Biondello. Steevens. It should rather be given to Gremio; to whom, with the others, Tranio has addressed himself. The following passages might be written thus: Tra. Even he. Biondello! Gre. Hark you, sir; you mean not her too. Tyrwhitt. I think the old copy, both here and in the preceding speech is right. Biondello adds to what his master had said, the words "He that has the two fair daughters," to ascertain more precisely the person for whom he had inquired; and then addresses 'Franio: "is 't he you mean?” Tra. Even he. Biondello! Gre. Hark you, sir; You mean not her to Tra. Perhaps, him and her, sir; What have you to do? Pet. Not her that chides, sir, at any hand, I pray. Tra. I love no chiders, sir:-Biondello, let's away. Luc. Well begun, Tranio. Hor. Sir, a word ere you go;— [Aside. Are you a suitor to the maid you talk of, yea, or no? Tra. An if I be, sir, is it any offence? Gre. No; if, without more words, you will get you hence. Tra. Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free For me, as for you? Gre. But so is not she. Tra, For what reason, I beseech you? Gre. For this reason, if you 'll know; That she's the choice love of signior Gremio. To whom my father is not all unknown; Gre. What! this gentleman will out-talk us all. woo. ·You mean not her to—] I believe, an abrupt sentence was intended; or perhaps Shakspeare might have written-her to Tranio in his answer might mean, that he would woo the father, to obtain his consent, and the daughter for herself. This, however, will not complete the metre. I incline, therefore, to my first supposition. Malone. I have followed Mr. Tyrwhitt's regulation. Steevens. As is the other for beauteous modesty. Pet. Sir, sir, the first 's for me; let her go by. Pet. Sir, understand you this of me, insooth;- Tra. If it be so, sir, that you are the man Hor. Sir, you say well, and well you do conceive; And since you do profess to be a suitor, You must, as we do, gratify this gentleman, To whom we all rest generally beholden. Tra. Sir, I shall not be slack; in sign whereof, Please ye we may contrive this afternoon,5 And quaff carouses to our mistress' health; this feat,] The old copy reads-this scek. The emendation was made by Mr. Rowe. Steevens. 5 Please ye we may contrive this afternoon,] Mr. Theobald asks what they were to contrive? and then says, a foolish corruption possesses the place, and so alters it to convive; in which he is followed, as he pretty constantly is, when wrong, by the Oxford editor. But the common reading is right, and the critic was only ignorant of the meaning of it. Contrive does not signify here to project but to spend and wear out. As in this passage of Spenser: "Three ages such as mortal men contrive." Fairy Queen, B. XI, ch. ix. Warburton. The word is used in the same sense of spending or wearing out, in Painter's Palace of Pleasure. Johnson. So, in Damon and Pithias, 1571: "In travelling countries, we three have contrived Contrive, I suppose, is from contero. So, in the Hecyra of Terence: "Totum hunc contrivi diem." Steevens. 6 — as adversaries do in law,] By adversaries in law, I believe, our author means not suitors, but barristers, who, however warm |