a wooing, Priami, is my man Tranio,-regia, bearing my port,-celsa senis, that we might beguile the old pantaloon. Hor. Madam, my instrument's in tune. Bian. Let's hear. O fye! the treble jars. [Returning. [HORTENSIO 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: Pedascule, I'll watch you better yet. Bian. In time I may believe, yet I mistrust. Luc. Mistrust it not; for, sure, Æacides Was Ajax,-call'd so from his grandfather. Bian. I must believe my master; else, I promise you, I should be arguing still upon that doubt: My lessons make no musick in three parts. 3 Pedant. 6 4 This is only said to deceive Hortensio, who is supposed to be listening. The pedigree of Ajax, however, is properly made out, and might have been taken from Golding's Version of Ovid's Metamorphosis, book xiii.' or, it may be added, from any historical and poetical dictionary, such as is appended to Cooper's Latin Dictionary and others of that time. Luc. Are you so formal, sir? well, I must wait, And watch withal; for, but 5 I be deceiv'd, Our fine musician groweth amorous. [Aside. touch the instrument, Hor. Madam, before you Bian. Why, I am past my gamut long ago. A re, to plead Hortensio's passion; Call you this-gamut? tut! I like it not: 5 But is here used in its exceptive sense of be-out, without. Vide Note on the Tempest, Act iii. Sc. 1. 6 The equivocal use of the word nice by our ancestors has caused some confusion among the commentators; from Baret it appears to have been synonymous with tender, delicate, effeminate. But Torriano's explanation of Bisbetico, fantastico, whimsical, fantastic,' will best explain this passage. Tooke thought that Nice, and Nesh (soft) were both from the A. S. hnerc. Chaucer's use of Nice seems to point at the old Fr. Nice. Niais, silly, weak, simple, which sense suits the following passages : 'The letter was not nice, but full of charge, Again: Rom. and Jul. Act v. Sc. 2. 'Bid him bethink how nice the quarrel was.' Enter a Servant. 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. Farewell, sweet masters both; I must be [Exeunt BIANCA and Servant. Luc. 'Faith, mistress, then I have no cause to gone. stay. [Exit. 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 stale7, 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. Enter BAPTISTA, GREMIO,TRANIO,KATHARINA, BIANCA, LUCENTIO, and Attendants. Bap. Signior Lucentio, [to TRANIO], this is the 'pointed day That Katharine and Petruchio should be married, What will be said? what mockery will it be, Kath. No shame but mine: I must, forsooth, be forc'd "A stale was a decoy or bait; originally the form of a bird was set up to allure a hawk or other bird of prey, and hence used for any object of allurement. Stale here may, however, only mean every common object, as stale was applied to common women. To give my hand, oppos'd against my heart, Who woo'd in haste, and means to wed at leisure. He'll woo a thousand, 'point the day of marriage, Tra. Patience, good Katharine, and Baptista too; Kath. 'Would, Katharine had never seen him though! [Exit, weeping, followed by BIANCA and others. Bap. Go, girl; I cannot blame thee now to weep; For such an injury would vex a very saint, Much more a shrew of thy impatient humour. Enter BIONDello. Bio. Master, master! news, old news3, and such news as you never heard of! Bap. Is it new and old too? how may that be? Bion. Why, is it not news to hear of Petruchio's coming? 1 Humour, caprice, inconstancy. 2 Them is not in the old copy, it was supplied by Malone : the second folio reads-yes. 3 Old news. These words were added by Rowe, and necessarily, as appears by the reply of Baptista. Old, in the sense of abundant, as old turning the key,' &c. occurs elsewhere in Shakspeare. Bion. He is coming. Bap. When will he be here? Bion. When he stands where I am, and sees you there. Tra. But, say, what:-To thine old news. Bion. Why, Petruchio is coming, in a new hat and an old jerkin; a pair of old breeches, thrice turned; a pair of boots that have been candle-cases, one buckled, another laced; an old rusty sword ta'en out of the town armory, with a broken hilt and chapeless; with two broken points*: His horse hipped with an old mothy saddle, the stirrups of no kindred besides, possessed with the glanders, and like to mose in the chine; troubled with the lampas, infected with the fashions 5, full of wind-galls, sped with spavins, raied with the yellows, past cure of the fives, stark spoiled with the staggers, begnawn with the bots; swayed in the back, and shouldershotten; ne'er legged before; and with a half-checked bit, and a head-stall of sheep's leather; which, being restrained to keep him from stumbling, hath been often burst, and now repaired with knots: one girt six times pieced, and a woman's crupper of 4 Lest the reader should imagine that a sword with two broken points is here meant, he should know that points were tagged laces used in fastening different parts of the dress: two broken points would therefore add to the slovenly appearance of Petruchio. Shakspeare puns upon the word in K. Henry IV. P. 1. Fals. Their points being broken Pr. Down fell their hose.' And again in Twelfth Night, Act i. Sc. 5. 5 i. e. the farcy, called fashions in the west of England. 6 Vives; a distemper in horses, little differing from the strangles. |