A shallow plash*, to plunge him in the deep,
And with satiety seeks to quench his thirst.
Tra. Mi perdonate 5, gentle master mine,
I am in all affected as yourself.
Glad that you thus continue your resolve,
To suck the sweets of sweet philosophy.
Only, good master, while we do admire
This virtue, and this moral discipline,
Let's be no stoicks, nor no stocks, I pray;
Or so devote to Aristotle's ethicks 6,
As Ovid be an outcast quite abjur'd:
Balke logic with acquaintance that you have,
And practise rhetorick in your common talk:
Musick and poesy use to quicken3 you;
The mathematicks, and the metaphysicks,
Fall to them as you find your stomach serves you:
No profit grows where is no pleasure taʼen :-
In brief, sir, study what you most affect.

:

Luc. Gramercies, Tranio, well dost thou advise. If, Biondello, thou wert come ashore,

We could at once put us in readiness;

And take a lodging fit to entertain

Such friends as time in Padua shall beget.
But stay awhile: What company is this?

Tra. Master, some show, to welcome us to town.

5 Pardon me.

4 Small piece of water. 6 The old copy reads Aristotle's checks. Blackstone suggests that we should read ethicks, and the sense seems to require it, I have therefore admitted it into the text.

7 The modern editions read, Talk logic, &c.' The old copy reads Balke, which Mr. Boswell suggests may be right, although the meaning of the word is now lost. It seems used in the same sense as above by Spenser, F. Q. b. iii. c. 2. St. 12:

'Her list in stry full termes with him to balke.'

6

It may signify belch logic with acquaintance, &c.' Cooper renders the Versus ructari of Horace-To bealke verses.

8 Animate.

Enter BAPTISTA, KATHARINA, BIANCA, GRE-
MIO, and HORTENSIO. LUCENTIO and TRA-
NIO stand aside.

Bap. Gentlemen, importune me no further,
For how I firmly am resolv'd you know;
That is not to bestow my youngest daughter,
Before I have a husband for the elder:

If either of you both love Katharina,
Because I know you well, and love you well,
Leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure.
Gre. To cart her rather: She's too rough for me :-
There, there, Hortensio, will you any wife?

Kath. I pray you, sir, [To BAP.] is it your will To make a stale 9 of me amongst these mates? : Hor. Mates, maid! how mean you that? no mates for you,

Unless you were of gentler, milder mould.

4

Kath. I'faith, sir, you shall never need to fear; I wis 10, it is not half way to her heart:

But if it were,
doubt not her care should be
To comb your noddle with a three-legg'd stool,
And paint your face, and use you like a fool.
Hor. From all such devils, good Lord, deliver us!
Gre. And me too, good Lord!

Tra. Hush, master! here is some good pastime toward;

That wench is stark mad, or wonderful froward.
Luc. But in the other's silence I do see

9 She means do you intend to make a strumpet of me among these companions?" But the expression seems to have a quibbling allusion to the chess term of stale-mate. So in Bacon's twelfth Essay: 'They stand like a stale at chess, where it is no mate, but yet the game cannot stir.' Shakspeare sometimes uses stale for a decoy, as in the second scene of the third act of this play.

10 Think.

Maid's mild behaviour and sobriety.

Peace, Tranio.

Tra. Well said, master; mum! and gaze your fill. Bap. Gentlemen, that I may soon make good What I have said,-Bianca, get you in: And let it not displease thee, good Bianca; For I will love thee ne'er the less, my girl. Kath. A pretty peat 11! 'tis best Put finger in the eye,-an she knew why. Bian. Sister, content you in my discontent. Sir, to your pleasure humbly I subscribe: My books, and instruments, shall be my company; On them to look, and practise by myself.

Luc. Hark, Tranio! thou may'st hear Minerva

speak. [Aside. Hor. Signior Baptista, will you be so strange 12? Sorry am I that our goodwill effects

Bianca's grief.

Gre.

Why, will you mew Signior Baptista, for this fiend of hell,

Go in, Bianca.

13 her up,

And make her bear the penance of her tongue?
Bap. Gentlemen, content ye; I am resolv'd:-
[Exit BIANCA.
And for I know, she taketh most delight
In musick, instruments, and poetry,
Schoolmasters will I keep within my house,
Fit to instruct her youth.-If you, Hortensio,
Or signior Gremio, you,-know any such,
Prefer 14 them hither; for to cunning 15 men

11 Pet.

12 i. e. so odd, so different from others in your conduct.

13 To mew up, was to confine, or shut up close, as it was the custom to confine hawks while they mew'd or moulted. V. note on K. Richard III. Act i. Sc. 1.

14 Recommend.

15 Cunning has not yet lost its original signification of knowing, learned, as may be observed in the translation of the Bible.

I will be very kind, and liberal

To mine own children in good bringing up; And so farewell. Katharina, you may stay: For I have more to commune with Bianca. [Exit. Kath. Why, and I trust, I may go too: May I not? What, shall I be appointed hours; as though, belike, I knew not what to take and what to leave? Ha! [Exit. Gre. You may go to the devil's dam: your gifts 16are so good, here is none will hold you. Their 17 love is not so great, Hortensio, but we may blow our nails together, and fast it fairly out; our cake's dough on both sides. Farewell.-Yet, for the love I bear my sweet Bianca, if I can by any means light on a fit man to teach her that wherein she delights, I will wish 18 him to her father.

Hor. So will I, signior Gremio: but a word, I pray. Though the nature of our quarrel yet never brook'd parle, know now, upon advice 19, it toucheth us both, that we may yet again have access to our fair mistress, and be happy rivals in Bianca's love,to labour and effect one thing 'specially.

Gre. What's that, I

pray?

Hor. Marry, sir, to get a husband for her sister. Gre. A husband! a devil.

Hor. I say, a husband.

Gre. I say, a devil: Think'st thou, Hortensio, though her father be very rich, any man is so very a fool to be married to hell?

Hor. Tush, Gremio, though it pass your patience, and mine, to endure her loud alarums, why, man,

16 Endowments.

17 It seems that we should read-Your love.

y' in old writing stood for either their or your. If their love be right, it must mean the goodwill of Baptista and Bianca towards us.

18

8 i. e. 19 Consideration, or reflection.

I will recommend him.

there be good fellows in the world, an a man could light on them, would take her with all faults, and money enough.

Gre. I cannot tell; but I had as lief take her dowry with this condition,-to be whipped at the high-cross every morning.

Hor. 'Faith, as you say, there's small choice in rotten apples. But, come; since this bar in law makes us friends, it shall be so far forth friendly maintained,―till by helping Baptista's eldest daughter to a husband, we set his youngest free for a husband, and then have to't afresh.-Sweet Bianca!-Happy man be his dole 20! He that runs fastest, gets the ring 21. How say you, signior Gremio?

Gre. I am agreed: and 'would I had given him the best horse in Padua to begin his wooing, that would thoroughly woo her, wed her, and bed her, and rid the house of her. Come on.

[Exeunt GREMIO and HORTENSIO. Tra. [Advancing.] I pray, sir, tell me,-Is it possible

That love should of a sudden take such hold?
Luc. O Tranio, till I found it to be true,
I never thought it possible, or likely;
But see! while idly I stood looking on,
I found the effect of love in idleness:
And now in plainness do confess to thee,-
That art to me as secret, and as dear,
As Anna to the queen of Carthage was,-
Tranio, I burn, I pine, I perish, Tranio,
If I achieve not this young modest girl:

20 A proverbial expression. Dole is lot, portion. The phrase is of very common occurrence. We have a similar expression in Beaumont and Fletcher's Cupid's Revenge:

Then happy man be his fortune!'

21 The allusion is probably to the sport of running at the ring, or some similar game.