Tra. A vengeance on your crafty wither'd hide! Yet I have faced it with a card of ten 28. "Tis in my head to do my master good:I see no reason, but suppos'd Lucentio Must get a father, call'd—suppos'd Vincentio; And that's a wonder: fathers, commonly,

Do get their children; but, in this case of wooing, A child shall get a sire, if I fail not of my cunning.

[Exit 29.

ACT III.

SCENE I. A Room in Baptista's House. Enter LUCENTIO, HORTENSIO, and BIANCA. Luc. Fiddler, forbear; you grow too forward, sir: Have you so soon forgot the entertainment Her sister Katharine welcom'd you withal?

28 This phrase, which often occurs in old writers, was most probably derived from some game at cards, wherein the standing boldly upon a ten was often successful. To face it meant, as it still does, to bully, to attack by impudence of face. Whether a card of ten was properly a cooling card has not yet been ascertained, but they are united in the following passage from Lyly's Euphues. And all lovers, he only excepted, are cooled with a card of ten.'

29 After this Mr. Pope introduced the following speeches of the presenters as they are called; from the old play ::

Slie. When will the fool come again*?

Sim. Anon, my lord.

Slie. Gives some more drink here; where's the tapster? Here, Sim, eat some of these things.

Sim. I do, my lord.

Slie. Here, Sim, I drink to thee.

* This probably alludes to a custom of filling up the vacancy of the stage between the Acts by the appearance of the fool on the stage. Unless Sly meant Sander the servant to Ferando in the old piece, which seems likely from a subsequent passage.

Hor. But, wrangling pedant, this is
The patroness of heavenly harmony:
Then give me leave to have prerogative;
And when in musick we have spent an hour,
Your lecture shall have leisure for as much.

Luc. Preposterous ass! that never read so far
To know the cause why musick was ordain'd!
Was it not to refresh the mind of man,
After his studies, or his usual pain?
Then give me leave to read philosophy,
And, while I pause, serve in your harmony.

Hor. Sirrah, I will not bear these braves of thine.
Bian. Why, gentlemen, you do me double wrong,

To strive for that which resteth in
my choice:
I am no breeching scholar1 in the schools;
I'll not be tied to hours, nor 'pointed times,
But learn my lessons as I please myself.
And, to cut off all strife, here sit we down:-
Take you your instrument, play you the whiles;
His lecture will be done ere you have tun'd.
Hor. You'll leave his lecture when I am in tune?
[TO BIANCA.-HORTENSIO retires.
instrument.

Luc. That will be never!-tune
Bian. Where left we last?

Luc. Here, madam:

your

Hac ibat Simois; hic est Sigeia tellus ;
Hic steterat Priami regia celsa senis.

Bian. Construe them.

Luc. Hac ibat, as I told you before2,-Simois, I am Lucentio, hic est, son unto Vincentio of Pisa,-Sigeia tellus, disguised thus to get your love;-Hic steterat, and that Lucentio that comes

1 No schoolboy, liable to be whipt.

2 This species of humour, in which Latin is translated into English of a perfectly different meaning, is to be found in two plays of Middleton, The Witch, and The Chaste Maid of Cheapside; and in other writers.

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: Pedascule3, I'll watch better yet. you

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:
But let it rest. Now, Licio, to you:-
Good masters, take it not unkindly, pray,
That I have been thus pleasant with you both.
Hor. You may go walk [to LUCENTIO], and
give me leave awhile;

My lessons make no musick in three parts.

3 Pedant.

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.

Hor. Madam, before you touch the instrument, To learn the order of my fingering,

I must begin with rudiments of art:
To teach you gamut in a briefer sort,
More pleasant, pithy, and effectual,
Than hath been taught by any of my trade:
And there it is in writing, fairly drawn.
Bian. Why, I am past my gamut long ago.
Hor. Yet read the gamut of Hortensio.
Bian, [Reads.] Gamut I am, the ground of all
accord.

A re, to plead Hortensio's passion;
B mi, Bianca, take him for thy lord,
C faut, that loves with all affection;
D sol re, one cliff, two notes have I;
E la mi, show pity, or I die.

Call

you this-gamut? tut! I like it not: Old fashions please me best; I am not so nice, To change true rules for odd inventions.

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,
Of dear import,' &c.

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.

gone.

Bian. Farewell, sweet masters both; I must be [Exeunt BIANCA and Servant. Luc. 'Faith, mistress, then I have no cause to [Exit.

stay.

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,
And yet we hear not of our son-in-law:

What will be said? what mockery will it be,
To want the bridegroom, when the priest attends
To speak the ceremonial rites of marriage?
What says Lucentio to this shame of ours?

Kath. No shame but mine: I must, forsooth, be forc'd

7 A sta'e 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.