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Vin. Thus strangers may be haled and abus'd:O monstrous villain!

Re-enter BIONDELLO, with LUCENTIO, and BIANCA. Bion. O, we are spoiled, and-Yonder he is; deny him, forswear him, or else we are all undone.

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Right son unto the right Vincentio;

That have by marriage made thy daughter mine,
While counterfeit supposes blear'd thine eyne.4

Gre. Here's packing,5 with a witness, to deceive us all!

3 — run out.] The old copy says—as fast as may be. Ritson. 4 While counterfeit supposes blear'd thine eyne.] The modern editors read supposers, but wrongly. This is a plain allusion to Gascoigne's comedy, entitled Supposes, from which several of the incidents in this play are borrowed. Tyrwhitt.

This is highly probable; but yet supposes is a word often used in its common sense, which on the present occasion is sufficiently commodious. So, in Greene's Farewell to Folly, 1617:-"-with Plato to build a commonwealth on supposes." Shakspeare uses the word in Troilus and Cressida: "That we come short of our

suppose so far," &c. It appears likewise from the Preface to Greene's Metamorphoses, that supposes was a game of some kind : "After supposes, and such ordinary sports were past, they fell to prattle," &c. Again, in Drayton's Epistle from King John to Matilda:

"And tells me those are shadows and supposes."

To blear the eye, was an ancient phrase signifying to deceive. So, in Chaucer's Manciple's Tale, v. 17,202, Mr. Tyrwhitt's edition: "For all thy waiting, blered is thin eye."

Again, in the 10th pageant of The Coventry Plays, in the British Museum, MS. Cott. Vesp. D. VIII:

"Shuld I now in age begynne to dote,

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If I chyde, she wolde clowte my cote, "Blere mine ey, and pyke out a mote."

Steevens.

The ingenious editor's explanation of blear the eye, is strongly supported by Milton, Comus, v. 155:

"Spells

"Of power to cheat the eye with blear illusion." H. White. 5 Here's packing,] i. e. plotting, underhand contrivance. So, in King Lear:

"Snuffs and packings of the dukes." Steevens.

Vin. Where is that damned villain, Tranio, That fac'd and brav'd me in this matter so? Bap. Why, tell me, is not this my Cambio? Bian. Cambio is chang'd into Lucentio.

Luc. Love wrought these miracles. Bianca's love Made me exchange my state with Tranio.

While he did bear my countenance in the town;
And happily I have arriv'd at last

Unto the wished haven of my bliss:

What Tranio did, myself enforc'd him to;

Then pardon him, sweet father, for my sake.

Vin. I'll slit the villain's nose, that would have sent

me to the gaol.

Bap. But do you hear, sir? [to Luc.] Have you married my daughter without asking my good-will?

Vin. Fear not, Baptista; we will content you, go to: But I will in, to be revenged for this villainy. [Exit. Bap. And I, to sound the depth of this knavery. [Exit. Luc. Look not pale, Bianca; thy father will not frown. [Exeunt Luc. and BIAN. Gre. My cake is dough: But I'll in among the rest; Out of hope of all,-but my share of the feast. [Exit. PETRUCHIO and KATHARINA advance.

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Kath. Husband, let 's follow, to see the end of this ado. Pet. First kiss me, Kate, and we will.

Kath. What, in the midst of the street?

Pet. What, art thou ashamed of me?

Kath. No, sir; God forbid:-but ashamed to kiss. Pet. Why, then, let 's home again:-Come, sirrah, let's away.

6 My cake is dough:] This is a proverbial expression, which also occurs in the old interlude of Tom Tyler and his Wife: "Alas poor Tom, his cake is dough." Again, in The Case is alter'd, 1609:

"Steward, your cake is dough, as well as mine." Steevens, It was generally used when any project miscarried. Malone. Rather when any disappointment was sustained, contrary to every appearance or expectation. Howel, in one of his letters, mentioning the birth of Louis the Fourteenth, says "The Queen is delivered of a Dauphin, the wonderfullest thing of this kind that any story can parallel, for this is the three-and-twentieth year since she was married, and hath continued childless all this while. So that now Monsieur's cake is dough." Reed,

Kath. Nay, I will give thee a kiss: now pray thee, love, stay.

Pet. Is not this well?-Come, my sweet Kate; Better once than never, for never too late.

SCENE II.

A Room in Lucentio's House.

[Excunt.

A Banquet set out. Enter BAPTISTA, VINCENTIO, GREMIO, the Pedant, LUCENTIO, BIANCA, PETRUCHIO, KATHARINA, HORTENSIO, and Widow. TRANIO, BI-. ONDELLO, GRUMIO, and Others attending.

Luc. At last, though long, our jarring notes agree:
And time it is, when raging war is done,7
To smile at 'scapes and perils overblown.—
My fair Bianca, bid my father welcome,

While I with self-same kindness welcome thine:-
Brother Petruchio,-sister Katharina,-

And thou, Hortensio, with thy loving widow,——
Feast with the best, and welcome to my house;
My banquet is to close our stomachs up,
After our great good cheer: Pray you, sit down;
For now we sit to chat, as well as eat. [They sit at table.
Pet. Nothing but sit and sit, and eat and eat!
Bap. Padua affords this kindness, son Petruchio.
Pet. Padua affords nothing but what is kind.
Hor. For both our sakes, I would that word were true.
Pet. Now, for my life, Hortensio fears his widow.9

7

when raging war is done,] This is Mr. Rowe's emendation. The old copy has-when raging war is come, which cannot be right. Perhaps the author wrote-when raging war is calm, formerly spelt calme. So, in Othello:

"If after every tempest come such calms —.”

The word "overblown," in the next line, adds some little support to this conjecture. Malone.

Mr. Rowe's conjecture is justified by a passage in Othello: "News, lords! our wars are done."

Steevens.

8 My banquet-] A banquet, or (as it is called in some of our old books) an afterpast, was a slight refection, like our modern dessert, consisting of cakes, sweetmeats, and fruit. See note on Romeo and Juliet, Act I, sc. v. Steevens.

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fears his widow,] To fear, as has been already observed, meant in our author's time both to dread, and to intimidate. The

Wid. Then never trust me if I be afeard.

Pet. You are sensible, and yet you miss my sense;1 I mean, Hortensio is afeard of you.

Wid. He that is giddy, thinks the world turns round. Pet. Roundly replied.

Kath.

Mistress, how mean you that?

Wid. Thus I conceive by him.

Pet. Conceives by me!-How likes Hortensio that? Hor. My widow says, thus she conceives her tale. Pet. Very well mended: Kiss him for that, good widow.

Kath. He that is giddy, thinks the world turns round:

I pray you, tell me what you meant by that.

Wid. Your husband, being troubled with a shrew, Measures my husband's sorrow by his woe:2

And now you know my meaning.

Kath. A very mean meaning.

Wid.

Right, I mean you.

Kath. And I am mean, indeed, respecting you.

Pet. To her, Kate!

Hor. To her, widow!

Pet. A hundred marks, my Kate does put her down.

Hor: That's my office.3

Pet. Spoke like an officer:-Ha' to thee, lad.4

[Drinks to HoR. Bap. How likes Gremio these quick-witted folks? Gre. Believe me, sir, they butt together well.

widow understands the word in the latter sense; and Petruchio tells her, he used it in the former. Malone.

1 You are sensible, and yet you miss my sense;] The old copy redundantly reads-You are very sensible." Steevens.

2 shrew, -woe;] As this was meant for a rhyming couplet, it should be observed that anciently the word-shrew was pronounced as if it had been written-shrow. See the finale of the play. Steevens.

3

- put her down.

Hor. That's my office.] This passage will be best explained by another, in Much Ado about Nothing: "Lady, you have put him down. So I would not he should do me, my lord, lest I should prove the mother of fools." Steevens.

4

Ha' to thee, lad] The old copy has-to the. Corrected by the editor of the second folio. Malone.

Bian. Head, and butt? an hasty-witted body Would say, your head and butt were head and horn. Vin. Ay, mistress bride, hath that awaken'd you? Bian. Ay, but not frighted me; therefore I'll sleep again.

Pet. Nay, that you shall not; since you have begun. Have at you for a bitter jest or two.5

Bian. Am I your bird? I mean to shift my bush, And then pursue me as you draw your bow:You are welcome all. [Exeunt BIAN. KATH. and Wid. Pet. She hath prevented me.-Here, signior Tranio, This bird you aim'd at, though you hit her not; Therefore, a health to all that shot and miss'd.

Tra. O, sir, Lucentio slipp'd me like his grey-hound, Which runs himself, and catches for his master.

Pet. A good swift simile, but something currish. Tra. 'Tis well, sir, that you hunted for yourself; 'Tis thought, your deer does hold you at a bay. Bap. O ho, Petruchio, Tranio hits you now. Luc. I thank thee for that gird, good Tranio.

5 Have at you for a bitter jest or two.] The old copy reads-a better jest. The emendation, (of the propriety of which there cannot, I conceive, be the smallest doubt) is one of the very few corrections of any value made by Mr. Capell. So before, in the present play:

"Hiding his bitter jests in blunt behaviour." Again, in Love's Labour's Lost:

"Too bitter is thy jest." Malone.

I have received this emendation; and yet "a better jest" may mean no more than a good one. Shakspeare often uses the comparative for the positive degree. So, in King Lear:

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her smiles and tears "Were like a better day."

Again, in Macbeth:

66 go not my horse the better i. e. if he does not go well. Steevens.

6- swift-] Besides the original sense of speedy in motion, signified witty, quick-witted. So, in As you Like it, the Duke says of the Clown: "He is very swift and sententious." Quick is now used in almost the same sense as nimble was in the age after that of our author. Heylin says of Hales, that he had known Laud for a nimble disputant. Johnson.

7 that gird, good Tranic.] A gird is a sarcasm, a gibe. So, in Stephen Gosson's School of Abuse, 1579: “Curculio may chatte till his heart ake, ere any be offended with his gyrdes." Steevens.

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