Pet. They shall go forward, Kate, at thy command:- She is my goods, my chattels; she is my house, Rescue thy mistress, if thou be a man :— Fear not, sweet wench, they shall not touch thee, Kate; I'll buckler thee against a million. [Exeunt PETRUCHIO, KATHARINE, and GRUMIO. Bap. Nay, let them go, a couple of quiet ones. Luc. Mistress, what's your opinion of your sister? Bap. Neighbours and friends, though bride and bridegroom wants For to supply the places at the table, You know, there wants no junkets at the feast ;- Tra. Shall sweet Bianca practise how to bride it? a This defective line may be completed by reading, "my field, mý barn, my stable."-STEEVENS. ACT IV. SCENE I.-A Hall in Petruchio's Country House. Enter GRUMIO. Gru. Fye, fye, on all tired jades! on all mad masters! and all foul ways! Was ever man so beaten? was ever man so rayed?" was ever man so weary? I am sent before to make a fire, and they are coming after to warm them. Now, were not I a little pot, and soon hot, my very lips might freeze to my teeth, my tongue to the roof of my mouth, my heart in my belly, ere I should come by a fire to thaw me:-But, I, with blowing the fire, shall warm myself; for, considering the weather, a taller man than I will take cold. Holla, hoa! Curtis ! Enter CURtis. Curt. Who is that, calls so coldly? Gru. A piece of ice: If thou doubt it, thou may'st slide from my shoulder to my heel, with no greater a run but my head and my neck. A fire, good Curtis. Curt. Is my master and his wife coming, Grumio? on no water.c Curt. Is she so hot a shrew as she's reported? Gru. She was, good Curtis, before this frost: but, thou know'st, winter tames man, woman, and beast; for it hath tamed my old master, and my new mistress, and myself, fellow Curtis. Curt. Away, you three inch fool! I am no beast. Gru. Am I but three inches? why, thy horn is a foot; and so long am I, at the least. But wilt thou make a fire, or shall I complain on thee to our mistress, whose hand (she being now at hand,) thou shall soon feel, to thy cold comfort, for being slow in thy hot office? b — man so rayed?] i. e. Bewrayed, made dirty. - fire, fire; cast on no water.] An old popular catch in three parts has these words: "Scotland burneth, Scotland burneth. Fire, fire;-Fire, fire; Cast on some more water."-BLACKSTONE. Curt. I pr'ythee, good Grumio, tell me, How goes the world? Gru. A cold world, Curtis, in every office but thine; and, therefore, fire: Do thy duty, and have thy duty; for my master and mistress are almost frozen to death. Curt. There's fire ready; And, therefore, good Grumio, the news? Gru. Why, Jack boy! ho boy! and as much news as thou wilt. Curt. Come, you are so full of conycatching : Gru. Why, therefore, fire; for I have caught extreme cold. Where's the cook? is supper ready, the house trimmed, rushes strewed, cobwebs swept; the servingmen in their new fustian, their white stockings, and every officer his wedding-garment on? Be the jacks fair within, the jills fair without, the carpets laid, and every thing in order? Curt. All ready; And, therefore, I pray thee, news? Gru. First, know, my horse is tired; my master and mistress fallen out. Curt. How? Gru. Out of their saddles into the dirt; And thereby hangs a tale. Curt. Let's ha't, good Grumio." Gru. Lend thine ear. Curt. Here. Gru. There. [Striking him. Curt. This is to feel a tale, not to hear a tale. Gru. And therefore 'tis called a sensible tale: and this cuff was but to knock at your ear, and beseech listening. Now I begin: Imprimis, we came down a foul hill, my master riding behind my mistress: d Jack boy! ho boy!] Is the beginning of an old round in three parts.— SIR J. HAWKINS e Be the jacks fair within, the jills fair without,] The poet meant to play upon the words Jack and Jill, which signify two drinking measures, as well as men and maid servants. The distinction made in the questions concerning them was owing to this; the Jacks being made of leather, could not be made to appear beautiful on the outside, but were very apt to contract foulness within; whereas the Jills, being of metal, were expected to be kept bright externally, and were not liable to dirt in the inside, like leather.-STEEVENS. f the carpets laid,] In our author's time it was customary to cover tables with carpets. Floors, as appears from the present passage and others, were strewed with rushes.-MALONE. Curt. Both on one horse? Gru. What's that to thee? Curt. Why, a horse. Gru. Tell thou the tale :: -But hadst thou not crossed me, thou should'st have heard how her horse fell, and she under her horse; thou should'st have heard, in how miry a place: how she was bemoiled ; how he left her with the horse upon her; how he beat me because her horse stumbled; how she waded through the dirt to pluck him off me; how he swore; how she prayedthat never pray'd before; how I cried; how the horses ran away; how her bridle was burst; how I lost my crupper; with many things of worthy memory; which now shall die in oblivion, and thou return unexperienced to thy grave. Curt. By this reckoning, he is more shrew1 than she. Gru. Ay; and that, thou and the proudest of you all shall find, when he comes home. But what talk I of this?-call forth Nathaniel, Joseph, Nicholas, Philip, Walter, Sugarsop, and the rest; let their heads be sleekly combed, their blue coats brushed, and their garters of an indifferent' knit: let them curtsey with their left legs; and not presume to touch a hair of my master's horse-tail, till they kiss their hands. Are they all ready? Curt. They are. Gru. Call them forth. Curt. Do you hear, ho? you must meet my master, to countenance my mistress. Gru. Why, she hath a face of her own. Curt. Who knows not that? Gru. Thou, it seems; that callest for company to countenance her. h i 1 Curt. I call them forth to credit her. Gru. Why, she comes to borrow nothing of them. bemoiled ;] i. e. Bedraggled; bemired. burst ;] i. e. Broken. shrew] The term shrew was anciently applicable to either sex. · indifferent- This word, which some explain not different, and some different, seems only to mean ordinary or tolerable; a very common sense of the word.-NARES's Glossary. Enter several Servants. Nath. Welcome home, Grumio. Phil. How now, Grumio? Jos. What, Grumio! Nich. Fellow Grumio! Nath. How now, old lad? Gru. Welcome, you;-how now, you;-what, you;fellow, you;—and thus much for greeting. Now, my spruce companions, is all ready, and all things neat? Nath. All things is ready: How near is our master? Gru. E'en at hand, alighted by this; and therefore be not, Cock's passion, silence!I hear my master. Enter PETRUCHIO and KATHARINA. Pet. Where be these knaves? What, no man at door; To hold my stirrup, nor to take my horse! Where is Nathaniel, Gregory, Philip? All Serv. Here, here, sir; here, sir. Pet. Here, sir! here, sir! here, sir! here, sir!— Gru. Here, sir; as foolish as I was before. Pet. You peasant swain! you whoreson malt-horse drudge! Did I not bid thee meet me in the park, And bring along these rascal knaves with thee? And Walter's dagger was not come from sheathing: Yet, as they are, here are they come to meet you. m [Exeunt some of the Servants. unpink'd—] i. e. Not marked with eyelet holes.-JOHNSON. no link to colour Peter's hat,] Green, in his Mihil Mumchance, says"This cozenage is used likewise in selling old hats found upon dung-hills, instead of newe, blackt over with the smoke of an old linke.”—STEEVENS. |