ACT I. SCENE I.- Padua. A public place. Enter LUCENTIO and TRANIO. Luc. Tranio, since, for the great desire I had And, by my father's love and leave, am arm'd Gave me my being, and my father first, A merchant of great traffic through the world, Lucentio his son, brought up in Florence, It shall become - to serve all hopes conceived 3— And therefore, Tranio, for the time I study, Will I apply, that treats of happiness 1 Ingenious for ingenuous, and in the sense of liberal. The two words appear to have been confounded in the Poet's time. 2 Shall for will again. See page 143, note 17. Also in the scene before this: "Scratching her legs, that one shall swear she bleeds." 3 That is, to fulfil the expectations of his friends. 4 Apply here means ply. So in Gascoigne's Supposes, 1566: "I feare he applyes his study so, that he will not leave the minute of an houre from his booke." Tell me thy mind; for I have Pisa left, Tra. Mi perdonate,5 gentle master mine, Glad that you thus continue your resolve Fall to them, as you find your stomach serves you: Luc. Gramercies,8 Tranio, well dost thou advise. 5 Mi perdonate is Italian for pardon me. 6 The use of as for that in such clauses was very common. continually in Bacon's Essays. See, also, page 143, note 17. It occurs 7 This phrase has exercised the commentators prodigiously; and some have supposed balk to be a misprint. A writer in The Edinburgh Review, July, 1869, vindicates the text, conclusively, I think, as follows: "The primary signification of the noun balk is separation; from the Anglo-Saxon balca, a division-ridge or furrow. From the noun comes the verb to balk, to divide, to separate into ridges and furrows. Balk logic is therefore exactly equivalent to chop logic, meaning divide, separate, distinguish, in a logical matter, according to the forms and rules of logic. Both words, chop and balk, signalize the processes of definition and division, of sharp analytic distinction, in which the essence of logic consists; and the mental value of which is represented in the saying of Socrates, that if he could find a man able skilfully to divide, he would follow his steps, and admire him as a god." 8 Gramercies is great thanks; from the French grand merci. If Biondello now were 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. Enter BAPTISTA, CATHARINA, BIANCA, GREMIO, and HORTENSIO. LUCENTIO and TRANIO stand aside. Bap. Gentlemen, impórtune me no further, For how I firmly am resolved you know; That is, not to bestow my youngest daughter If either of you both love Catharina, Because I know you well, and love you well, Leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure. Cath. [To BAP.] I pray you, sir, is it your will To make a stale of me amongst these mates?9 Hor. Mates, maid! how mean you that? no mates for you, Unless you were of gentler, milder mood. Cath. 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 9 "Do you mean to make a mockery or a laughing-stock of me among these fellows?" The Poet several times uses stale thus for jest or butt; as in 3 Henry VI., iii. 3: "Had he none else to make a stale but me? Then none but I shall turn his jest to sorrow." But Catharina probably has withal a quibbling allusion to the chess-term stale-mate. So in Bacon's essay Of Boldness: "Like a stale at chess, where it is no mate, but yet the game cannot stir." 10 It is beyond question that I wis was originally one word, i-wis, the Saxon genitive gewis used adverbially, and meaning truly or certainly. It is also beyond question that Shakespeare, and other writers of his time, used it as a pronoun and a verb, and as equivalent to I ween, or, in Yankee noddle with a three-legg'd stool, To comb your 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. [Aside to Luc.] Hush, master! here is some good pastime toward : That wench is stark mad, or wonderful froward. Luc. [Aside to TRA.] But in the other's silence do I see Maid's mild behaviour and sobriety. Peace, Tranio ! Tra. [Aside to Luc.] Well said, master; mum! and gaze your fill. Bap. Gentlemen, that I may soon make good Cath. A pretty peat ! 11 it is 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. [Aside to TRA.] Hark, Tranio! thou mayst hear Minerva speak. Hor. Signior Baptista, will you be so strange? 12 Sorry am I that our good will effects Bianca's grief. Gre. Why, will you mew her up,13 phrase, I guess; perhaps from ignorance of its original meaning. - In the next line, could where present usage requires would. The auxiliaries could, should, and would, like shall and will, were used indiscriminately. 11 Peat is pet, darling; probably from the French petite. 12 "Will you be so odd, so unlike others, in your course of action?" 13 To mew up was a technical term for confining or shutting up hawks during the season of moulting. [Exit BIANCA. Signior Baptista, for this fiend of Hell, And make her bear the penance of her tongue? And, for 14 I know she taketh most delight In music, 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, To mine own children in good bringing-up: [Exit. Cath. 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 are so good, here's none will hold you. — Our love is not so great, Hortensio, but we may blow our nails 17 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 14 For in the sense of because or inasmuch as. A very frequent usage. 15 Prefer is the old term for recommend. The Poet has it repeatedly so. 16 Cunning in its original sense of able, skilful, or knowing. So in Isaiah, iii. 3: "The counsellor, and the cunning artificer, and the eloquent orator." 17 Blowing the nails is an old phrase for spending the time in idleness. See page 111, note 82. 18"I will wish him" is I will recommend him. 19 Advice in its old sense of reflection or consideration. Often so. - Parle is parley, that is, talk. See vol. i., page 167, note 1. |