Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

SCENE V.

A green lane.

Enter Petruchio, Katharine, and Hortenfio.

Pet. Come on, o'God's name; once more toward our father's.

Good Lord, how bright and goodly fhines the moon ! Kath. The moon! the fun; it is not moon-light

now.

Pet. I fay, it is the moon that fhines fo bright. Kath. I know, it is the fun that fhines fo bright. Pet. Now, by my mother's fon, and that's myself, It fhall be moon, or ftar, or what I lift, Or ere I journey to your father's houfe:Go on, and fetch our horfes back again.Evermore croft, and croft; nothing but croft! Hor. Say as he says, or we fhall never go. Kath. Forward I pray, fince we are come fo far, And be it moon, or fun, or what you please: And if you please to call it a rush eandle, Henceforth I vow it fhall be fo for me. Pet. I fay, it is the moon.

Kath. I know, it is the moon.

Pet. Nay, then you lye; it is the bleffed fun. Kath. Then, God be bleft, it is the bleffed fun :But fun it is not, when you fay it is not;

And the moon changes, even as your mind..
What you will have it nam'd, even that it is;

"Enter the Duke of Ceftus alone.

"Dake. Thus al alone from Ceftus am I come, "And left my princely court, and noble traine, "To come to Athens, and in this difguife

"To fee what course my son Aurelius takes.

"But ftay; here's fome it may be travels thither:

"Good fir, can you

direct me the way to Athens ?

[Ferando fpeaks to the old man. His fpeech is very partially and incorrectly quoted by Mr. Pope in the following page. STEEVENS.

2

And fo it fhall be fo, for Katharine.

Hor. Petruchio, go thy ways; the field is won.
Pet. Well, forward, forward: thus the bowl
fhould run,

And not unluckily against the bias.—
But foft; company is coming here.

Enter Vincentio.

Good-morrow, gentle mistress: Where away ?

[To Vincentio. 3 Tell me, fweet Kate, and tell me truly too,Haft thou beheld a frefher gentlewoman? Such war of white and red within her checks! What ftars do fpangle heaven with fuch beauty,

And fo it shall be fo,] A modern editor very plaufibly readsAnd fo it fhall be, Sir. MALONE.

3 Tell me, weet Kate,] In the firft fketch of this play, printed in 1607, we find two fpeeches in this place worth preferving, and feeming to be of the hand of Shakspeare, though the rest of that play is far inferior :

[ocr errors]

"Fair lovely maiden, young and affable,

"More clear of hue, and far more beautiful

Than precious fardonyx, or purple rocks

"Of amethifts, or gliftering hyacinth

66

Sweet Catharine, this lovely woman
"Cath. Fair lovely lady, bright and chrystaline,
"Beauteous and ftately as the eye-train'd bird;
"As glorious as the morning wash'd with dew,
"Within whofe eyes she takes her dawning beams,
"And golden fummer fleeps upon thy cheeks.
"Wrap up thy rádiations in fome cloud,
"Left that thy beauty make this stately town
"Uninhabitable as the burning zone,

"With fweet reflections of thy lovely face. POPE.

An attentive reader will perceive in this fpeech feveral words. which are employed in none of the legitimate plays of Shakspeare. Such, I believe, are, fardonyx, hyacinth, eye-train'd radiations, and efpecially uninhabitable; our poet generally using inhabitable in its room, as in Rich. II:

"Or any other ground inhabitable.”

These instances may ferve as fome flight proofs, that the former piece was not the work of Shakspeare: but I have fince obferved that Mr. Pope had changed inhabitable into uninhabitable.

[blocks in formation]

As thofe two eyes become that heavenly face?— Fair lovely maid, once more good day to thee :— Sweet Kate, embrace her for her beauty's fake.

Hor. 'A will make the man mad, to make a woman of him.

Kath. Young budding virgin fair, and fresh, and fweet,

Whither away; or where is thy abode ?
Happy the parents of fo fair a child;
Happier the man, whom favourable stars
Allot thee for his lovely bed-fellow !

Pet. Why, how now, Kate, I hope, thou art not mad :

This is a man, old, wrinkled, faded, wither'd;
And not a maiden, as thou fay'it he is.

Kath. Pardon, old father, my mistaking eyes,
That have been fo bedazzled with the fun,
4 That every thing I look on feemeth green:
Now I perceive, thou art a reverend father;
Pardon, I pray thee for my mad mistaking.

Pet. Do, good old grand-fire; and, withal, make known

Which way thou travelleft: if along with us,
We fhall be joyful of thy company.

Vin. Fair fir,-and you my merry mistress,That with your strange encounter much amaz'd me; My name is call'd-Vincentio; my dwelling-Pifa; And bound I am to Padua; there to vifit

A fon of mine, which long I have not feen
Pet. What is his name?

Vin. Lucentio, gentle fir.

Pet. Happily met; the happier for thy fon. And now by law, as well as reverend age,

4 That every thing I look on feemeth green.] Shakspeare's obfervations on the phænomena of nature are very accurate. When one has fat long in the funfhine, the furrounding objects will often appear tinged with green. The reafon is affigned by many of the writers on optics. BLACKSTONE.

I may entitle thee-my loving father;
The fifter to my wife, this gentlewoman,
Thy fon by this hath marry'd:-Wonder not,
Nor be not griev'd; the is of good efteem,
Her dowry wealthy, and of worthy birth;
Befide, fo qualify'd as may befeem
The fpoufe of any noble gentleman.
Let me embrace with old Vincentio :
And wander we to fee thy honeft son,
Who will of thy arrival be full joyous.
Vin. But is this true? or is it elfe your pleasure,
Like pleasant travellers, to break a jest
Upon the company you overtake?

Hor. I do affure thee, father, fo it is.

Pet. Come, go along, and fee the truth hereof; For our first merriment hath made thee jealous.

[Exeu t Petruchio, Katharine, and Vincentio. Hor. Well, Petruchio, this hath put me in heart. Have to my widow; and if the be froward, Then haft thou taught Hortenfio to be untoward.

[Exit.

ACT V.

SCENE I.

Before Lucentio's Houfe.

Enter Biondello, Lucentio, and Bianca, Gremio walking on one fide.

Bion. Softly and fwiftly, fir; for the priest is ready. Luc. I fly, Biondello: but they may chance to need thee at home, therefore leave us.

Bion. Nay, faith, I'll fee the church o' your back; and then come back to my mafter as foon as I

can.

[Exeunt.

Gre.

3and then come back to my mistress as foon as I can.] The editions all agree in this reading; but what miftrefs was Biondello

M m 4

to

Gre. I marvel, Cambio comes not all this while.

Enter Petruchio, Katharine, Vincentio, and attendants.

Pet. Sir, here's the door, this is Lucentio's house, My father's bears more toward the market-place; Thither muft I, and here I leave you, fir. Vin. You fhall not chufe but drink before you go; I think, I fhall command your welcome here, And, by all likelihood, fome cheer is toward.

[Knocks. Gre. They're bufy within, you were beft knock louder. [Pedant looks out of the window. Ped. What's he, that knocks as he would beat down the gate?

Vin. Is fignior Lucentio within, fir?

Ped. He's within, fir, but not to be spoken withal. Vin. What if a man bring him a hundred pound or two, to make merry withal?

Ped. Keep your hundred pounds to yourself; he fhall need none, fo long as I live.

Pet. Nay, I told you, your fon was belov'd in Padua.-Do you hear, fir?-to leave frivolous circumftances, I pray you, tell fignior Lucentio, that his father is come from Pifa, and is here at the door to speak with him.

-

Ped. Thou lieft; his father is come to Padua *, and here looking out at the window.

Vin. Art thou his father?

to come back to? he muft certainly mean; "l Nay, faith, fir, I must see you in the church; and then for fear I should be wanted, I'll run back to wait on Tranio, who at prefent perfonates you, and whom therefore I at prefent acknowledge for my maf ter." THEOBALD.

4to Padua,] The reading of the old copies is from Padua, which is certainly wrong. The editors have made it to Padua, but it fhould rather be from Pifa. Both parties agree that Lucentio's father is come from Pifa, as indeed they neceffarily must ; the point in difpute is, whether he be at the door, or looking out of the window. TYRWHITT.

Ped

« AnteriorContinuar »