And let Bianca take her sister's room.

Tra. Shall sweet Bianca practise how to bride it? Bap. She shall, Lucentio.-Come, gentlemen, let's go. [Exeunt.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.—A Hall in PETRUCHIO's Country House. Enter GRUMIO. Grumio.

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?
Gru. O, ay, Curtis, ay: and therefore fire, fire ; cast

on no water.

Curt. Is she so hot a shrew as she's reported 2

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.

И

Curt. Away, you three-inch fool! I am no beast.
Gru. Am I but three inches? why, thy horn is a foot";

[5] That is, was ever man so marked with lashes. JOHNSON.

It rather means bewrayed, i. e. made dirty. So Spenser, speaking of a fountain "Which she increased with her bleeding heart,

And the clean waves with purple gore did ray.'

Again, in book III. cant. 8. st. 32.

"Who whiles the piteous lady up did rise,
Ruffled and foully ray'd with filthy soil." TOLLET.

[6] 1. e. with a skull three inches thick, a phrase taken from the thicker sort of planks. WARBURTON.

VOL. II.

31

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 shalt soon feel, to thy cold comfort, for being slow in thy hot office.

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 serving-men 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 :

Fragment of some old ballad. WARBURTON.

I believe 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 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 on the inside like the leather. STEEVENS.

[9] 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 prayed-that never prayed 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 shrew 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 curtesy 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.

Curt. I call them forth to credit her.

Gru. Why, she comes to borrow nothing of them.

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 are 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!—
You logger-headed and unpolish'd grooms!
What, no attendance? no regard? no duty ?
Where is the foolish knave I sent before?
Gru. Here, sir; as foolish as I was before.

Pet. You peasant swain! you whoreson malt-horse drudge!

Did not I bid thee meet me in the park,

1;

And bring along these rascal knaves with thee?
Gru. Nathaniel's coat, sir, was not fully made,
And Gabriel's pumps were all unpink'd i' th' heel
There was no link to colour Peter's hat,'
And Walter's dagger was not come from sheathing:
There were none fine, but Adam, Ralph, and Gregory;
The rest were ragged, old, and beggarly;

Yet, as they are, here are they come to meet you.
Pet. Go, rascals, go, and fetch my supper in.-
[Exe. some of the Servants.

Where is the life that late I leda——_
Where are those- -Sit down, Kate, and welcome.

Soud, soud, soud, soud!

Re-enter Servants with supper.

[Sings.

[Sings.

Why, when, I say ?-Nay, good sweet Kate, be merry.
-Off with my boots, you rogues, you villains; When?
It was the friar of orders grey,3
As he forth walked on his way :-
Out, out, you rogue! you pluck my foot awry:
Take that, and mend the plucking off the other.—

[Strikes him.

Be merry, Kate :-Some water, here; what, ho!

[1] A link is a torch of pitch. STEEVENS.

[2] A scrap of some old ballad. Ancient Pistol elsewhere quotes the same line. In an old black letter book intituled, A gorgious Gallery of gallant Inventions, Lon. 4to. 1578, is a song to the tune of Where is the life that late I led. RITSON.

[3] Dispersed through Shakespeare's plays are many little fragments of ancient ballads, the entire copies of which cannot now be recovered. Many of these being of the most beautiful and pathetic simplicity, Dr. Percy has selected some of them, and connected them together with a few supplemental stanzas; a work, which at once shews his own poetical abilities, as well as his respect to the truly venerable remains of our most ancient bards. STEEVENS.

Where's my spaniel Troilus ?-Sirrah, get you hence,
And bid my cousin Ferdinand come hither:-[Ex. Serv.
One, Kate, that you must kiss, and be acquainted with.
-Where are my slippers ?-shall I have some water?
[A bason is presented to him.

Come, Kate, and wash, and welcome heartily :

[Servant lets the ewer fall. You whoreson villain! will you let it fall? [Strikes him. Kath. Patience, I pray you; 'twas a fault unwilling. Pet. A whoreson, beetle-headed, flap-ear'd knave! Come, Kate, sit down; I know you have a stomach. Will you give thanks, sweet Kate; or else shall I ?— What is this? mutton?

Pet. 'Tis burnt; and so is all the meat:

What dogs are these ?-Where is the rascal cook?
How durst you, villains, bring it from the dresser,
And serve it thus to me that love it not?
There, take it to you, trenchers, cups, and all :

[Throws the meat, &c. about the stage.
You heedless joltheads, and unmanner'd slaves!
What, do you grumble? I'll be with you straight.
Kath. I pray you, husband, be not so disquiet;
The meat was well, if you were so contented.
Pet. I tell thee, Kate, 'twas burnt and dried away;
And I expressly am forbid to touch it,
For it engenders choler, planteth anger;
And better 'twere, that both of us did fast,-
Since, of ourselves, ourselves are choleric,—
Than feed it with such over-roasted flesh.
Be patient; to-morrow it shall be mended,
And, for this night, we'll fast for company :-
Come, I will bring thee to thy bridal chamber.

[Exe. PET. KATH. and CURTIS. Nath. [Advancing.] Peter, didst ever see the like? Peter. He kills her in her own humour.

Re-enter CURTIS.

Gru. Where is he?

[4] It was the custom in our author's time, (and long before,) to wash the hands immediately before dinner and supper, as well as afterwards. MALONE.

As our ancestors eat with their fingers, which might not be over-clean before meals, and after them must be greasy, we cannot wonder at such repeated ablutions. STEEVENS.