Upon this paffage, Doctor Warburton has paffed the following ftricture:

"Shakespeare has here copied Nature with great "fkill. Petruchio, by frightening, ftarving, and "over-watching his wife, had tamed her into gen"tlenefs and fubmiffion; and the audience expects "to hear no more of the fhrew; when, on her being "croffed in the article of fashion and finery, the "most inveterate folly of the fex, fhe flies out "again, though for the laft time, into all the intemperate rage of her character."

This is being fevere on our fex at a very cheap rate, indeed, foibles, paffions, and inconfiderable attachments, are equally common to all mankind, without diftinction of gender; and the difference of objects gives no fort of advantage to men, over us; as all eager pursuits, except those of virtue, are alike ridiculous and unimportant, in the candid and impartial estimation of reafon and philofophy:

"Another Florio doating on a flower."

YOUNG.

Petruchio having gained a conqueft in this material point, proceeds to drefs her and himself in poor attire, and proposes that they fhould go pay a visit to her family in fuch mean garments; upon which occafion he expreffes a fentiment fo juft in itself, that it betrays a fad corruption in the morals of mankind, that experience cannot fupport it.

Petruchio. Well, come, my Kate, we will unto your father's, Even in these honeft mean habiliments;

Our purfes fhall be proud, our garments poor;

For 'tis the mind that makes the body rich;

And, as the fun breaks through the darkeft clouds,

So bonour peereth in the meanest babit.

What is the jay more precious than the lark,
Because his feathers are more beautiful?

Or is the adder better than the eel,
Because his painted skin contents the eye?
Oh, no, good Kate; neither art thou the worfe
For this poor furniture, and mean array.

ACT

ACT V. SCENE V.

After Catharine has been thoroughly reclaimed, The takes an occafion, from a circumftance in the Play, of reproving another married woman, in an admirable fpeech; wherein the defcription of a wayward wife, with the duty and fubmiffion which ought to be fhewn to a husband, are finely fet forth.

Fy! fy! unknit that threatening unkind brow,
And dart not scornful glances from thofe eyes,
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor.
It blots thy beauty, as frofts bite the meads;
Confounds thy fame, as whirlwinds shake fair buds,
And in no sense is meet or amiable.

A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-feeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
And while it is fo, none fo dry or thirsty
Will deign to fip, or touch one drop of it.
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy fovereign; one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance commits his body
To painful labour, both by fea and land;
To watch the night in ftorms, the day in cold,
While thou lyeft warm at home, fecure and fafe;
And craves no other tribute at thy hands,
But love, fair looks, and true obedience;
Too little payment for fo great a debt.
Such duty as the fubject owes the prince,
Even fuch a woman oweth to her husband;
And when she's froward, peevish, fullen, four,
And not obedient to his honeft will,
What is the but a foul contending rebel,
And graceless traitor, to her loving lord?
I am afhamed that women are so simple,
To offer war, where they should kneel for peace;
Or feek for rule, fupremacy, and sway,
When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.
Why are our bodies foft, and weak, and smooth,
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world,
But that our foft conditions and our hearts
Should well agree with our external parts?
Come, come, you froward and unable worms,
My mind has been as big as one of yours,
My heart as great, my reafon haply more,
To bandy word for word, and frown for frown;
But now I fee our lances are but Araws,

Our

Our ftrength as weak, our weakness past compare ;
That seeming to be moft, which we indeed least are.

I have stopped fhort here, as thinking that the following lines might have marred the whole beauty of the fpeech; the doctrine of paffive obedience and non-refiftance in the ftate of marriage, being there carried, perhaps, rather a little too far. But I fhall quote them here, as they afford me an opportunity of remarking on the nature of too prompt reformees, who are apt to run into the very contrary extreme, at once; betraying more of the time-ferver, than the

convert.

But, in general, indeed, it has been observed, that the moft haughty tyrants become, on a reverse of fortune, the moft abject flaves; and this from a like principle, in both cafes; that they are apt to impute the fame fpirit of defpotifm to the conqueror, they were before impreft with themselves; and confequently, are brought to tremble at the apprehenfion of their own vice.

The lines I allude to, are these :

Then vail your ftomachs, for it is no boot,
And place your hands beneath your husband's foot;
In token of which duty, if he please,

My hand is ready, may it do him ease.

To vail is to fubmit, to be awed by authority.

THE

COMEDY

OF

ERROR S.