'Tis in my head to do my mafter good:I fee no reason, but fuppos'd Lucentio Must get a father, call'd-fuppos'd Vincentio; And that's a wonder: fathers, commonly, Do get their children; but, in this cafe of wooing, A child fhall get a fire, if I fail not of my cunning." [Exit. Again, in May-day, a comedy by Chapman, 1611: "She had in her hand the ace of harts and a coat-card. She led the board with her coat; I plaid the varlet, and took up her coat; and meaning to lay my finger on her ace of hearts, up ftarted a quite contrary card." Again, in Rowley's When you fee me you know me, 1621: "You have been at noddy, I fee. Ay, and the first card comes to my hand is a knave. "I am a coat-card, indeed. "Then thou must needs be a knave, for thou art neither queen nor king." STEEVENS. "if I fail not of my cunning.] As this is the conclufion of an act, I fufpect that the poet defign'd a rhyming couplet. Inftead of cunning we might read-doing, which is often ufed by Shakfpeare in the fenfe here wanted, and agrees perfectly well with the beginning of the line-" a child fhall get a fire." After this, the former editors add, Sly. Sim, when will the fool come again?* "Sim. Anon, my lord. Sly. Give us fome more drink here; where's the tapfter? "Here, Sim, eat fome of these things. "Sim. I do, my lord. 66 Sly. Here, Sim, I drink to thee." Thefe fpeeches of the prefenters, (as they are called,) are not in the folio. Mr. Pope, as in fome former inftances, introduced them from the old fpurious play of the fame name; and therefore we may eafily account for their want of connection with the prefent comedy. I have degraded them as ufual into the note. By the fool in the original piece, might be meant Sander the fervant to Ferando (who is the Petruchio of Shakspeare) or Ferando himself. —when will the fool come again?] The character of the fool has not been introduced in this drama, therefore I believe that the word again should be omitted, and that Sly afks, When will the fool come? the fool being the favourite of the vulgar, or, as we now phrafe it, of the upper gallery, was naturally expected in every interlude. JOHNSON. ACT III. SCENE I. A Room in Baptifta's House. Enter LUCENTIO, HORTENSIO, and BIANCA, Luc. Fidler, forbear; you grow too forward, fir: Have you fo foon forgot the entertainment Her fifter Katharine welcom'd you withal? HOR. But, wrangling pedant, this is The patronefs of heavenly harmony: Then give me leave to have prerogative; And when in mufick we have spent an hour, Your lecture fhall have leifure for as much. Luc. Prepofterous afs! that never read fo far Then give me leave to read philosophy, It appears however from the following paffage in the eleventh Book of Thomas Lupton's Notable Things, edit. 1660, that it was the conftant office of the Fool to preferve the ftage from vacancy: 79. When Stage-plays were in ufe, there was in every place one that was called the Foole; as the Proverb faies, like a Fool in a Play. At the Red Bull Play-house it did chance that the Clown or the Fool, being in the attireing houfe, was fuddenly called upon the ftage, for it was empty. He fuddenly going, forgot his Foolescap. One of the players bad his boy take it, and put it on his head as he was speaking. No fuch matter (faies the Boy) there's no manners nor wit in that, nor wisdom neither; and my mafter needs no cap, for he is known to be a Fool without it, as well as with it." STEEVENS. 8this is Probably our author wrote-this lady is, which completes the metre, wrangling being used as a trifyllable. MALONE.. We should read, with Sir T. Hanmer : But, wrangling pedant, know this lady is. RITSON. HOR. Sirrah, I will not bear these braves of thine. HOR. You'll leave his lecture when I am in tune? Luc. Here, madam: Hac ibat Simois; hic eft Sigeia tellus ; Luc. Hac ibat, as I told you before,-Simois, I am Lucentio,-bic eft, fon unto Vincentio of Pifa,Sigeia tellus, difguifed thus to get your love;-Hic fteterat, and that Lucentio that comes a wooing,Priami, is my man Tranio,-regia, bearing my port, celfa fenis, that we might beguile the old pantaloon.1 HOR. Madam, my inftrument's in tune. 90 breeching fcholar] i. e. no fchool-boy liable to corporal correction. So, in King Edward the Second, by Marlow, 1598: "Whofe looks were as a breeching to a boy." Again, in The Hog has left his Pearl, 1614: 66 he went to fetch whips, I think, and, not refpecting my honour, he would have breech'd me." Again, in Amends for Ladies, 1618: "If I had had a fon of fourteen that had ferved me fo, I would have breech'd him." STEEVENS. 2-pantalcon.] The old cully in Italian farces. JOHNSON. BIAN. Let's hear:O fie! the treble jars. [HORTENSIO plays. Luc. Spit in the hole, man, and tune again. BIAN. Now let me fee if I can conftrue it: Hac ibat Simois, I know you not; hic eft Sigeia tellus, I truft you not;-Hic fteterat Priami, take heed he hear us not; regia, prefume not;-celfa fenis, defpair not. HOR. Madam, 'tis now in tune, Luc. All but the base. HOR.. The base is right; 'tis the base knave that jars. How fiery and forward our pedant is! Now, for my life, the knave doth court my love: Pedafcule,' I'll watch you better yet. BIAN. In time I may believe, yet I mistrust.* Luc. Mistrust it not; for, fure, acides Was Ajax,'-call'd fo from his grandfather. BIAN. I must believe my mafter; elfe, I promise you, 3 Pedafcule,] He fhould have faid, Didafcale, but thinking this too honourable, he coins the word Pedafcule, in imitation of it, from pedant. WARBURTON. I believe it is no coinage of Shakspeare's, it is more probable that it lay in his way, and he found it. STEEVENS. 4 In time I may believe, yet I miftruft.] This and the feven verfes that follow, have in all the editions been ftupidly fhuffled and mifplaced to wrong speakers; so that every word faid was glaringly out of character. THEOBALD. -for, fure, Eacides, &c.] This is only faid to deceive Hortenfio who is fuppofed to liften. The pedigree of Ajax, however, is properly made out, and might have been taken from Golding's Verfion of Ovid's Metamorphofis, Book XIII: 66 The highest Jove of all Acknowledgeth this Eacus, and dooth his fonne him call. "Thus am I Ajax third from Jove," STEEVENS, I should be arguing ftill upon that doubt: My leffons make no mufick in three parts. Luc. Are you so formal, fir? well, I muft wait, And watch withal; for, but I be deceiv'd," Our fine musician groweth amorous. [Afide HOR. Madam, before you touch the inftrument, To learn the order of my fingering, I must begin with rudiments of art; To teach you gamut in a briefer fort, More pleasant, pithy, and effectual, Than hath been taught by any of my And there it is in writing, fairly drawn. BIAN. Why, I am past my gamut long ago. HOR. Yet read the gamut of Hortenfio. BIAN. [Reads.] Gamut I am, the ground of all accord, trade: A re, to plead Hortenfio's paffion; Call you this gamut? tut! I like it not: 5 Good mafters,] Old copy-mafter. Corrected by Mr. Pope. MALONE. 6 but I be deceiv'd,] But has here the fignification of unless. MALONE. · To change true rules for odd inventions.] The old copy readsTo charge true rules for old inventions: The former emendation was |