GRU. E'en at hand, alighted by this; and there fore be not, Cock's paffion, filence !—I hear my mafter. Enter PETRUCHIO and KATHARINA. PET. Where be these knaves? What, no man at door,' * Enter Petruchio, &c.] Thus the original play: "Enter Ferando and Kate. "Ferand. Now welcome Kate. Wheres these villaines, "Heere? what, not supper yet upon the boord! "Nor table fpread, nor nothing done at all! "Where's that villaine that I fent before? "San. Now, adfum, fir. "Feran. Come hither you villaine; Ile cut your nose "You rogue: help me off with my bootes: wil't please "You to lay the cloth? Sowns the villaine "Hurts my foote: pull eafily I fay: yet againe? [He beats them all. They cover the boord, and fetch in the meate. "Sowns, burnt and fcorch't! who dreft this meate? "Will. Forfooth, John Cooke. [He throwes downe the table and meate, and all, and beates them all. "Feran. Goe, you villaines; bring me fuch meate? "Out of my fight, I fay, and bear it hence. "Come, Kate, wee'l have other meate provided: "Is there a fire in my chamber, fir? "San. I, forfooth. "Manent ferving men, "Tom. Sownes, I thinke of fince he was married. "Will. I laft what a box he "For pulling off his bootes. and my [Exeunt Ferando and Kate. eate up all the meate. confcience my mafter's madde gave Sander "Enter Ferando again. "San. I hurt his foot for the nonce, man. "Feran. Did you fo, you damned villaine? [He beates them all out again. "This humour muft I hold me to a while, To hold my stirrup, nor to take my horse! ALL SERV. Here, here, fir; here fir. PET. Here, fir! here, fir! here, fir! here, fir!You loggerheaded and unpolifh'd grooms! What, no attendance? no regard? no duty?Where is the foolish knave I fent before? GRU. Here, fir; as foolish as I was before. Did I not bid thee meet me in the park, And Walter's dagger was not come from fheathing: There were none fine, but Adam, Ralph, and Gregory; The reft were ragged, old, and beggarly; Yet, as they are, here are they come to meet you. PET. Go, rascals, go, and fetch my fupper in.-[Exeunt fome of the Servants. "Were fhe as ftubborne, or as full of ftrength "As was the Thracian horse Alcides tamde, That king Egeus fed with flesh of men, "Yet would I pull her downe and make her come, "As hungry hawkes do flie unto their lewre." 9 [Exit. STEEVENS. at door,] Door is here, and in other places, used as a diffyllable. MALONE. 2 no link to colour Peter's hat,] A link is a torch of pitch. Greene, in his Mihil Mumchance, fays" This cozenage is used likewife in felling old hats found upon dung-hills, instead of newe, blackt over with the moake of an old linke.' STEEVENS Where is the life that late I led3— [Sings. Where are thofe Sit down, Kate, and wel come. Soud, foud, foud, foud!+ Re-enter Servants, with fupper. Why, when, I fay?-Nay, good fweet Kate, be merry. Off with my boots, you rogues, you villains; When? It was the friar of orders grey,' [Sings. 3 Where, &c.] A fcrap of fome old ballad. Ancient Piftol elfewhere quotes the fame line. In an old black letter book intituled, "A gorgious Gallery of Gallant Inventions, London, 1578, 4to. is a fong to the tune of Where is the life that late I led." RITSON. This ballad was peculiarly fuited to Petruchio's prefent fituation: for it appears to have been defcriptive of the ftate of a lover who had newly refigned his freedom. In an old collection of Sonnets, entitled A handful of pleasant delites, containing fundrie new foneti, &c. by Clement Robinson, 1584, is "Dame Beautie's replie to the lover late at libertie, and now complaineth himselfe to be her captive, intituled, Where is the life that late 1 led: "The life that erft thou led'ft, my friend, "Was pleasant to thine eyes," &c. MALONE. 4 Soud, foud, &c.] That is, fweet, fweet. Soot, and sometimes fouth, is feet. So, in Milton, to fing foothly, is to fing fweetly. JOHNSON. So, in Promos and Caffandra, 1578: "He'll hang handsome young men for the foote finne of love.” STEEVENS. Thefe words feem merely intended to denote the humming of a tune, or fome kind of ejaculation, for which it is not neceflary to find out a meaning. M. MASON. This, I believe, is a word coined by our poet, to express the noife made by a perfon heated and fatigued. MALONE. 5 It was the friar of orders grey,] Difperfed through Shakspeare's plays are many little fragments of ancient ballads, the entire copies of which cannot now be recovered. Many of thefe being of the 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!Where's my spaniel Troilus?-Sirrah, get you hence, And bid my coufin Ferdinand come hither: 7[Exit Servant. One, Kate, that you must kiss, and be acquainted with. Where are my flippers? water? Shall I have fome [A bafon is prefented to him. Come, Kate, and wash, and welcome heartily :[Servant lets the ewer fall. 8 moft beautiful and pathetic fimplicity, Dr. Percy has felected fome of them, and connected them together with a few fupplemental ftanzas; a work, which at once demonftrates his own poetical abilities, as well as his respect to the truely venerable remains of our moft ancient bards. STEEVENS. 6 Out, out, you rogue!] The fecond word was inferted by Mr. Pope, to complete the metre. When a word occurs twice in the fame line, the compofitor very frequently omits one of them. MALONE. ↑ And bid my coufin Ferdinand come hither:] This coufin Ferdinand, who does not make his perfonal appearance on the fcene, is mentioned, I fuppofe, for no other reafon than to give Katharine a hint, that he could keep even his own relations in order, and make them obedient as his fpaniel Troilus. STEEVENS. 8 Come, Kate, and wash,] It was the custom in our author's time, (and long before,) to wash the hands immediately before dinner and fupper, as well as afterwards. So, in Ives's Select Papers, p. 139: "And after that the Queen [Elizabeth, the wife of K. Henry VII.] was retourned and washed, the Archbishop faid grace." Again, in Florio's Second Frutes, 1591: C. "The meate is coming, let us fit downe. S. I would wash first. What ho, bring us fome water to wash our hands.-Give me a faire, cleane and white towel." From the fame dialogue it appears that it was customary to wash after meals likewife, and that fetting the water on the table was then (as at prefent) peculiar to Great Britain and Ireland. "Bring fome water (fays one of the company) when dinner is You whorefon villain! will you let it fall? [Strikes him. KATH. Patience, I pray you; 'twas a fault unwilling. PET. A whorefon, beetleheaded, flapcar'd knave! Come, Kate, fit down; I know you have a ftomach. Will you give thanks, fweet Kate; or elfe fhall I?— What is this? mutton? PET. 'Tis burnt; and fo is all the meat: What dogs are these?-Where is the rafcal cook? How durft you, villains, bring it from the dreffer, And ferve 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 heedlefs joltheads, and unmanner'd flaves! 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 fo contented. ended,) to wash our hands, and fet the bacin upon the board, after the English fashion, that all may wafh." That it was the practice to wash the hands immediately before fupper, as well as before dinner, is afcertained by the following paffage in The Fountayne of Fame, erected in an Orcharde of amorous adventures, by Anthony Munday, 1580: "Then was our jupper brought up very orderly, and the brought me water to wake my handes. And after I had washed, I fat downe, and she also; but concerning what good cheere we had, I need not make good report." MALONE, As our ancestors eat with their fingers, which might not be overclean before meals, and after them must be greafy, we cannot wonder at fuch repeated ablutions. STEEVENS, |