GRE. Nay, I dare not fwear it. TRA. Then thou wert beft fay, that I am not Lucentio. GRE. Yes, I know thee to be fignior Lucentio. BAP. Away with the dotard; to the gaol with him. VIN. Thus ftrangers may be haled and abus'd:— O monftrous villain! Re-enter BIONDELLO, with LUCENTIO and BIANCA. BION. O, we are spoiled, and-Yonder he is; deny him, forfwear him, or else we are all undone. Luc. Pardon, fweet father. [Kneeling. Lives my fweetest fon? [BIONDELLO, TRANIO, and Pedant run out." VIN. Right fon unto the right Vincentio; That have by marriage made thy daughter mine, While counterfeit fuppofes blear'd thine eyne. run out.] The old copy fays-as faft as may be. RITSON. 8 While counterfeit fuppofes blear'd thine eyne.] The modern editors read fuppofers, but wrongly. This is a plain allufion to Gafcoigne's comedy entitled Suppofes, from which feveral of the incidents in this play are borrowed. TYRWHITT. This is highly probable; but yet fuppofes is a word often used in its common fenfe, which, on the prefent occafion is fufficiently commodious. So, in Greene's Farewell to Folly, 1617: "-with Plato to build a commonwealth on fuppofes." Shakspeare ufes the word in Troilus and Creffida: "That we come fhort of our Suppofe fo far," &c. It appears likewife from the Preface to Greene's Metamorphofts, that fuppofes was a game of fome kind. After fuppofes, and fuch ordinary fports, were paft, they fell to 8 GRE. Here's packing, with a witness, to deceive us all! VIN. Where is that damned villain, Tranio, That fac'd and brav'd me in this matter fo? BAP. Why, tell me, is not this my Cambio? BIAN. Cambio is chang'd into Lucentio. Luc. Love wrought these miracles. Bianca's love Unto the wished haven of my blifs:- VIN. I'll flit the villain's nofe, that would have fent me to the gaol. BAP. But do you hear fir? [To LUCENTIO.] Have you married my daughter without afking my good-will? prattle," &c. Again, in Drayton's Epiftle from K. John to Matilda: "And tells me thofe are fhadows and supposes." To blear the eye, was an ancient phrafe fignifying to deceive. So, in Chaucer's Manciple's Tale, v. 17202, Mr. Tyrwhitt's edit: "For all thy waiting, blered is thin eye." Again, in the 10th pageant of The Coventry Plays, in the British "Shuld I now in age begynne to dote, STEEVENS. The ingenious editor's explanation of blear the eye, is ftrongly fupported by Milton, Comus, v. 155: Spells "Of power to cheat the eye with blear illufion." HOLT WHITE. 8 Here's packing,] i. e. plotting, underhand contrivance. So, in K. Lear: "Snuffs and packings of the dukes." STEEVENS. VIN. Fear not, Baptifta; we will content you, go to: But I will in, to be reveng'd for this villainy. [Exit. BAP. And I, to found the depth of this knavery. [Exit. Luc. Look not pale, Bianca; thy father will not frown. [Exeunt LUCENTIO and BIANCA. GRE. My cake is dough: But I'll in among the reft; Out of hope of all,-but my share of the feast. [Exit. PET. First kiss me, Kate, and we will. KATH. No, fir; God forbid: but afham'd to kifs. PET. Why, then let's home again:-Come, firrah, let's away. KATH. Nay, I will give thee a kifs: now pray thee, love, stay. PET. Is not this well?-Come, my fweet Kate; Better once than never, for never too late. [Exeunt. 9 My cake is dough:] This is a proverbial expreffion which alfo occurs in the old interlude of Tom Tyler and his Wife: "Alas poor Tom, his cake is dough." Again, in The Cafe is Alter'd, 1609: "Steward, your cake is dough, as well as mine." STEEVENS. It was generally ufed when any project mifcarried. MALONE. Rather when any difappointment was fuftained, contrary to every appearance or expectation. Howell in one of his letters, mentioning the birth of Lewis the Fourteenth, fays" The Queen is delivered of a Dauphin, the wonderfulleft thing of this kind that any story can parallel, for this is the three-and-twentieth year fince fhe was married, and hath continued childlefs all this while. So that now Monfieur's cake is dough." REED. SCENE II. A Room in Lucentio's House. A Banquet fet out. Enter BAPTISTA, VINCENTIO, GREMIO, the Pedant, LUCENTIO, BIANCA, PETRUCHIO, KATHARINA, HORTENSIO, and Widow. TRANIO, BIONDELLO, GRUMIO, and Others, attending. Luc. At laft, though long, our jarring notes agree: And time it is, when raging war is done, To smile at 'fcapes and perils over-blown.My fair Bianca, bid my father welcome, While I with felf-fame kindness welcome thine:Brother Petruchio,-fifter Katharina,And thou, Hortenfio, with thy loving widow,— Feast with the best, and welcome to my house; My banquet is to close our stomachs up, After our great good cheer: Pray you, fit down; For now we fit to chat, as well as eat. [They fit at table. PET. Nothing but fit and fit, and eat and eat! BAP. Padua affords this kindness, fon Petruchio. PET. Padua affords nothing but what is kind. 9 when raging war is done,] This is Mr. Rowe's emendation. The old copy has when raging war is come, which cannot be right. Perhaps the author wrote when raging war is calm formerly fpelt calme. So, in Othello: "If after every tempeft come fuch calms—.” The word " overblown," in the next line, adds fome little fupport to this conjecture. MALONE. Mr. Rowe's conjecture is juftified by a passage in Othello : 66 News, lords! our wars are done." STEEVENS. 2 My banquet-] A banquet, or (as it is called in fome of our old books) an afterpaft, was a flight refection, like our modern defert, confifting of cakes, fweetmeats, and fruit. See note on Romeo and Juliet, A&t I. fc. v. STEEVENS. HOR. For both our fakes, I would that word were true. PET. Now, for my life, Hortenfio fears his widow.' PET. You are fenfible, and yet you mifs my fenfe;* I mean, Hortenfio is afeard of you. I WID. He that is giddy, thinks the world turns round. PET. Roundly replied. ΚΑΤΗ. Mistress, how mean you that? WID. Thus I conceive by him. PET. Conceives by me!-How likes Hortenfio that? HOR. My widow fays, thus fhe conceives her tale. widow. KATH. He that is giddy, thinks the world turns round: pray you, tell me what you meant by that. WID. Your husband, being troubled with a fhrew, Measures my husband's forrow by his woe: 5 And now you know my meaning. 3 KATH. A very mean meaning. Right, I mean you. fears his widow.] To fear, as has been already obferved, meant in our author's time both to dread, and to intimidate. The widow understands the word in the latter fenfe; and Petruchio tells her, he ufed it in the former. MALONE. You are fenfible, and yet you miss my fenfe;] The old copy redundantly reads-You are very fenfible. STEEVENS. 5 — frew, we] As this was meant for a rhyming couplet, it fhould be obferved that anciently the word-fhrew was pronounced as if it had been written-fhrow. See the finale of the play, p. 557. STEEVENS. VOL. VI. N n |