Bap. Talk not, signior Gremio; I say, he shall | SCENE 11.-A Room in LUCENTIO's House. go to prison.

Gre. Take heed, signior Baptista, lest you be
Coney-catched in this business; 1 dare swear,
this is the right Vincentio.
Ped. Swear, if thou darest.

Gre. Nay, I dare not swear it.

Tra. Then thou wert best say, that I am not Lucentio.

Gre. Yes, I know thee to be signior Lucentio.

Bap. Away with the dotard; to the jail with

him.

Vin. Thus strangers may be haled and abus'd: -O monstrous villain !

Made me exchange my state with Tranio,
While he did bear my countenance in the
town;

And happily I have arriv'd at last
Unto the wished haven of my bliss:-
What Tranio did, myself enforc'd him to;
Then pardon him, sweet father, for my sake.
Vin. I'll slit the villain's nose, that would have
sent me to the jail.

Bap. But do you hear, Sir? [To LUCENTIO.]
Have you married my daughter without asking
my good-will?

Vin. Fear not, Baptista; we will content you,
go to: But I will in, to be revenged for this
villany.
(Exit.

Bap. And I, to sound the depth of this kna-
very.
(Exit.

Luc. Look not pale, Bianca; thy father will not
frown. [Exeunt Luc. and BIAN.
Gre. My cake is dough: But I'll in among
the rest;

Out of hope of all,-but my share of the feast.
[Exit.

A Banquet set out.

Enter BAPTISTA, VINCENTIO, GREMIO, the PEDANT, LUCENTIO, BIANCA, PETRUCHIO, KATHARINA, HORTEN $10, and WIDOW, TRANIO, BIONDELLO, GRUMIO, and others, attending.

Luc. At last, though long, our jarring notes

agree:

And time it is, when raging war is done,
To smile at 'scapes and perils overblown.-
My fair Bianca, bid my father welcome,
While I with self-same kindness welcome
thine :-

Brother Petruchio,-sister Katharina,-
And thou, Hortensio, 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 sit down;
For now we sit to chat, as well as cat.
[They sit at table.
Pet. Nothing but sit and sit, and eat and eat!
Bap. Padua affords this kindness, son Pe-
truchio.

down.

Hor. That's my office.

Pet. Spoke like an officer:-Ha' to thee, lad. [Drinks to HORTENSIO. Bap. How likes Gremio these quick-witted folks?

Gre. Believe me, Sir, they butt together well. Bian. Head, and butt? an basty-witted body Would say, your head and butt were head and

born.

Vin. Ay, mistress bride, hath that awaken'd you?

Bian. Ay, but not frighted me: therefore I'll sleep again.

Pet. Nay, that you shall not; since you have begun,

Have at you for a bitter jest or two..

Bian. Am I your bird? I mean to shift my bush,

And then pursue me as you draw your bow:-
You are welcome all.

[Exeunt BIANCA, KATHARINA, and WIDOW.
Pet. She hath prevented me.-Here, siguior
Tranio,

• A banquet was a refection consisting of fruit, eakca, &c. 1 Dreads.

This bird you aim'd at, though you hit her not; | Swinge me them soundly forth unto their
Therefore, a health to all that shot and miss'd.

bands:

Tra. O Sir, Lucentio slipp'd me like his grey-Away, I say, and bring them hither straight. bound, [Erit KATHARIKA. Luc. Here is a wonder, if you talk of a wosder.

Which runs himself, and catches for his master. Pet. A good swift simile, but something currish.

Re-enter BIONDELLO. Now where's my wife?

Bion. She says, you have some goodly jest in hand;

She will not come; she bids you come to her.
Pet. Worse and worse; she will not come! O
Intolerable, not to be endur'd!
[vile
Sirrah Grumio, go to your mistress ;
Say, I command her to come to me.

Enter KATHARINA.

Bap. Now, by my holidame, here comes
Katharina!
Kath. What is your will, Sir, that you send
for me?

Pet. Where is your sister, and Hortensio's
wife?

Kath. They sit conferring by the parlour fire.
Pet. Go fetch them hither; if they deny to

come,

• Witty.

Hor. And so it is; I wonder what it bodes. Pet. Marry, peace it bodes, and love, zind quiet life,

↑ Sarcasm.

An awful rule, and right supremacy;
And, to be short, what not, that's sweet and
happy.

Bap. Now fair befall thee, good Petruchio !
The wager thou hast won; and I will add
Unto their losses twenty thousand crowns;
Another dowry to another daughter,
For she is chang'd, as she had never been.
Pet. Nay, I will win my wager better yet;
And show more sign of her obedience,
Her new-built virtue and obedience.

Re-enter KATHARINA, with Blanca, and

WIDOW.

See, where she comes; and brings your froward wives

And in no sense is meet, or amiable.
A woman mov'd, is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
And, while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip, or touch one drop of it.
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for
thee,

And for thy maintenance: commits his body
[Exit GRUMIO. To painful labour, both by sea and land;

Hor. I know her answer.

Pet. What?

To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
While thou liest warm at home, secure and safe;
And craves no other tribute at thy bands,

Hor. She will not come.

Pet. The fouler fortune mine, and there an But love, fair looks, and true obedience ;

end.

Too little payment for so great a debt.
Such duty as the subject owes the prince,
Even such, a woman oweth to her husband:
And, when she's froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And, not obedient to his honest will,
What is she, but a foul contending rebel,
And graceless traitor to her loving lord?-
I am asham'd, that women are so simple
To offer war, where they should kneel for
peace ;

Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway,
When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.
Why are our bodies soft, and weak and smooth,
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world;

her.
Wid. She shall not.

Pet. I say, she shall ;-and first begin with
ber.

Kath. Fie, fie! unknit that threat'ning un-
kind brow;

And dart not scornful glances from those eyes,
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor :
It blots thy beauty, as frosts bite the meads;
Confounds thy fame, as whirlwinds shake fair
buds;

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR,

LITERARY AND HISTORICAL NOTICE.

TINS play was produced under two disadvantages: first, it was not the suggestion of Shakspeare's own genius, be having exhibited the character of Falstaff in three inimitable plays, and finished the portrait to his own taste; and secondly, it was written with unusual expedition, in the short period of fourteen days. Queen Elizabeth is said to have been so delighted with the Knight, that she commanded our poet to show him in love; and, up" on this regal signification, Dr. Johnson remarks, that "no task is harder than that of writing to the dass es another. Shakspeare knew what the Queen, if the story be true, seems not to have known--that by any meal passion of tenderness, the selfish craft, the careless jollity, and the lazy luxury of Falstaff must have saf fered so much abatement, that little of his former craft would have remained. Falstaff could not love, but by ceasing to be Falstaff." The most noted propensities of " the fat old man," are however, skilfully engranted on the design of the piece; so that wit, covetousness, mendacity, aud concupiscence, are as much as posisie combined and developed in his conduct. The other characters, also, are well contrasted; and many of the scenes are pregnant with amusing incident. The circumstances of the plot are variously derived: some of them, probably, from an old translation of Il Pecorone by Giovanni Fiorentino; and the particular adventures of Falstaff, from The Lovers of Pisa, a story in an ancient piece called Tarleton's News out of Purgatore. Malene supposes that Shakspeare chose Windsor for the ene of Falstaff love-frolics, upon reading the subjoined passage in "Westward for Smelts:" " In Windsor not long agoe, dwelt a sumpterman, who had to wit a very faire but wanton creature, over whom, not without cause, he was something jealous; yet had he never may proof of her inconstancy."

ACT I.

SCENE I.-Windsor. Before PAGE's House.
Enter Justice SHALLOW, SLENDER, and Sir
HUGH EVANS.

SCENE-Windsor, and the parts adjacent.

ROBIN, Page to Falstaff.
SIMPLE, Servant to Slender.
RUGBY, Servant to Dr. Caius.

any

Sten. All his successors, gone before him have done't; and all his ancestors, that come after him, may; they may give the dozen white luces in their coat.

MRS. FORD,

MRS. PAGE.

MRS. ANNE PAGE, her Daughter, in love with
Fenton,

MRS. QUICKLY, Servant to Dr. Caius.

Servants to Page, Ford, &c.

Shal. It is an old coat.

Eva. The dozen white louses do become an A title formerly appropriated to chaplains as well as + Custos rotulorum. The luce is a pike: Shakspeare has here a throw at Sir Thomas Lucy, who compelled him to leave Stratford.

to knights.

Shal. Sir Hugh, persuade me not: I will make a star chamber matter of it: if he were twenty Sir John Falstaffs, he shall not abuse Robert Shallow, esquire.

Sten. In the county of Gloster, justice of peace, and coram.

Shal. Ay, cousin Slender, and Cust-alorum. + Sien. Ay, and ratolorum too; and a gentle-agements unto you, I am of the church, and man born, master parson; who writes himself will be glad to do my benevolence, to nakt atonements and compromises between you. armigero; in any bill, warrant, quittance, or obligation, armigero.

Shul. Ay, that we do; and have done time these three hundred years.

old coat well; it agrees well, passant: it is a familiar beast to mau, and signifies-love.

Shal. The luce is the fresh fish; the salt ist is an old coat.

Sten. I may quarter, coz?

Shal. You may, by marrying.

Eva. It is marring indeed, if he quarter it.
Shal. Not a whit.

Eva. Yes, py'r lady if he has a quarter of your coat, there is but three skirts for yourself, in my simple conjectures: but that is al eue: If Sir John Falstaff have committed dispar

Shal. The council shall hear it; it is a riot. Eva. It is not meet the council bear a riot; there is no fear of Got in a riot: the coused and not to hear a riot; take your vizaments you, shall desire to hear the fear of Get,

look

in that.

Shal. Ha! o' my life, if I were young again, the sword should end it.

and end it: and there is also another device Eva. It is petter that friends is the sword, in my prain, which, peradventure, prings geog discretions with it: There is Auue Page

• By our.

+ Court of star-chamber.

Shal. He bath wrong'd me, master Page. Page. Sir, he doth in some sort confess it. Shal. If it be confess'd, it is not redress'd; is not that so, master Page? He hath wrong'drance is ! me; indeed, he hath ;-at a word, he hath ;believe ine;-Robert Shallow, esquire, saith he is wrong'd.

Page. Here comes Sir John.