Pet. Come on, I say ; and first begin with her.
Wid. She shall not.

Pet. I say, she shall ;-and first begin with her.
Kath. Fie fie! unknit that threat'ning unkind brow;
And dart not scornful glances from those eyes,
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor:
It biots thy beauty, as frosts bite the meads;
Confounds thy fame, as whirlwinds shake fair buds ;
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
To painful labour, both by sea and land;
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 hands,
But love, fair looks, and true obedience ;-
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;
But that our soft conditions and our hearts,
Should well agree with our external parts?
Come, come, you froward and unable worms!
My mind hath been as big as one of yours,
My heart as great; my reason, haply, more,
To bandy word for word, and frown for frown:
But now, I see our lances are but straws;
Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare,-
That seeming to be most, which we least are.
Then veil your stomachs, 5 for it is no boot;

[5] i e. abate your pride, your spirit. STEEV.

her. ind brow;

A

buds;

hee,

e;

;

My hand is ready, may it do him ease.

Pet. Why, there's a wench!-Come on, and kiss me

Kate.

Luc. Well, go thy ways, old lad; for thou shalt ha't Vin. 'Tis a good hearing, when children are toward Luc. But a harsh hearing, when women are froward Pet. Come, Kate, we'll to-bed :We three are married, but you two are sped. 6 'Twas I won the wager, though you hit the white;7 [TO LUCENTIC

And, being a winner, God give you good-night!

[Exe. PETRUCHIO and KATHARINA Hor. Now go thy ways, thou hast tam'd a curst shrew. Luc. "Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be tam'd s [Exeunt.9

[6] i. e. the fate of you both is decided; for you have wives who exhib early proofs of disobedience.

STEEV.

[7] To hit the white is a phrase borrowed from archery: the mark w commonly white. Here it alludes to the name, Bianca, or white. JOH

[8] As this was meant for a rhyming couplet, it should be observed th anciently the word-shrew was pronounced as if it had been written-shro Thus, in Mr. Lodge's Illustrations of English History, Vol II. p. 164, Burg ley calis Lord Shrewsbury-Shrewsbury. See, also, the same work, Vol. p. 168-9.

STEEV.

[9] At the conclusion of this piece, Mr. Pope continued his insertions fro the old play, as follows:

"Enter two Servants, bearing Sly in his own apparel, and leaving him

the stage. Then enter a Tapster.

"Sly. [awaking.] Sim, give's some more wine. What, all the playe gone?-Am I not a jord

"Tap. A lord, with a murrain?-Come, art thou drunk still?

"Sly. Who's this? Tapster!-Oh, I have had the bravest dream that ev thou heard'st in all thy life.

1

"Tap. Yea, marry, but thou hadst best get thee home, for your wife w

curse you for dreaming here all night.

"Sly. Will she? I know how to tame a shrew. I dreamt upon it all th night, and thou hast wak'd me out of the best dream that ever

I'll to my wife, and tame her too, if she anger me."

I had. E

These passages, which have been hitherto printed as part of the work Shakspeare, I have sunk into the notes, that they may be preserv-ed, they seem to be necessary to the integrity of the piece, though they re ly compose no part of it, being not published in the folio 1623. M Pope, however, has quoted them with a degree of inaccuracy which wor have deserved censure, had they been of greater consequence than they a The players delivered down this comedy, among the rest, as one of Sh speare's own; and its intrinsic merit bears sufficient evidence to the p priety of their decision.

May I add a few reasons why I neither believe the former comedy of

have been the work of Shakspeare? He generally followed every novel or history from whence he took his plots, as closely as he could; and is so often indested to these originals for his very thoughts and expressions, that we may fairly pronounce nim not to have been above borrowing, to spare himself the labour of invention It is therefore probable, that both these plays, (like that of King Henry V in which O.dcastle is introduced,) were the unsuccessful performances of contemporary players. Shakspeare saw they were meanly written, and yet that their plans were such as would furnish incidents for a better iramatist. He therefore migat lazily adopt the order of their scenes, sri'l writing the dialogue anew, and inserting little more from either piece, than a few lines which he might think worth preserving, or was too mach in hasreto alter It is no uncommon thing in the literary world to see the track of others followed by those who would never have given themselves the trouble to mark out one of their own.

STEEVENS.