SCENE III. A Room in PETRUCHIO's House. Enter KATHARINA and GRUMIO. Gru. No, no, forsooth; I dare not, for my life. Beggars, that come unto my father's door, If not, elsewhere they meet with charity : Am starv'd for meat, giddy for lack of sleep; With oaths kept waking, and with brawling fed: And that which spites me more than all these wants, As who should say,-if I should sleep, or eat, Kath. 'Tis passing good; I pr'ythee let me have it. Kath. I like it well; good Grumio, fetch it me. What say you to a piece of beef, and mustard? Gru. Ay, but the mustard is too hot a little. Kath. Then, both, or one, or any thing thou wilt. Gru. Why, then the mustard without the beef. Kath. Go, get thee gone, thou false deluding slave, [Beats him. That feed'st me with the very name of meat : Sorrow on thee, and all the pack of you, That triumph thus upon my misery! Go, get thee gone, I say. Enter PETRUCHIO with a dish of meat; and HORTENSIO. Pet. How fares my Kate? What, sweeting, all amort ? Hor. Mistress, what cheer? Kath. 'Faith, as cold as can be. Pet. Pluck up thy spirits, look cheerfully upon me. Here, love; thou seest how diligent I am, [Sets the dish on a table. Kath. 'Pray you, let it stand. Pet. The poorest service is repaid with thanks; And so shall mine, before you touch the meat. Kath. I thank you, sir. Hor. Signior Petruchio, fie! you are to blame! -Come, mistress Kate, I'll bear you company. Pet. Eat it up all, Hortensio, if thou lov'st me. [Aside. With silken coats, and caps, and golden rings, Enter Tailor. -Come, tailor, let us see these ornaments.* Lay forth the gown.-What news with you, sir? A knack, a toy, a trick, a baby's cap; Kath. I'll have no bigger; this doth fit the time, Pet. When you are gentle, you shall have one too, And not till then. Hor. That will not be in haste. [Aside. Kath. Why, sir, I trust, I may have leave to speak; And speak I will; I am no child, no babe: [1] In our poet's time, women's gowns were usually made by men. MAL. And, if you cannot, best you stop your ears. Kath. Love me, or love me not, I like the cap; Pet. Thy gown? why, ay:-Come, tailor, let us see't. O mercy, God! what masking stuff is here? What's this? a sleeve? 'tis like a demi-cannon: What! up and down, carv'd like an apple-tart? Here's snip, and nip, and cut, and slish, and slash, Like to a censer4 in a barber's shop: Why, what, o'devil's name, tailor, call'st thou this? Hor. I see,she's like to have neither cap nor gown. [Asi. Tai. You bid me make it orderly and well, According to the fashion, and the time. Pet. Marry, and did; but if you be remember'd, I did not bid you mar it to the time. Go, hop me over every kennel home, For you shall hop without my custom, sir: Kath. I never saw a better-fashion'd gown, Pet. Why, true; he means to make a puppet of thee. Tai. She says, your worship means to make a puppet of her. Pet. O monstrous arrogance! thou liest, thou thread, Thou thimble,5 Thou yard, three-quarters, half-yard, quarter, nail, [2] Shakspeare has here copied nature with great skill. Petruchio, by frightening, starving, and overwatching his wife, had tamed her into gentleness and submission. And the audience expects to hear no more of the shrew: when on her being crossed in the article of fashion and finery, the most inveterate folly of the sex,she flies out again, though for the last time, into all the intemperate rage of her nature. WARBURTON. [3] A coffin was the culinary term for the raised crust of a pie or custard.STE. 141 Censers in barber's shops are now disused, but they may easily be imagined to have been vessels which, for the emission of the smoke, were cut with great number and varieties of interstices. JOHNSON. [5] The tailor's trade, having an appearance of effeminacy, has always been, among the rugged English, liable to sarcasms and contempt. JOHN Away, thou rag, thou quantity, thou remnant; As thou shalt think on prating whilst thou liv❜st! Tai. Your worship is deceiv'd; the gown is made Grumio gave order how it should be done. Gru. I gave him no order, I gave him the stuff. Tai. I have. Gru. Face not me: thou hast braved many men ;6 brave not me; I will neither be faced, nor braved. I say unto thee,-I bid thy master cut out the gown; but I did not bid him cut it to pieces: ergo, thou liest. Tai. Why, here is the note of the fashion to testify. Pet. Read it. Gru. The note lies in his throat, if he say I said so. Tai. Imprimis, a loose-bodied gown:· Gru. Master, if ever I said loose-bodied gown,? sew me in the skirts of it, and beat me to death with a bottom of brown thread: I said, a gown. Pet. Proceed. Tai. With a small compassed cape:8 Gru. I confess the cape. - Tai. With a trunk sleeve ;- Gru. Error i' the bill, sir; error i' the bill. I commanded the sleeves should be cut out, and sewed up again; and that I'll prove upon thee, though thy little finger be armed in a thimble. Tai. This is true that I say; an I had thee in place where, thou should'st know it. [6] i. e. made many men fine. Bravery was the ancient term for elegance of dress.-Faced many things, i. e. turned up many things with facings. STE. [7] I think the joke is impaired unless we read, with the original play already quoted-a loose body's gown. It appears, however, that loose-bodied gowns were the dress of harlots. STEEVENS. [8] A compassed cape is a round cape. To compass is to come round. JOH. Stubbs, in his Anatomy of Abuses. 1565, gives a most elaborate description of the gowns of women; and adds, "Some have capes reaching down to the midst of their backs, faced with velvet, or else with some fine wrought taffata, at the least, fringed about very bravely." STEEV. Gru. I am for thee straight take thou the bill, give me thy mete-yard, and spare not me. Hor. God-a-mercy,Grumio! then he shall have noodds. Pet. Well, sir, in brief, the gown is not for me. Gru. You are i' the right, sir; 'tis for my mistress. Pet., Go, take it up unto thy master's use. Gru. Villain, not for thy life: Take up my mistress' gown for thy master's use! Pet. Why, sir, what's your conceit in that? Gru. O, sir, the conceit is deeper than you think for: Take up my mistress' gown to his master's use ! O, fie, fie, fie! Pet. Hortensio, say thou wilt see the tailor paid: [Asi. -Go, take it hence; be gone, and say no more. Hor. Tailor, I'll pay thee for thy gown to-morrow. Take no unkindness of his hasty words: Away, I say; commend me to thy master. [Ex. Tailor. Our purses shall be proud, our garments poor : And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds, Kath. I dare assure you, sir, 'tis almost two; It shall be what o'clock I say it is. Hor Why,so! this gallant will command the sun. [Exe. |