8 ΑΝΝΟΤΑTIONS ON [ACT IV. Line 155. infected with the fashions, past cure of the fives.] Fashions. So called in the west of England, but by the best writers on farriery, farcins, or farcy. Fives. So called in the west: vives elsewhere, and avives by the French; a distemper in horses, little differing from the strangles. GREY. Line. 163. -a crupper of velure,] Velure from velours, French, is velvet. Line 169. -stock-] means stocking. 171 - An old hat, and the humour of forty fancies prick'd in't for a feather:] This was some ballad or drollery of that time, which the poet here ridicules, by making Petruchio prick it up in his foot-boy's old hat for a feather. WARBURTON. Line 213. -to digress;] To deviate from any promise. JOHNSON. 281. quaffd off the muscadel,] It appears from this passage, and another called The History of the two Maids of Moreclacke, a comedy, by Robert Armin, 1609, that it was the custom to drink wine immediately after the marriage ceremony. STEEVENS. Line 346. my horse, my ox, my ass, An allusion to the tenth commandment. ACT IV. Line 3. made dirty, -was ever man so ray'd?] It means bewray'd, i. e. So Spenser, b. iii. cant. 8. st. 32. The whiles the piteous lady up did rise, TOLLET. Line 26. Away, you three-inch fool!] i. e. with a skull three inches thick, a phrase taken from the thicker sort of planks. WARBURTON. 4 ACT IV.] THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. 9 Line 27.why, thy horn is a foot; and so long am I, at he least.] The meaning is that he had made Curtis a cuckold. WARBURTON. Line 41. Jack-boy! ho boy!] Fragment of an old balWARBURTON. lad. Line 49. Be the jacks fair within, the jills fair without,] i.e. Are the drinking vessels clean, and the maid servants dress'd? WARBURTON. Line 50. -the carpets laid,] In Shakspeare's time, instead of table-cloths, carpets were used-and the floors were covered with rushes. 80. - was burst;] Burst means broken. sense of this I know not, unless it means, that their garters should be fellows; indifferent, or not different, one from the JOHNSON. other. Line 134. no link to colour Peter's hat,] A link is a torch of pitch. Greene, in his Mihil Mumchance, says- "This "cozenage is used likewise in selling olde hats found upon " dunghills instead of newe, blackt over with the smoake of Line 149. It was the friar of orders grey.] Dispersed through Shakspear's plays are many little fragments of ancient ballads, the entire copies of which cannot now be recovered. Many of these being of the most beautiful and pathetic simplicity, Dr. Percy has selected some of them, and connected them together with a few supplemental stanzas. STEEVENS. Line 156. And bid my cousin Ferdinand come hither] This cousin Ferdinand, who does not make his personal appearance on the scene, is mentioned, I suppose, for no other reason 10 ΑΝΝΟΤΑTIONS ON [ACT IV. than to give Catharine a hint, that he could keep even his own relations in order, and make them obedient as his spaniel to his commands. STEEVENS. Line 161. Come, Kate, and wash,] It was the custom in Shakspeare's time, and a long time before, to wash the hands at dinner and supper, before and after. If they ate with their fingers, as Mr. Steevens observes, it certainly was highly necessary. Line 206. -to man my haggard,] A haggard is a wild hawk; to man a hawk is to tame her. JOHNSON. Line 249. -cullion:] A term of contempt. 299. Master, a mercatantè, or a pedant.] The old editions read marcantant. The Italian word mercatante is frequently used in the old plays for a merchant, and therefore I have made no scruple of placing it here. STEEVENS. A pedant was a name synonimous to schoolmaster, or teacher of languages. Line 301. - surely like a father.] I know not what he is, says the speaker, however this is certain, he has the gait and countenance of a fatherly man. WARBURTON. Line 356. To pass assurance-] To pass assurance has the same meaning as the assignment of a conveyance, or of a deed. Line 359. Go with me, &c.] There is an old comedy called Supposes, translated from Ariosto, by George Gascoigne. Thenee Shakspeare borrowed this part of the plot, (as well as some of the phraseology) though Theobald pronounces it his own invention. There likewise he found the quaint name of Petruchio. My young master and his man exchange habits, and persuade a Scenæse, as he is called, to personate the father, exactly as in this play, by the pretended danger of his coming from Sienna to Ferrara, contrary to the order of the government. FARMER. Line 422. farthingales, and things ;] Though things is a poor word, yet I have no better, and perhaps the author ACT V.] THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. 11 had not another that would rhyme. I once thought to transpose the words rings and things, but it would make little improvement. JOHNSON. Line 428. Come, tailor, let us see these ornaments ;) In Shakspeare's time, mantua-making was more the occupation of men than women. Line 460. censer-] 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. Line 481. Thou thimble,] The taylor's trade having an appearance of effeminacy, has always been, among the rugged English, liable to sarcasms and contempt. JOHNSON. Line 486. - bemete thee] Means be-measure thee. 498.-braved many men;] To brave was to dress with some degree of elegance. Line 512. is a round cape. Line 525. -a small compassed cape ;] A compassed cape To compass is to come round. JOHNSON. STEEVENS. thy mete-yard,] i. e. thy measuring-yard. Line 575. but I be deceived,] But here signifies (as in a late instance) unless. Line 620. And pass my daughter, &c.] To pass has the same meaning as the note in Act iv. Sc. ii. of this play. ACT V. Line 5. -and then come back to my master as soon as I can.] The editions all agree in the reading mistress: but what mistress was Biondello to come back to? he must certainly mean; "Nay, faith, sir, I must see you in the church; and " then for fear I should be wanted, I'll run back to wait on "Tranio, who at present personates you, and whom there"fore I at present acknowledge for my master." THEOBALD. 1 12 Line 63. -a copatain hat,] Is, I believe, a hat with a conical crown, such as was anciently worn by well dressed JOHNSON. men. Line 74. -a sail-maker in Bergamo.] Chapman has a parallel passage in his Widow's Tears, a comedy, 1612. "-he draws the thread of his descent from Leda's dis"taff, when 'tis well known his grandsire cried coney-skins " in Sparta." Line 95. -coney-catched-] i. e. defrauded. 118. Here's packing,] i. e. confederacy. STEEVENS. 142. My cake is dough.] This is a proverbial expression which I met with in the old interlude of Tom Tyler and his Wife, 1598. "Alas poor Tom, his cake is dough." STEEVENS. Line 165. My banquet-] A banquet was the same as our dessert, and not a feust. Line 221. swift, besides the original sense of speedy in motion, signified witty, quick witted. So in As You Like It, the Duke says of the Clown, He is very swift and sententious. Quick is now used in almost the same sense as nimble was in the age after that of our author. Heylin says of Hales, that he had known Laud for a nimble disputant. JOHNSON. Line 361. Then vain your stomachs,] i. e. lower your resentments. STEEVENS. Line 374. —though you hit the white;] To hit the white is a phrase borrowed from archery: the mark was commonly white. Here it alludes to the name Bianca, or white. JOHNSON. END OF THE ANNOTATIONS ON THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. |