A man well known throughout all Italy.

Bap. I know him well: you are welcome for his sake.
Gre. Saving your tale, Petruchio, I pray,

Let us, that are poor petitioners, speak too:
Baccare! you are marvellous forward."

Pet. O, pardon me, signior Gremio; I would fain be doing:

Gre. I doubt it not, sir; but you will curse your wooing.

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Neighbour, this is a gift very grateful, I am sure of it. To express the like kindness myself, that have been more kindly beholden to you than any, I freely give unto you this young scholar,' [presenting Luc.] that hath

6 Baccare! you are marvellous forward.] We must read-Baccalare; by which the Italians mean, thou arrogant, presumptuous man? the word is used scornfully upon any one that would assume a port of grandeur. Warburton.

The word is neither wrong nor Italian: it was an old proverbial one, used by John Heywood; who hath made, what he pleases to call, Epigrams upon it. Take two of them, such as they are: "Backare, qouth Mortimer to his sow,

"Went that sow backe at that bidding, trow you?"
"Backare, quoth Mortimer to his sow: se,

"Mortimer's sow speaketh as good Latin as he." Howel takes this from Heywood, in his Old Sawes and Adages: and Philpot introduces it into the proverbs collected by Camden. Farmer.

Again, in the ancient Enterlude of The Repentance of Mary Magdalene, 1567:

Nay, hoa there, Backare, you must stand apart: "You love me best, I trow, mystresse Mary." Again, in John Lyly's Midas, 1592: "The masculine gender is more worthy than the feminine, and therefore, Licio, Backare.” Again, in John Grange's Golden Aphroditis, 1577: "—yet wrested he so his effeminate bande to the seige of backwarde affection, that both trumpe and drumme sounded nothing for their larum, but Baccare, Baccare." Steevens.

been long studying at Rheims; as cunning in Greek, Latin, and other languages, as the other in musick and mathematicks: his name is Cambio; pray, accept his service.

Bap. A thousand thanks, signior Gremio: welcome, good Cambio.-But, gentle sir, [to TRA.] methinks, you walk like a stranger; May I be so bold to know the cause of your coming?

Tra. Pardon me, sir, the boldness is mine own; That, being a stranger in this city here,

Do make myself a suitor to your daughter,

Unto Bianca, fair, and virtuous.

Nor is your firm resolve unknown to me,
In the preferment of the eldest sister:
This liberty is all that I request,—
That, upon knowledge of my parentage,

I may have welcome 'mongst the rest that woo,
And free access and favour as the rest.

And, toward the education of your daughters,
I here bestow a simple instrument,

And this small packet of Greek and Latin books:1
If you accept them, then their worth is great.

Bap. Lucentio is your name?? of whence, I pray?

91 freely give unto you this young scholar,] Our modern editors had been long content with the following sophisticated reading: free leave give to this young scholar,

Steevens.

This is an injudicious correction of the first folio, which reads ~freely give unto this young scholar. We should read, I believe: I freely give unto you this young scholar,

That hath been long studying at Rheims; as cunning

In Greek, &c. Tyrwhitt.

If this emendation wanted any support, it might be had in the preceding part of this scene, where Petruchio, presenting Hortensio to Baptista, uses almost the same form of words:

"And, for an entrance to my entertainment,

"I do present you with a man of mine,

"Cunning in musick," &c.

Free leave give, &c. was the absurd correction of the editor of the third folio. Malone.

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this small packet of Greek and Latin books:] In Queen Elizabeth's time the young ladies of quality were usually instructed in the learned languages, if any pains were bestowed on' their minds at all. Lady Jane Grey and her sisters, Queen Elizabeth, &c. are trite instances. Percy.

Tra. Of Pisa, sir; son to Vincentio.

Bap. A mighty man of Pisa; by report

I know him well:3 you are very welcome, sir.Take you [to HOR.] the lute, and you [to Luc.] the set of books,

You shall go see your pupils presently.

Holla, within!

Sirrah, lead

Enter a Servant.

These gentlemen to my daughters; and tell them both, These are their tutors; bid them use them well.

[Exit Serv. with HOR. Luc. and BION.

We will go walk a little in the orchard,

And then to dinner: You are passing welcome,
And so I pray you all to think yourselves.

Pet. Signior Baptista, my business asketh haste,
And every day I cannot come to woo.⭑

2 Lucentio is your name?] How should Baptista know this? Perhaps a line is lost, or perhaps our author was negligent. Mr. Theobald supposes they converse privately, and that thus the name is learned; but then the action must stand still; for there is no speech interposed between that of Tranio and this of Bap tista. Another editor imagines that Lucentio's name was written on the packet of books. Malone.

3 I know him well:] It appears in a subsequent part of this play, that Baptista was not personally acquainted with Vincentio. The pedant indeed talks of Vincentio and Baptista having lodged together twenty years before at an inn in Genoa; but this appears to have been a fiction for the nonce; for when the pretended Vin. centio is introduced, Baptista expresses no surprise at his not being the same man with whom he had formerly been acquainted; and, when the real Vincentio appears, he supposes him an impostor. The words therefore, I know him well, must mean, "I know well who he is." Baptista uses the same words before, speaking of Petruchio's father: "I know him well; you are wel. come for his sake"-where they must have the same meaning; viz. I know who he was; for Petruchio's father is supposed to have died before the commencement of this play.

Some of the modern editors point the passage before us thus: A mighty man of Pisa; by report

I know him well.

but it is not so pointed in the old copy, and the regulation seems unnecessary, the very same words having been before used with equal license concerning the father of Petruchio.

¡ ́Again, in Timon of Athens: "We know him for no less, though we are but strangers to him." Malone.

You knew my father well; and in him, me,
Left solely heir to all his lands and goods,
Which I have better'd rather than decreas'd:
Then tell me,-if I get your daughter's love,
What dowry shall I have with her to wife?

Bap. After my death, the one half of my lands:
And, in possession, twenty thousand crowns.

Pet. And, for that dowry, I'll assure her of
Her widowhood,”—be it that she survive me,-
In all my lands and leases whatsoever:

Let specialties be therefore drawn between us,
That covenants may be kept on either hand.

Bap. Ay, when the special thing is well obtain'd,
This is, her love; for that is all in all.

Pet. Why, that is nothing; for I tell you, father,
I am as peremptory as she proud-minded;
And where two raging fires meet together,
They do consume the thing that feeds their fury:
Though little fire grows great with little wind,
Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire and all:
So I to her, and so she yields to me;

For I am rough, and woo not like a babe.

Bap. Well may'st thou woo, and happy be thy speed! But be thou arm'd for some unhappy words.

Pet. Ay, to the proof; as mountains are for winds, That shake not, though they blow perpetually.

Re-enter HORTENSIO, with his head broken. Bap. How now, my friend? why dost thou look so pale?

4 And every day I cannot come to woo.] This is the burthen of part of an old ballad, entitled The Ingenious Braggadocio:

"And I cannot come every day to wooe."

It appears also from a quotation in Puttenham's Arte of English Poesie, 1589, that it was a line in his Interlude, entitled The Woer: "Iche pray you good mother tell our young dame "Whence I am come, and what is my name;

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“I cannot come a woing every day." Steevens.

I'll assure her of

Her widowhood,] Sir T. Hanmer reads-for her widowhood. The reading of the old copy is harsh to our ears, but it might have been the phraseology of the time. Malone.

Perhaps we should read-on her widowhood. In the old copies on and of are not unfrequently confounded, through the printers' inattention. Steevens.

Hor. For fear, I promise you, if I look pale.
Bap. What, will my daughter prove a good musician?
Hor. I think, she 'll sooner prove a soldier;

Iron may hold with her, but never lutes.

Bap. Why, then thou canst not break her to the lute? Hor. Why, no; for she hath broke the lute to me. I did but tell her, she mistook her frets,"

And bow'd her hand to teach her fingering;

When, with a most impatient devilish spirit,
Frets, call you these? quoth she: I'll fume with them:
And, with that word, she struck me on the head,
And through the instrument my pate made way;
And there I stood amazed for a while,
As on a pillory, looking through the lute:
While she did call me,-rascal fiddler,
And-twangling Jack; with twenty such vile terms,
As she had studied to misuse me so.

Pet. Now, by the world, it is a lusty wench;
I love her ten times more than e'er I did:

O, how I long to have some chat with her!

Bap. Well, go with me, and be not so discomfited:
Proceed in practice with my younger daughter;
She's apt to learn, and thankful for good turns.—
Signior Petruchio, will you go
with us;

Or shall I send my daughter Kate to you?
Pet. I pray you do; I will attend her here,-

[Exeunt BAP. GRE. TRA. and HOR.

her frets,] A fret is that stop of a musical instrument which causes or regulates the vibration of the string. Johnson. 7 And-twangling Jack;] Of this contemptuous appellation I know not the precise meaning. Something like it, however, occurs in Magnificence, an ancient folio interlude by Skelton, printed by Rastell:

66 ye wene I were some hafter,

"Or ellys some jangelynge jacke of the vale." Steevens. To twangle is a provincial expression, and signifies to flourish capriciously on an instrument, as performers often do after having tuned it, previous to their beginning a regular composition. Henley.

Twangling Fack is, mean, paltry lutanist. Malone.

I do not see with Mr. Malone, that twangling Jack means "paltry lutanist," though it may "paltry musician." Douce. she had-] In the old copy these words are accidentally transposed. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. Malone.

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