Skipper, stand back; 'tis age, that nourisheth. 'Tis deeds, must win the prize; and he, of both, Say, signior Gremio, what can you assure her? Gre. First, as you know, my house within the city In ivory coffers I have stuff'd my crowns; "It glows, and with a sullen heat, "Like fire in logs, it burns, and warms us long; "Yet is the heat as strong." Johnson. So also, in A Wonder, a Woman never vex'd, a comedy, by Rowley, 1632: "My old dry wood shall make a lusty bonfire, when thy green chips lie hissing in the chimney-corner." The thought, however, might originate from Sidney's Arcadia, Book II: “Let not old age disgrace my high desire, "O heavenly soule in humane shape contain❜d! Steevens. counterpoints,] So, in A Knack to know a Knave, 1594: "Then I will have rich counterpoints and musk." These coverings for beds are at present called counterpanes; but either mode of spelling is proper. Counterpoint is the monkish term for a particular species of mu sick, in which, notes of equal duration, but of different harmony, are set in opposition to each other. In like manner counterpanes were anciently composed of patchwork, and so contrived that every pane or partition in them, was contrasted with one of a different colour, though of the same dimensions. Steevens. Counterpoints were in ancient times extremely costly. In Wat Tyler's rebellion, Stowe informs us, when the insurgents broke into the wardrobe in the Savoy, they destroyed a coverlet, worth a thousand marks. Malone. 1 tents, and canopies,] I suppose by tents old Gremio means work of that kind which the ladies call tent-stitch. He would Fine linen, Turky cushions boss'd with pearl, Tra. That, only, came well inSir, list to me, I am my father's heir, and only son: If I may have your daughter to my wife, Old signior Gremio has in Padua; Of fruitful land, all which shall be her jointure.- Gre. Two thousand ducats by the year, of land! hardly enumerate tents (in their common acceptation) among his domestick riches. Steevens. I suspect, the furniture of some kind of bed, in the form of a pavillion, was known by this name in our author's time. Malone. I conceive, the pavillion, or tent-bed, to have been an article of furniture unknown in the age of Shakspeare. Steevens. It 2 Pewter-] We may suppose that pewter was, even in the time of Queen Elizabeth, too costly to be used in common. appears from "The regulations and establishment of the household of Henry Algernon Percy, the fifth Earl of Northumber. land," &c. that vessels of pewter were hired by the year. This Household Book was begun in the year 1512. See Holinshed's Description of England, p. 188 and 189. Steevens. 3 Gre. Two thousand ducats by the year, of land! My land amounts not to so much in all: That she shall have; besides -] Though all copies concur in this reading, surely, if we examine the reasoning, something will be found wrong. Gremio is startled at the high settlement Tranio proposes: says, his whole estate in land can't match it, yet he'll settle so much a year upon her, &c. This is playing at cross purposes. The change of the negative in the second line salves the absurdity, and sets the passage right. Gremio and Tranio vying in their offers to earry Bianca, the latter boldly pro That now is lying in Marseilles' road:- 4 Gre. Nay, I have offer'd all, I have no more; Bap. I must confess, your offer is the best; Gre. And may not young men die, as well as old? I am thus resolv'd:-On Sunday next you know, poses to settle land to the amount of two thousand ducats per annum. My whole estate, says the other, in land, amounts but to that value; yet she shall have that: I'll endow her with the whole; and consign a rich vessel to her use over and above. Thus all is intelligible, and he goes on to out-bid his rival. Warburton. Gremio only says, his whole estate in land doth not indeed amount to two thousand ducats a year, but she shall have that, whatever be its value, and an argosy over and above; which argosy must be understood to be of very great value from his subjoining: 4 What, have I chok'd you with an argosy? Heath. two galliasses,] A galeas or galliass, is a heavy low-built vessel of burthen, with both sails and oars, partaking at once of the nature of a ship and a galley. So, in The Noble Soldier, 1634: to have rich gulls come aboard their pinnaces, for then they are sure to build galliasses." Steevens. 5 out-vied.] This is a term at the old game of gleek. When one man was vied upon another, he was said to be out-vied. So, in Greene's Art of Coneycatching, 1592: "They draw a card, and the barnacle vies, and the countryman vies upon him," &c. Again, in The Fealous Lovers, by Randolph, 1632: "Thou canst not finde out wayes enow to spend it; They will out-vie thy pleasures." Steevens. Be bride to you, if you make this assurance; And so I take my leave, and thank you both. [Exit. Set foot under thy table: Tut! a toy! [Exit. Tra. A vengeance on your crafty wither'd hide! Yet I have faced it with a card of ten.7 Sirrah, young gamester,] Perhaps alluding to the pretended Lucentio's having before talked of out-vying him. See the last note. Malone. Gamester, in the present instance, has no reference to gaming, and only signifies—a wag, a frolicksome character. So, in King Henry VIII: "You are a merry gamester, my lord Sands." Steevens. 7 Yet I have faced it with a card of ten.] That is, with the highest card, in the old simple games of our ancestors. So that this became a proverbial expression. So, Skelton: "Fyrste pycke a quarrel, and fall out with him then, And, Ben Jonson, in his Sad Shepherd: -a hart of ten "I trow he be." i. e. an extraordinary good one. Warburton. A hart of ten has no reference to cards, but is an expression taken from The Laws of the Forest, and relates to the age of the deer. When a hart is past six years old, he is generally called a hart of ten. See Forest Laws, 4to. 1598. Again, in the sixth scene of The Sad Shepherd: 66 a great large deer! "Rob. What head? John. Forked. A hart of ten." The former expression is very common. &c. 1608: So, in Law-Tricks, "I may be out-fac'd with a card of ten." Mr. Malone is of opinion that the phrase was "applied to those persons who gained their ends by impudence, and bold confident assertion." As we are on the subject of cards, it may not be amiss to take notice of a common blunder relative to their names. We call the king, queen, and knave, court-cards, whereas they were anciently denominated coats, or coat-cards, from their coats or dresses. So, Ben Jonson, in his New Inn: "When she is pleas'd to trick or trump mankind, Again, in May-day, a comedy, by Chapman, 1611: 'Tis in my head to do my master good:- Do get their children; but, in this case of wooing, A child shall get a sire, if I fail not of my cunning. [Exit. "She had in her hand the ace of harts and a coat-card. She led the board with her coat; I plaid the varlet, and took up her coat; and meaning to lay my finger on her ace of harts, up started a quite contrary card." Again, in Rowley's When you see me you know me, 1621: "You have been at noddy, I see. 8 Ay, and the first card comes to my hand is a knave. "I am a coat-card, indeed. "Then thou must needs be a knave, for thou art neither queen nor king." Steevens. if I fail not of my cunning.] As this is the conclusion of an act, I suspect that the poet designed a rhyming couplet. Instead of cunning we might read-doing, which is often used by Shakspeare in the sense here wanted, and agrees perfectly well with the beginning of the line-"a child shall get a sire." After this, the former editors add "Sly. Sim, when will the fool come again?* "Sim. Anon, my lord. "Sly. Give us some more drink here; where's the tapster? "Here, Sim, eat some of these things. "Sim. I do, my lord. "Sly. Here, Sim, I drink to thee." These speeches of the presenters, (as they are called) are not in the folio. Mr. Pope, as in some former instances, introduced them from the old spurious play of the same name; and therefore we may easily account for their want of connexion with the present comedy. I have degraded them as usual into the note. By the fool in the original piece, might be meant Sander the servant to Ferando, (who is the Petruchio of Shakspeare) or Ferando himself. It appears, however, from the following passage in the eleventh Book of Thomas Lupton's Notable Things, edit. 1660, that it was the constant office of the fool to preserve the stage from vacancy: "79. When Stage-plays were in use, there was in every place when will the fool come again?] The character of the fool has not been introduced in this drama, therefore I believe that the word again should be omitted, and that Sly asks, When will the fool come? the fool being the favourite of the vulgar, or, as we now phrase it, of the upper gallery, was naturally expected in every interlude. Johnson. |