Wid. Lord, let me never have a cause to figh, 'Till I be brought to fuch a filly pafs.

Bian. Fy, what a foolish duty call you this? Luc. I would, your duty were as foolish too! The wisdom of your duty, fair Bianca, Coft me an hundred crowns fince fupper-time. Bian. The more fool you, for laying on my duty. Pet. Catharine, I charge thee, tell thefe headftrong Women,

What duty they owe to their Lords and Hufbands. Wid. Come, come, you're mocking; we will have no telling.

Pet. Come on, I fay, and first begin with her.
Wid. She fhall not.

;

Pet. I fay, fhe fhall; and firft begin with her.
Cath. Fy! fy! unknit that threatning unkind brow,
And dart not fcornful glances from those eyes,
To wound thy Lord, thy King, thy Governor.
It blots thy beauty, as frofts 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-feeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
And while it is fo, none fo dry or thirsty
Will dain to fip, 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 fea and land;

To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
While thou ly'ft warm at home, fecure and safe,
And craves no other tribute at thy hands,
But love, fair looks, and true obedience;
Too little payment for fo great a debt.
Such duty as the Subject owes the Prince,
Even fuch a woman oweth to her husband:
And when he's froward, peevish, fullen, fower,
And not obedient to his honeft will;

What

What is the but a foul contending Rebel,
And graceless Traitor to her loving Lord?
I am afham'd, that Women are fo fimple
To offer war where they should kneel for peace;
Or feck for rule, fupremacy, and fway,
When they are bound to ferve, love, and obey.
Why are our bodies foft, and weak and fmooth,
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world,
But that our foft 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 reafon haply more,
To bandy word for word, and frown for frown;
But, now I fee, our launces are but ftraws,

Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare ;
That feeming to be moft, which we indeed least are.
Then vale your ftomachs, for it is no boot,
And place your hands below your husband's foot:
In token of which duty, if he please,

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 fhalt 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 two are married, but you two are sped.
'Twas I won the wager, tho' you hit the white;
And being a winner, God give you good night.
[Exeunt Petruchio and Catharine.

Hor. Now go thy ways, thou haft tam'd a curft
Shrew.

}

• Though you hit the white,] To hit the white is a phrafe borrowed from archery: the mark

was commonly white. Here it
alludes to the name Bianca or
white.

Luc.

Luc. 'Tis a wonder, by your leave, fhe will be tam'd fo.

[Exeunt omnes.

Enter two fervants bearing Sly in his own apparel, and leaving him on the Stage. Then enter a Tapfter.

Sly awaking,] Sim, give's fome more wine-what, all the Players gone? am not I a Lord?

Tap. A Lord, with a murrain! come, art thou drunk fill?

Sly. Who's this? Tapfter! oh, I have had the bravest dream that ever thou heardft in all thy life.

I

Tap. Yea, marry, but thou hadst beft get thee home, for your wife will curfe you for dreaming here all night. Sly. Will be? I know how to tame a Shrew. dreamt upon it all this night, and thou hast wak'd me out of the best dream that ever I had. But I'll to my Wife, and tame her too, if she anger me *.

*From this play the Tatler formed a story, Vol. IV. N° 131.

ΤΗ

HERE are very many ill Habits that might with much Ease have been prevented, which, after we have indulged ourfelves in them, become incorrigible. We have a fort of Proverbial Expreffion, of taking a Woman down in her Wedding Shoes, if you would bring her to Reason. An early Behaviour of this Sort, had a very remarkable good Effect in a Family wherein was several Years an intimate Acquaintance.

A Gentleman in Lincolnshire had four Daughters, three of which were early married very happily; but the fourth, though no Way inferior to any of her Sifters, either in Perfon or Accomplishments, had from her InVOL. III,

fancy discovered fo imperious a Temper (ufually called a high Spirit) that it continually made great Uneafinefs in the Family, became her known Character in the Neighbourhood, and deterred all her Lovers from declaring themfelves. However, in Procefs of Time, a Gentleman of a plentiful Fortune and long Acquaintance, having obferved that Quickness of Spirit to be her only Fault, made his Addreffes, and obtained her Confent in due Form. The Lawyers finished the Writings (in which, by the Way, there was no Pin-Money) and they were married. After a decent Time spent in the Father's Houfe, the Bridegroom went to prepare hisSeat for her Reception. During the whole Courfe of his Courtship, though a Man of the moft equal Temper, he had artifiH cially

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