Wednesday, July 27, 2022

 

A pair of boots that have been candle-cases, one buckled, another laced;


-Biondello

The Taming of the Shrew      Act III, Scene ii, Line 45


Petruchio is on his way to Baptista’s house for his wedding day. Biondello has seen Petruchio on the way, and is giving a long and detailed description of Petruchio and his horse to Baptista. It seems that Petruchio and his horse are quite oddly appareled. Today’s Totally Random line is a small piece of the description. It’s twenty-two lines long and a bit long-story-short-Tonyish. It’s also chock full of antiquated terms and so a bit hard to understand. Apparently old boots that are no longer wearable are turned into receptacles for holding candles, so that the boots that Petruchio are wearing are mismatched and completely worn out. Everything that is described about him and his horse is a picture of… I can’t think of the word…decrepit? Slip-shod? Worn out? Stupid looking? I guess you’d have to read it (and you’d need the accompanying notes) to form your own opinion. 

So, for today’s pic, here’s the passage with the notes. You'll probably have to zoom in a bit on the pics, unless you've got superhuman vision.

This is the first part of it, starting with Why, Petruchio is coming in a new hat... and it's got the notes for this part in this same pic.

Here's the rest of the description, ending with pieced with pack thread.

And here's the notes to the second part. 

All set? Good!



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