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Before I have a husband for the elder:
If either of you both love Katharina,
Because I know you well, and love you well,
Leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure.
Gre. To cart her rather: She's too rough for me :-
There, there, Hortensio, will you any wife?
Kath. I pray you, sir, [To BAP.] is it your will
To make a stale of me amongst these mates?
Hor. Mates, maid! how mean you that? no mates
for you,

Unless you were of gentler, milder mould.

Kath. I'faith, sir, you shall never need to fear;
I wis, it is not half way to her heart:
But if it were, doubt not her care should be
To comb your noddle with a three-legg'd stool,
And paint your face, and use you like a fool.
Hor. From all such devils, good Lord, deliver us!
Gre. And me too, good Lord!

Tra. Hush, master! here is some good pastime
toward;

That wench is stark mad, or wonderful froward.
Luc. But in the other's silence I do see
Maid's mild behaviour and sobriety.
Peace, Tranio.

Tra. Well said, master; mum! and gaze your
fill.

Bap. Gentlemen, that I may soon make good
What I have said,-Bianca, get you in:
And let it not displease thee, good Bianca;
For I will love thee ne'er the less, my girl."
Kath. A pretty peat!' 'tis best

Put finger in the eye,-an she knew why.

Bian. Sister, content you in my discontent.-
Sir, to your pleasure humbly I subscribe:
My books, and instruments, shall be my company;
On them to look, and practise by myself.

Luc. Hark, Tranio! thou may'st hear Minerva
speak.
[Aside.
Hor. Signior Baptista, will you be so strange ?4
Sorry am I that our goodwill effects
Bianca's grief.

Gre.

Why, will you mew her up, Signior Baptista, for this fiend of hell,

And make her bear the penance of her tongue?

Go in, Bianca,

light on a fit man to teach her that wherein she delights, I will wish10 him to her father.

Hor. So will I, signior Gremio: but a word, I
pray. Though the nature of our quarrel yet never
brook'd parle, know now, upon advice," it toucheth
us both, that we may yet again have access to
our fair mistress, and be happy rivals in Bianca's
love,-to labour and effect one thing 'specially.
Gre. What's that, I pray?

Her. Marry, sir, to get a husband for her sister,
Gre. A husband! a devil.

Hor. I say, a husband.

Gre. I say, a devil: Think'st thou, Hortensio, though her father be very rich, any man is so very a fool to be married to hell?

Hor. Tush, Gremio, though it pass your patience and mine, to endure her loud alarums, why, man, there be good fellows in the world, an a man could light on them, would take her with all faults, and money enough.

Gre. I cannot tell; but I had as lief take her dowry with this condition,-to be whipped at the high-cross every morning.

Hor. 'Faith, as you say, there's small choice in rotten apples. But come; since this bar in law makes us friends, it shall be so far forth friendly maintained,-till by helping Baptista's eldest daughter to a husband, we set his youngest free for a husband, and then have to't afresh.-Sweet Bianca! -Happy man be his dole !12 He that runs fastest, gets the ring. How say you, signior Gremio?

Gre. I am agreed: and 'would I had given him the best horse in Padua to begin his wooing, that would thoroughly woo her, wed her, and bed her, and rid the house of her. Come on.

[Exeunt GREMIO and HORTENSIO. Tra. [Advancing.] I pray, sir, tell me,-Is it possible

That love should of a sudden take such hold?
Luc. O Tranio, till I found it to be true,

I never thought it possible, or likely;
But see! while idly I stood looking on,

I found the effect of love in idleness:
And now in plainness do confess to thee,-

As Anna to the queen of Carthage was,-
Tranio, I burn, pine, I perish, Tranio,
If I achieve not this young modest girl:
Counsel me, Tranio for I know thou canst ;
Assist me, Tranio, for I know thou wilt.

Bap. Gentlemen, content ye; I am resolv'd:-That art to me as secret, and as dear,
[Exit BIANCA.
And for I know, she taketh, most delight
In music, instruments, and poetry,
Schoolmasters will I keep within my house,
Fit to instruct her youth.-If you, Hortensio,
Or signior Gremio, you,-know any such,
Prefer them hither; for to cunning' men
I will be very kind, and liberal

To mine own children in good bringing up;
And so farewell. Katharina, you may stay:
For I have more to commune with Bianca. [Exit.
Kath. Why, and I trust, I may go too: May I
not?

What, shall I be appointed hours; as though, be-
like,

I knew not what to take and what to leave? Ha!
[Exit.
Gre. You may go to the devil's dam: your gifts
are so good, here is none will hold you. Their
love is not so great, Hortensio, but we may blow
our nails together, and fast it fairly out; our cake's
dough on both sides. Farewell,-yet, for the love
I bear my sweet Bianca, if I can by any means

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Tra. Master, it is no time to chide you now;
Affection is not rated14 from the heart:
If love have touch'd you, nought remains but so,-
Redime te captum quam queas minimo. 15

Luc. Gramercies, lad; go forward: this con

tents;

10

The rest will comfort, for thy counsel's sound.
Tra. Master, you look'd so longly on the maid,
Perhaps you mark'd not what's the pith of all.

Luc. O yes, I saw sweet beauty in her face,
Such as the daughter"" of Agenor had,
That made great Jove to humble him to her hand,
When with his knees he kiss'd the Cretan strand.

Tra. Saw you no more; mark'd you not, how

her sister

Began to scold; and raise up such a storm,
That mortal ears might hardly endure the din?

Luc. Tranio, I saw her coral lips to move,
And with her breath she did perfume the air;
Sacred, and sweet, was all I saw in her.

old writing stood for either their or your. If their love be right, it must mean-the goodwill of Baptista and

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Tra. Nay, then, 'tis time to stir him from his

trance.

I pray, awake, sir; If you love the maid,
Bend thoughts and wits to achieve her. Thus it
stands:

Her elder sister is so curst and shrewd,
That, till the father rids his hands of her,
Master, your love must live a maid at home:
And therefore has he closely mew'd her up,
Because she shall not be annoy'd with suitors.

Luc. Ah, Tranio, what a cruel father's he!
But art thou not advis'd, he took some care
To get her cunning schoolmasters to instruct her?
Tra. Ay, marry, am I, sir; and now 'tis plotted.
Luc. I have it, Tranio.
Tra

Master, for my hand,
Both our inventions meet and jump in one.
Luc. Tell me thine first.
Tra.

You will be schoolmaster,
And undertake the teaching of the maid:
That's your device.
Luc.

It is: May it be done?

Tra. Not possible: For who shall bear your part,
And be in Padua here Vincentio's son ?
Keep house, and ply his book; welcome his friends;
Visit his countrymen, and banquet them?

Luc. Basta; content thee, for I have it full.
We have not yet been seen in any house;
Nor can we be distinguish'd by our faces,
For man, or master: then it follows thus:-
Thou shalt be master, Tranio, in my stead,
Keep house, and port, and servants, as I should:
I will some other be; some Florentine,
Some Neapolitan, or meaner man of Pisa.
"Tis hatch'd, and shall be so: Tranio, at once
Uncase thee; take my colour'd hat and cloak:
When Biondello comes, he waits on thee:
But I will charm him first to keep his tongue.
Tra. So had you need. [They exchange habits.
In brief then, sir, sith3 it your pleasure is,
And I am tied to be obedient;

(For so your father charg'd me at our parting;
Be serviceable to my son, quoth he;
Although, I think, 'twas in another sense ;)
I am content to be Lucentio,
Because so well I love Lucentio.

Luc. Tranio, be so, because Lucentio loves.
And let me be a slave, to achieve that maid
Whose sudden sight hath thrall'd my wounded eye.
Enter BIONDello.

Here comes the rogue.-Sirrah, where have you

been?

Bion. Where have I been? Nay, how now, where
are you?

Master, has my fellow Tranio stol'n your clothes?
Or you stol'n his? or both? pray what's the news?

Luc. Sirrah, come hither; 'tis no time to jest,
And therefore frame your manners to the time.
Your fellow Tranio here, to save my life,
Puts my apparel and my countenance on,
And I for my escape have put on his ;
For in a quarrel, since I came ashore,
I kill'd a man, and fear I was descried:
Wait you on him, I charge you, as becomes,
While I make way from hence to save my life:
You understand me?

Bion.

I, sir, ne'er a whit.
Luc. And not a jot of Tranio in your mouth;
Tranio is chang'd into Lucentio.

Bion. The better for him: 'Would, I were so too!

1 It is enough, Ital.

2 Port is figure, show, appearance.

3 Since. 4 Here in the old copy we have, The presenters above speak; meaning Sly, &c. who were placed in a balcony raised at the back of the stage. After the words 'would it were done,' the marginal direction is, They sit

and murk.

5 Malone remarks that Grumio's pretensions to wit have a strong resemblance to Dromio's, in The Comedy of Errors; and the two plays were probably written at no great distance of time from each other. I have else where had occasion to observe that the idiom, 'Knock me here,' is familiar to the French language.

Tra. So would I, faith, boy, to have the next wish after,

That Lucentio indeed had Baptista's younges
daughter.

But, sirrah,-not for my sake, but your master's-
I advise

You use your manners discreetly in all kind of com
panies:

When I am alone, why then I am Tranio;
But in all places else, your master Lucentio.
Luc. Tranio, let's go :-

One thing more rests, that thyself execute :-
To make one among these wooers: If thou ask me
why,-

Sufficeth, my reasons are both good and weighty.
[Exeunt.
1 Serv. My lord, you nod; you do not mind the
play.
Sly. Yes, by Saint Anne, do I. A good matter,
surely: Comes there any more of it?

Page. My lord, 'tis but begun.

Sly. 'Tis a very excellent piece of work, madam lady: 'Would, 'twere done!

SCENE II. The same. Before Hortensio's House.
Enter PETRUCHIO and GRUMIO.

Pet. Verona, for a while I take my leave,
To see my friends in Padua ; but, of all,
My best beloved and approved friend,
Hortensio; and, I trow, this is his house :-
Here, sirrah Grumio; knock, I say.

Gru. Knock, sir! whom should I knock ? is there any man has rebused your worship?

Pet. Villain, I say, knock me here soundly.
Gru. Knock you here, sir? why, sir, what am I,
sir, that I should knock you here, sir ?

Pet. Villain, I say, knock me at this gate,
And rap me well, or I'll knock your knave's pate.
Gru. My master is grown quarrelsome: I should
knock you first,

And then I know after who comes by the worst.
Pet. Will it not be?

'Faith, sirrah, an you'll not knock, I'll wring it;
I'll try how you can sol, fa, and sing it.

[He wrings GRUMIO by the ears. Gru. Help, masters, help! my master is mad. Pet. Now, knock when I bid you: sirrah! villain! Enter HORTENSIO.

Hor. How now? what's the matter?-My old friend Grumio! and my good friend Petruchio!How do you all at Verona!

Pet. Signior Hortensio, come you to part the fray?
Con tutto il core bene trovato, may I say.

Hor. Alla nostra casa bene venuto,
Molto honorato, signor mio Petruchio.
Rise, Grumio, rise; we will compound this quarrel.

Gru. Nay, 'tis no matter what he leges in Latin.
-If this be not a lawful cause for me to leave his
service.--Look you, sir, he bid me knock him, and
rap him soundly, sir: Well, was it fit for a servant
to use his master so: being, perhaps, (for aught I
see) two and thirty,-a pip out ?8
Whom, 'would to God, I had well knock'd at first,
Then had not Grumio come by the worst.

Pet. A senseless villain-Good Hortensio,

I bade the rascal knock upon your gate,
And could not get him for my heart to do it.
Gru. Knock at the gate ?-O heavens!
Spake you not these words plain,-Sirrah, knock
me here,

Rap me here, knock me well, and knock me soundly?
And come you now with-knocking at the gate?

rectly Petrucio, but Shakspeare wrote it as it appears in
6 Gascoigne in his Supposes has spelt this name cor
the text, in order to teach the actors how to pronounce it

7 i. e. what he alleges in Latin. Grumio mistakes we should read- Nay, 'tis no matter what be leges in the Italian spoken for Latin. Tyrwhitt suggests that Latin, if this be not a lawful cause for me to leave his service. That is, "Tis no matter what is law if this be not a lawful cause,' &c.

8 This passage has escaped the commentators, and yet it is more obscure than many they have explained

Pet. Sirrah, be gone, or talk not, I advise you. Hor. Petruchio, patience; I am Grumio's pledge: Why, this a heavy chance 'twixt him and you; Your ancient, trusty, pleasant servant, Grumio. And tell me now, sweet friend,-what happy gale Blows you to Padua here, from old Verona?

Pet. Such wind as scatters young men through
the world,

To seek their fortunes further than at home,
Where small experience grows. But, in a few,'
Signior Hortensio, thus it stands with me :-
Antonio, my father, is deceas'd;

And I have thrust myself into this maze,
Haply to wive, and thrive, as best I may:
Crowns in my purse I have, and goods at home,
And so am come abroad to see the world.

Hor. Petruchio, shall I then come roundly to thee,
And wish thee to a shrewd ill-favour'd wife?
Thou'dst thank me but a little for my counsel:
And yet I'll promise thee she shall be rich,
And very rich :-But thou'rt too much my friend,
And I'll not wish thee to her.

Pet. Signior Hortensio; 'twixt such friends as we
Few words suffice: and, therefore, if thou know
One rich enough to be Petruchio's wife,

(As wealth is burthen of my wooing dance,)
Be she as foul as was Florentius' love,2
As old as Sibyl, and as curst and shrewd
As Socrates' Xantippe, or a worse,
She moves me not, or not removes, at least,
Affection's edge in me; were she as rough
As are the swelling Adriatic seas;
I come to wive it wealthily in Padua;
If wealthily, then happily in Padua.

marry

Gru. Nay, look you, sir, he tells you flatly what
his mind is: Why, give him gold enough and
him to a puppet, or an aglet-baby; or an old trot
with ne'er a tooth in her head, though she have as
many diseases as two and fifty horses: why, no-
thing comes amiss, so money comes withal.

Hor. Petruchio, since we have stepp'd thus far in,
I will continue that I broach'd in jest.
I can, Petruchio, help thee to a wife
With wealth enough, and young, and beauteous;
Brought up as best becomes a gentlewoman;
Her only fault (and that is faults enough,)
Is, that she is intolerably curst,"

And shrewd, and froward; so beyond all measure,
That, were my state far worser than it is,
I would not wed her for a mine of gold.

Pet. Hortensio, peace; thou know'st not gold's

effect:

Tell me her father's name, and 'tis enough;
For I will board her, though she chide as loud
As thunder, when the clouds in autumn crack.
Hor. Her father is Baptista Minola,
An affable and courteous gentleman:
Her name is Katharina Minola,
Renown'd in Padua for her scolding tongue.

Pet. I know her father, though I know not her;
And he knew my deceased father well:
I will not sleep, Hortensio, till I see her;
And therefore let me be thus bold with you,
To give you over at this first encounter,
Unless you will accompany me thither.

as I do, she would think scolding would do little
good upon him: She may, perhaps, call him half
a score knaves or so: why, that's nothing; an he
begin once, he'll rail in his rope-tricks. I'll tell
you what, sir,-an she stand" him but a little, he
will throw a figure in her face, and so disfigure her
with it, that she shall have no more eyes to see
withal than a cat: You know him not, sir.

Hor. Tarry, Petruchio, I must go with thee;
For in Baptista's keep my treasure is:
He hath the jewel of my life in hold,
His youngest daughter, beautiful Bianca;
And her withholds from me, and other more
Suitors to her, and rivals in my love:
Supposing it a thing impossible,
(For those defects I have before rehears'd,)
That ever Katharina will be woo'd ;
Therefore this order10 hath Baptista ta'en;-
That none shall have access unto Bianca,
Till Katharine the curst have got a husband.
Gru. Katharine the curst!

A title for a maid, of all titles the worst.
Hor. Now shall my friend Petruchio do me grace;
And offer me, disguis'd in sober robes,
To old Baptista as a schoolmaster

Well seen in musick, to instruct Bianca:
That so I may by this device, at least,
Have leave and leisure to make love to her,
And, unsuspected, court her by herself.
Enter GREMIO; with him LUCENTIO disguised,
with books under his arm.

Gru. Here's knavery! See, to beguile the old
folks, how the young folks lay their heads together!
Master, master, look about you: Who goes there? ha!
Hor. Peace, Grumio: 'tis the rival of my love :-
Petruchio, stand by a while.

Gru. A proper stripling, and an amorous!

[They retire. Gre. O, very well; I have perus'd the note. Hark

All books of love, see that at any hand;12
you, sir; I'll have them very fairly bound:
And see you read no other lectures to her:
You understand me ;-Over and beside
Signior Baptista's liberality,

I'll mend it with a largess :13 Take your papers too,
And let me have them very well perfum'd;
To whom they go.
For she is sweeter than perfume itself,

What will you read to her?
Luc. Whate'er I read to her, I'll plead for you,
As firmly as yourself were still in place:
As for my patron, (stand you so assur'd,)
Yea, and (perhaps) with more successful words
Than you, unless
you were a scholar, sir.
Gre. O this learning; what a thing it is!
Gru. O this woodcock! what an ass it is!
Pet. Peace, sirrah.

Hor. Grumio, mum!-God save you, signior
Gremio!

Gre. And you're well met, signior Hortensio.
Trow you,

Whither I am going?-To Baptista Minola.
I promis'd to enquire carefully

About a schoolmaster for fair Bianca:
And, by good fortune, I have lighted well
hu-curved on an aglet or jewel; such as Queen Mab is
described:-

Gru. I pray you, sir, let him go while the mour lasts. Ó' my word, an she knew him as well Perhaps it was passed over because it was not understood? The allusion is to the old game of Bone-ace or one-and-thirty. A pip is a spot upon a card. The old copy has it peepe.

i In a few, means the same as in short, in a few words.

2 This allusion is to a story told by Gower in the first book of his Confessio Amantis. Florent is the name of a knight who bound himself to marry a deformed hag provided she taught him the solution of a riddle on which his life depended.

3 i. e. a diminutive being, not exceeding in size the tag of a point,' says Steevens; ' a small image or head cut on the tag of a point or lace,' says Malone. It was no such thing; an aglet was not only a tag of a point, but a brooch or 'jewel in one's cap,' as Baret explains it. An aglet-baby, therefore was a diminutive figure

In shape no bigger than an agate stone

On the fore-finger of an aiderman,'

4 The fifty diseases of a horse seems to be proverbial, of which, probably, the text is only an exaggeration. 5 Cross, froward, petulant.

6 i. e. roguish tricks. Ropery is used by Shakspeare in Romeo and Juliet for roguery. A rope-ripe is one for whom the gallows groans, according to Cotgrave. 7 Withstand.

8 To endeavour to explain this would certainly be
lost labour. Mr. Boswell justly remarks that nothing
is more common in ludicrous or playful discourse than
to use a comparison where no resemblance is intended.
9 Keep here means care, keeping, custody.
10 To take order is to take measures.

11 To be well seen in any art was to be well skilled
12 Rate.
13 Present

in it.

On this young man; for learning and behaviour,
Fit for her turn; well read in poetry
And other books,-good ones, I warrant you.
Hor. "Tis well: and I have met a gentleman,
Hath promis'd me to help me to another,
A fine musician to instruct our mistress;
So shall I no whit be behind in duty
To fair Bianca, so belov'd of me.

Gre. Relov'd of me,—and that my deeds shall
prove.

Gru. And that his bags shall prove.

[Aside.
Hor. Gremio, 'tis now no time to vent our love:
Listen to me, and if you speak me fair,
I'll tell you news indifferent good for either.
Here is a gentleman, whom by chance I met,
Upon agreement from us to his liking,
Will undertake to woo curst Katharine;
Yea, and to marry her, if her dowry please.
Gre. So said, so done, is well:
Hortensio, have you told him all her faults?
Pet. I know, she is an irksome brawling scold;
If that be all, masters, I hear no harm.

Gre. No! say'st me so, friend? What countryman?
Pet. Born in Verona, old Antonio's son:
My father dead, my fortune lives for me;
And I do hope good days, and long, to see.
Gre. O, sir, such a life, with such a wife, were
strange:

But, if you have a stomach, to't o' God's name,
You shall have me assisting you in all.
But will you woo this wild cat?

Pet.

Will I live?

Gru. Will he woo her? ay, or I'll hang her.

[Aside.

Pet. Why came I hither, but to that intent?
Think you, a little din can daunt mine ears?
Have I not in my time heard lions roar?
Have I not heard the sea, puff'd up with winds,
Rage like an angry boar, chafed with sweat?
Have I not heard great ordnance in the field,
And heaven's artillery thunder in the skies?
Have I not in a pitched battle heard

Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets' clang?
And do you tell me of a woman's tongue,
That gives not half so great a blow to the ear
As will a chestnut in a farmer's fire?
Tush! tush! fear boys with bugs.1
Gru.

Tra. Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free
For me as for you?

Gre.
But so is not she.
Tra. For what reason, I beseech you?
Gre. For this reason, if you'll know,
That she's the choice love of Signior Gremio.
Hor. That she's the chosen of Signior Hortensio.
Tra. Softly, my masters! if you be gentlemen,
Do me this right,-hear me with patience.
Baptista is a noble gentleman,

To whom my father is not all unknown;
And, were his daughter fairer than she is,
She may more suitors have, and me for one.
Fair Leda's daughter had a thousand wooers;
Then well one more may fair Bianca have:
And so she shall; Lucentio shall make one,
Though Paris came in hope to speed alone."

Gre. What! this gentleman will out-talk us all.
Luc. Sir, give him head; I know he'll prove a
jade.

Pet. Hortensio, to what end are all these words?
Hor. Sir, let me be so bold as ask you,
Did you yet ever see Baptista's daughter?

Tra. No, sir; but hear I do that he hath two;
The one as famous for a scolding tongue,
As is the other for beauteous modesty.

Pet. Sir, sir, the first's for me; let her go by.
Gre. Yea, leave that labour to great Hercules;
And let it be more than Alcides' twelve.

Pet. Sir, understand you this of me, insooth;-
The youngest daughter, whom you hearken for,"
Her father keeps from all access of suitors.
And will not promise her to any man,
Until the elder sister first be wed:
The younger then is free, and not before.

Tra. If it be so, sir, that you are the man
Must stead us all, and me among the rest;
An if you break the ice, and do this feat,-
Achieve the elder, set the younger free
For our access,-whose hap shall be to have her,
Will not so graceless be, to be ingrate.

Hor. Sir, you say well, and well you do conceive;
And since you do profess to be a suitor,
You must, as we do, gratify this gentleman,
To whom we all rest generally beholden.
Tra. Sir, I shall not be slack: in sign whereof,
Please ye we may contrive4 this afternoon,
For he fears none. [Aside. And quaff carouses to our mistress' health;
And do as adversaries' do in law,-
Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.
Gre. Bion. O excellent motion! Fellows, let's
begone.

Gre. Hortensio, hark!
This gentleman is happily arriv'd,
My mind presumes, for his own good, and ours.
Hor. I promis'd, we would be contributors,
And bear his charge of wooing, whatsoe'er.

Gre. And so we will; provided that he win her.
Gru. I would, I were as sure of a good dinner.

[Aside.
Enter TRANIO, bravely apparell'd; and BIONDELLO.
Tra. Gentlemen, God save you! If I may be bold,
Tell me, I beseech you, which is the readiest way
To the house of signior Baptista Minola?

Bion. He that has the two fair daughters:-is't
[Aside to TRANIO] he you mean?
Tra. Even he, Biondello.

Gre. Hark you, sir; You mean not her to
Tra. Perhaps him and her, sir; What have you

to do?

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Hor. The motion's good indeed, and be it so;Petruchio, I shall be your ben venuto. [Exeunt.

ACT II.

SCENE I. The same. A Room in Baptista's
House. Enter KATHARINA and BIANCA.
Bian. Good sister, wrong me not, nor wrong
yourself,

To make a bondmaid and a slave of me;
That I disdain: but for these other gawds,
Unbind my hands, I'll put them off myself,
Yea, all my raiment, to my petticoat;
Or, what you will command me, will I do,
So well I know my duty to my elders.

Kath. Of all thy suitors, here I charge thee, teil
Whom thou lov'st best: see thou dissemble not.
Bian. Believe me, sister, of all the men alive
I never yet beheld that special face
Which I could fancy more than any other.

Kath. Minion, thou liest; Is't not Hortensio?
Bian. If you affect him, sister, here I swear,
I'll plead for you myself, but you shall have him.

5 Adversaries most probably here signifies contending barristers, or counsellors; surely not their clients? 6 Fellows means companions, and not fellow-ser vants, as Malone supposed. 7 Toys, trifling ornaments 8 Love.

Kath. O then, belike, you fancy riches more;
You will have Gremio to keep you fair.

Bian. Is it for him you do envy me so?
Nay, then you jest; and now I well perceive,
You have but jested with me all this while:
I pr'ythee, sister Kate, untie my hands.
Kath. If that be jest, then all the rest was so.
[Strikes her.

Enter BAPTISTA.

Bap. Why, how now, dame! whence grows this

insolence?

Bianca, stand aside:-poor girl! she weeps:-
Go, ply thy needle; meddle not with her.
For shame, thou hilding' of a devilish spirit,
Why dost thou wrong her that did ne'er wrong thee?
When did she cross thee with a bitter word?
Kath. Her silence flouts me, and I'll be reveng'd.
[Flies after BIANCA.
Bap. What, in my sight!--Bianca, get thee in.
[Exit BIANCA.
Kath. Will you not suffer me? Nay, now I see
She is your treasure, she must have a husband;
I must dance barefoot on her wedding-day,
And, for your love to her, lead apes in hell.2
Talk not to me; I will go sit and weep,
Till I can find occasion of revenge.

[Exit KATHARINA. Bap. Was ever gentleman thus griev'd as I? But who comes here?

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.

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 LuCENTIO,] that hath been long studying at Rheims; as cunning in Greek, Latin, and other languages, as the other in music and mathematics: his name is Cambio; pray, accept his service.

Bap. A thousand thanks, Signior Gremio: welmethinks you walk like a stranger; May I be so come, good Cambio.-But, gentle sir [to TRANIO,] 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,

I

Enter GREMIO, with LUCENTIO in the habit of a mean man; PETRUCHIO, with HORTENSIO, as a Musician; and TRANIO, with BIONDELLO bear-If ing a Lute and Books.

Gre. Good-morrow, neighbour Baptista. Bap. Good-morrow, neighbour Gremio: God save you, gentlemen!

Pe. And you, good sir! Pray, have you not a daughter

Call'd Katharina, fair and virtuous?

Bap. I have a daughter, sir, call'd Katharina.
Gre. You are too blunt, go to it orderly.

Pet. You wrong me, Signior Gremio: give me
leave.--

I am a gentleman of Verona, sir,
That,-hearing of her beauty and her wit,
Her affability, and bashful modesty,

Her wondrous qualities, and mild behaviour,-
Am bold to show myself a forward guest
Within your house, to make mine eye the witness
Of that report which I so oft have heard,
And, for an entrance to my entertainment,
I do present you with a man of mine,

[Presenting HORTENSIO.
Cunning in music, and the mathematics,
To instruct her fully in those sciences,
Whereof, I know, she is not ignorant:
Accept of him, or else you do me wrong;
His name is Licio, born in Mantua.
Bap. You're welcome, sir; and he, for your good

sake:

But for my daughter Katharine,-this I know,
She is not for your turn, the more my grief.

Pet. I see you do not mean to part with her;
Or else you like not of my company.

Bap. Mistake me not, I speak but as I find.
Whence are you, sir? what may I call your name?
Pet. Petruchio is my name; Antonio's son,
A man well known throughout all Italy.
Bap. I know him well: you are welcome for his

sake.

1 A hilding signifies a base low wretch: it is applied to Katharina for the coarseness of her behaviour.

2 The origin of this very old proverbial phrase is not known. Steevens suggests that it might have been considered an act of posthumous retribution for women who refused to bear children, to be condemned to the care of apes in leading-strings after death.

2 A cant word meaning go back, in allusion to a proverbial saying, Backare, quoth Mortimer to his sow.' Probably made in ridicule of some ignorant fellow who affected a knowledge of Latin without having it, and produced his Latinized English instead.

And free access and favour as the rest.
And toward the education of your daughters,
here bestow a simple instrument,
And this small package of Greek and Latin books :4
you accept them, then their worth is great.
Bap. Lucentio is your name? of whence, I pray?
Tra. Of Pisa, sir; son to Vincentio.
Bap. A mighty man of Pisa, by report

I know him well: 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 Servant, with HORTENSIO, LUCENTIO,
aud BIONDELLO.

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.
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,

4 In the reign of Elizabeth the young ladies of quality were usually instructed in the learned languages, if any pains were bestowed upon their minds at all. The queen herself, Lady Jane Grey, and her sisters, &c. are trite instances.

5 This must be understood as meaning, I know well who he is.

6 Perhaps we should read on her widowhood.' On and of are not unfrequently confounded by the printers of the old copy.

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