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

Hor. I say, a husband.

Gre. I say, a devil: Think'st thou, Hortensio, though her father be very rich, any man 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.

tent.

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

On them to look, and practise by myself.
Luc. Hark, Tranio i thou may'st hear Mi-
nerva, speak.
[Aside.
Hor. Signior Baptista, will you be so strange?
Sorry am I, that our good will effects
Bianca's grief.
Gre.
Why, will you mewt her up,
Signior Baptista, for this fiend of hell,
And make her bear the penance of her tongue?
Bap. Gentlemen, content ye; I am re-
solved :-

Go in, Bianca.

[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; [belike, What, shall I be appointed hours; as though, 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 light on a fit man, to teach her that wherein she delights, I will wish 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?

Hor. Marry, sir, to get a husband for her sister.

Gre. A husband! a devil.

Hor. 'Faith, as you say, there's small choice 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 **! 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 GRE. and HOR. 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,-
That art to me as secret, and as dear,
As Anna to the queen of Carthage was,-
Tranio, I burn, I 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.

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

$0,

Luc. Gramercies, lad; go forward: this

contents;

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, {strand.

When with his knees he kiss'd the Cretan Tra. Saw you no more; mark'd you not,

how her sister

Endowments. Longingly.

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 rid 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 advised, he took some care
To get her cunning schoolmasters to instruct
her?
[plotted.
Tra. Ay, marry, am I, sir; and now 'tis
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
And be in Padua here Vincentio's son? [part,
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 f,and servants,as I should: I will some other be; some Florentine, Some Neapolitan, or mean 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, sith it your pleasure is, And I am tied to be obedient; (For so your father charged 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? [where are you? Bion. Where have I been? Nay, how now, Master, has my fellow Tranio stolen your clothes? [news? Or you stolen his? or both? pray what's the 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 ine?
Bion.
I, sir, ne'er a whit.
Luc. And not a jot of Tranio in your mouth;
Tranio is changed into Lucentio.
Bion. The better for him: Would I were so
too!
[wish after,-
Tra. So would I, faith, boy, to have the next
That Lucentio indeed had Baptista's youngest
daughter.
[-I advise
But, sirrah,-not for my sake,but your master's,
You use your manners discreetly in all kind
of companies:
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,

Sutficeth, 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.

+ Since. § Observed.

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-andthirty, a pip out?

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, [soundly? Rap me here, knock me well, and knock me And come you now with-knocking at the gate? Pet. Sirrah, be gone, or talk not, I advise you. [pledge: Hor. Petruchio, patience; I am Grumio's Why, this a heavy chance 'twixt him and you; Your ancient, trusty, pleasant servant Grümio. 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 t, Signior Hortensio, thus it stands with me:Antonio, my father, is deceased;

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 Florentins' lovet,
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.

Gru. Nay, look you, sir, he tells you flatly what his mind is: Why, give him gold enough and marry 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, nothing comes amiss, so money comes withal.

Hor. Petruchio, since we have stepp'd thus I will continue that I broach'd in jest. [far in, 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, {sure, And shrewd, and froward; so beyond all mea. That, were my state far worser than it is, 1 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
And he knew my deceased father well: [her;
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.

Gru. I pray you, sir, let him go while the humour lasts. O' my word, an she knew him as well as I do, she would think scolding would do little good upon him: She may, perhaps, call him half a score of 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 rehearsed,) That ever Katharina will be woo'd; Therefore this ordertt 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

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 Petruchio, stand by a while.

[love:

Gru. A proper stripling, and an amorous! [They retire. Gre. O, very well; I have perused the note. Hark you, sir; I'll have them very fairly bound: All books of love, see that at any hand*; And see you read no other lectures to her: You understand me;-Over and beside Signior Baptista's liberality,

[pers too, I' mend it with a largesst:-Take your paAnd let me have them very well perfumed; For she is sweeter than perfume itself, [her? To whom they go. What will you read to Luc. Whate'er I read to her, I'll plead for you,

As for my patron, (stand you so assured,)
As firmly as yourself were still in place:
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.
[Gremio!
Hor. Grumio,mum!-God save you, signior
Gre. And you're well met, signior Hor-
tensio. Trow you,

Whither I am going?-To Baptista Minola.
I promised to inquire carefully
About a schoolmaster for fair Bianca:
And, by good fortune, I have lighted well
On this young man; for learning and beha-
Fit for her turn; well read in poetry [viour,
And other books,-good ones I warrant you.

Hor. 'Tis well: and I have met a gentleman,
Hath promised 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 beloved of me.

Gre. Beloved 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 Listen to me, and if you speak me fair, [love: 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: [name, But, if you have a stomach, to't o' God's 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 [clang?
Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets'
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.
Gru.

For he fears none. [Aside.

Gre. Hortensio, hark! This gentleman is happily arrived, My mind presumes, for his own good, and ours. Hor. I promised 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 apparelled; and BIONDELLO."

Tra. Gentlemen, God save you! If I may be boid, [way Tell me, I beseech you, which is the readiest To the house of signior Baptista Minola? Gre. 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 toTra. Perhaps him and her, sir; What have you to do?

Pet. Not her that chides, sir; at any hand,

I pray.

[away.

Tra. I love no chiders, sir:-Biondello, let's Luc. Well begun, Tranio.

[Aside.

Hor. Sir, a word ere you go ;- [or no? Are you a suitor to the maid you talk of, yea Tra. An if I be, sir, is it any offence? Gre. No; if without more words, you will get you hence. ; [as free Tra. Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets For me as for you? Gre. Tra. For what reason, I beseech you? Gre. For this reason, if you'll know,

But so is not she.

That she's the choice love of signior Gremio. Hor. That she's the chosen of signior Hor

[men,

tensio.
Tra. Softly, my masters! if you be gentle-
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. [all.
Gre. What! this gentleman will out-talk us

Fright boys with bug-bears.