ENE II.]

TAMING OF THE SHREW.

645

Pet. What, art thou ashamed of me?

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Kath. No, sir, God forbid; but ashamed to kiss.
Pet. Why, then let's home again. Come, sirrah, let's away.
Kath. Nay, I will give thee a kiss: now pray thee, love,

[Exeunt.

stay.

Pet. Is not this well? Come, my sweet Kate:
Eter once than never, for never too late.

SCENE II. Padua. LUCENTIO's house.

ter BAPTISTA, VINCENTIO, GREMIO, the Pedant, LUCENTIO, BIANCA, PETRUCHIO, KATHARINA, HORTENSIO, and Widow, TRANIO, BIONDELLO, and GRUMIO: the Servingmen with Tranio bringing in a banquet.

Luc. At last, though long, our jarring notes agree:
d time it is, when raging war is done,
smile at scapes and perils overblown.
fair Bianca, bid my father welcome,

hile I with self-same kindness welcome thine.
other Petruchio, sister Katharina,

d thou, Hortensio, with thy loving widow, ast with the best, and welcome to my house: banquet is to close our stomachs up,

ter our great good cheer. Pray you, sit down; r now we sit to chat as well as eat.

Pet. Nothing but sit and sit, and eat and eat!
Bap. Padua affords this kindness, son Petruchio.
Pet. Padua affords nothing but what is kind.
Hor. For both our sakes, I would that word were true.
Pet. Now, for my life, Hortensio fears his widow.
Wid. Then never trust me, if I be afeard.

10

Pet. You are very sensible, and yet you miss my sense. nean, Hortensio is afeard of you.

Wid. He that is giddy thinks the world turns round. 20
Pet. Roundly replied.

Kath

Mistress, how mean you that?

Wid. Thus I conceive by him.
Pet. Conceives by me! How likes Hortensio that?
Hor. My widow says, thus she conceives her tale.

Pet. Very well mended. Kiss him for that, good widow.
Kath. ""
'He that is giddy thinks the world turns round :"
-ray you, tell me what you meant by that.
Wid. Your husband, being troubled with a shrew,
asures my husband's sorrow by his woe:
d now you know my meaning.

Right, I mean you.

Kath. A very mean meaning.
Wid.

30

Kath. And I am mean indeed, respecting you.

Pet. To her, Kate !

Hor. To her, widow !

Pet. A hundred marks, my Kate does put her down.
Hor. That's my office.

l'et. Spoke like an officer: ha' to thee, lad!

[Drinks to Hortensio. Bap. How likes Gremio these quick-witted folks? Gre. Believe me, sir, they butt together well. Bian. Head, and butt! and hasty-witted body Would say your head and butt were head and horn.

Vin. Ay, mistress bride, hath that awaken'd you?
Bian. Ay, but not frighted me; therefore I'll sleep again.
Pet. Nay, that you shall not: since you have begun,
Have at you for a bitter jest or two!

Bian. Am I your bird? I mean to shift my bush;
And then pursue me as you draw your bow.
You are welcome all.

[Exeunt Bianca, Katharina, and Widow. Pet. She hath prevented me. Here, Signior Tranio, This bird you aim'd at, though you hit her not; Therefore a health to all that shot and miss'd.

50

Tra. O, sir, Lucentio slipp'd me like his greyhound, Which runs himself and catches for his master.

Pet. A good swift simile, but something currish Tra. 'Tis well, sir, that you hunted for yourself 'Tis thought your deer holds you at a bay.

Bap. O ho, Petruchio! Trania hits you now.
Luc. I thank thee for that gird, good Tranio.
Hor. Confess, confess, hath he not hit you here?
Pet. A' has a little gall'd me, I confess;
And, as the jest did glance away from me,
"Tis ten to one it maim'd you two outright.

Bap. Now, in good sadness, son Petruchio, I think thou hast the veriest shrew of all.

Pet. Well, I say no: and therefore for assurance Let's each ore send unto his wife;

And he whose wife is most obedient

To come at first when he doth send for her,
Shall win the wager which we will propose.
What is the wager?

Hor. Content.

Luc.

Pet. Twenty crowns!

Twenty crowns.

I'll venture so much of my hawk or hound,
But twenty times so much upon my wife.
Luc. A hundred then.

Hor.

Content.

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70

et.

Dr. Who shall begin?

IC.

A match! 'tis done.

That will I.

Biondello, bid your mistress come to me. on. I go.

p. Son, I'll be your half, Bianca comes.
Ec. I'll have no halves; I'll bear it all myself.

Re-enter BIONDELLO.

now what news?

an. Sir, my mistress sends you word

she is busy and she cannot come.

. How! she is busy and she cannot come ! at an answer?

3.

Ay, and a kind one too: God, sir, your wife send you not a worse. . I hope, better.

-. Sirrah Biondello, go and entreat my wife me to me forthwith.

Re-enter BIONDELLO.

[Exit

[Exit Bion

. I am afraid, sir, do what you can, yours will not be ted.

80

She will not.
The fouler fortune mine, and there an end.
Now, by my holidame, here comes Katharina !

where's my wife?

2. She says you have some goodly jest in hand : ill not come; she bids you come to her.

Worse and worse; she will not come ! O vile,
able, not to be endured!

Grumio, go to your mistress ;
command her come to me.
I know her answer.

[Exit Grumio.

What?

Re-enter KATHARINA.

. What is your will, sir, that you send for me?
Where is your sister, and Hortensio's wife?
They sit conferring by the parlour fire.
Go, fetch them hither: if they deny to come,
me them soundly forth unto their husbands:
I say, and bring them hither straight.

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101

[Exit Katharina. Here is a wonder, if you talk of a worder. And so it is: I wonder what it bodes.

Pet. Marry, peace it bodes, and love and quiet life, And awful rule and right supremacy;

And, to be short, what not, that's sweet and happy? 110

Bap. Now, fair befal thee, good Petruchio!
The wager thou hast won; and I will add
Unto their losses twenty thousand crowns;
Another dowry to another daughter,
For she is changed, as she had never been.

Pet. Nay, I will win my wager better yet
And show more sign of her obedience,

Her new-built virtue and obedience.

See where she comes and brings your froward wives
As prisoners to her womanly persuasion.

Re-enter KATHARINA, with BIANCA and Widow.
Katharine, that cap of yours becomes you not:
Off with that bauble, throw it under foot.

Wid. Lord, let me never have a cause to sigh,
Till I be brought to such a silly pass!

Bian. Fie! what a foolish duty call you this?
Luc. I would your duty were as foolish too:
The wisdom of your duty, fair Bianca,
Hath cost me an hundred crowns since supper-time.
Bian. The more fool you, for laying my duty.

Pet. Katharine, I charge thee, tell these headstrong

130

120

women

What duty they do owe their lords and husbands.

Wid. Come, come, you're mocking: we will have no telling.

Pet. Come on, I say; and first begin with her.
Wid. She shall not.

Pet. I say she shall and first begin with her.

Kath. Fie, fie! unknit that threatening unkind brow,
And dart not scornful glances from those eyes,
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor :
It blots thy beauty as frosts do bite the meads,
Confounds thy fame as whirlwinds shake fair buds,
And in no sense is meet or amiable.

A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip 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 sea and land,
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,

140

150

hilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe;
d craves no other tribute at thy hands
t love, fair looks and true obedience;

o little payment for so great a debt.

ch duty as the subject owes the prince
en such a woman oweth to her husband;
d when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
d not obedient to his honest will,
hat is she but a foul contending rebel
d graceless traitor to her loving lord?
m ashamed that women are so simple
offer war where they should kneel for peace,
seek for rule, supremacy and sway,
en they are bound to serve, love and obey.
y are our bodies soft, weak and smooth,
apt to toil and trouble in the world,

that our soft conditions and our hearts
uld well agree with our external parts?
ne, come, you froward and unable worms!
mind hath been as big as one of yours,
heart as great, my reason haply more,
bandy word for word and frown for frown;
now I see our lances are but straws,
strength as weak, our weakness past compare,
t seeming to be most which we indeed least are
n vail your stomachs, for it is no boot,

place your hands below your husband's foot: oken of which duty, if he please,

hand is ready; may it do him ease. et. Why, there's a wench!

Kate.

160

170

Come on, and kiss me,

180

c. Well, go thy ways, old lad; for thou shalt ha't. in. "Tis a good hearing when children are toward. uc. But a harsh hearing when women are froward. et. Come, Kate, we'll to bed.

three are married, but you two are sped. Luc.] 'Twas I won the wager, though you hit the white;

being a winner, God give you good night! [Exeunt Petruchio and Katharina. r. Now, go thy ways; thou hast tamed a curst shrew.

c. 'Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be tamed so.

[Exeunt.