Pet. 'Tis burnt; and so is all the meat. What dogs are these! Where is the rascal cook! How durst you, villains, bring it from the dresser, And serve it thus to me that love it not? There, take it to you, trenchers, cups, and all. 169 Throws the meat, etc. at them. You heedless joltheads and unmanner'd slaves! What! do you grumble? I'll be with you straight. Kath. I pray you, husband, be not so disquiet: The meat was well if you were so contented. Pet. I tell thee, Kate, 'twas burnt and dried
And I expressly am forbid to touch it,
For it engenders choler, planteth anger;
And better 'twere that both of us did fast,
Since, of ourselves, ourselves are choleric,
Than feed it with such over-roasted flesh.
Be patient; to-morrow 't shall be mended,
And for this night we 'll fast for company.
Come, I will bring thee to thy bridal chamber.
Exeunt PETRUCHIO, KATHARINA,
and CURTIS.
Nath. Peter, didst ever see the like?
Peter. He kills her in her own humour.
Re-enter CURTIS.
Curt. In her chamber, making a sermon of continency to her;
And rails, and swears, and rates, that she, poor soul,
wel-And sits as one new-risen from a dream. Knows not which way to stand, to look, to speak,
Away, away! for he is coming hither. Exeunt.
And 'tis my hope to end successfully.
Pet. Thus have I politicly begun my reign,
My falcon now is sharp and passing empty,
And till she stoop she must not be full-gorg'd,
For then she never looks upon her lure.
Another way I have to man my haggard,
To make her come and know her keeper's call;
That is, to watch her, as we watch these kites
She eat no meat to-day, nor none shall eat; 20
That bate and beat and will not be obedient.
Last night she slept not, nor to-night she shall
As with the meat, some undeserved fault
I'll find about the making of the bed;
And here I'll fling the pillow, there the bolster,
Ay, and amid this hurly I intend
This way the coverlet, another way the sheets:
And in conclusion she shall watch all night:
That all is done in reverent care of her;
And if she chance to nod I'll rail and brawl,
And with the clamour keep her still awake.
This is a way to kill a wife with kindness;
And thus I'll curb her mad and headstrong
humour.
He that knows better how to tame a shrew,
Now let him speak: 'tis charity to show. Exit.
SCENE II.-Padua. Before BAPTISTA'S House. Enter TRANIO and HORTENSIO.
Tra. Is 't possible, friend Licio, that Mistress
Bianca
Doth fancy any other but Lucentio ?
I tell you, sir, she bears me fair in hand.
Hor. Sir, to satisfy you in what I have said,
Stand and mark the manner of his teaching.
They stand aside.
Enter BIANCA and LUCENTIO.
Luc. Now, mistress, profit you in what you read?
Bian. What, master, read you? first resolve
me that.
Tra. Faith, he is gone unto the taming-school. Bian. The taming-school! what, is there such a place?
Tra. Ay, mistress, and Petruchio is the master; That teacheth tricks eleven and twenty long, To tame a shrew, and charm her chattering tongue.
Enter BIONDELLO, running.
60
Bion. O master, master! I have watch'd so long That I am dog-weary; but at last I spied An ancient angel coming down the hill Will serve the turn.
Tra.
What is he, Biondello?
Bion. Master, a mercatante, or a pedant,
I know not what; but formal in apparel,
In gait and countenance surely like a father.
Luc. And what of him, Tranio ?
Tra. If he be credulous and trust my tale,
I'll make him glad to seem Vincentio,
And give assurance to Baptista Minola,
As if he were the right Vincentio.
Take in your love, and then let me alone.
Exeunt LUCENTIO and BIANCA.
Enter a Pedant.
Ped. God save you, sir!
Tra.
And you, sir! you are welcome.
Travel you far on, or are you at the furthest?
Ped. Sir, at the furthest for a week or two;
But then up further, and as far as Rome;
And so to Tripoli, if God lend me life.
Tra. What countryman, I pray?
Ped.
Of Mantua.
Tra. Of Mantua, sir? marry, God forbid ! And come to Padua, careless of your life? Ped. My life, sir! how, I pray for that goes hard.
80
He says so, Tranio. If this be courtesy, sir, accept of it.
Tra. To save your life in this extremity, This favour will I do you for his sake; And think it not the worst of all your fortunes That you are like to Sir Vincentio. His name and credit shall you undertake, And in my house you shall be friendly lodg'd. Look that you take upon you as you should! You understand me, sir; so shall you stay Till you have done your business in the city. 110
Ped. O sir, I do; and will repute you ever
The patron of my life and liberty.
Tra. Then go with me to make the matter good.
This, by the way, I let you understand :
My father is here look'd for every day,
To pass assurance of a dower in marriage
"Twixt me and one Baptista's daughter here:
In all these circumstances I'll instruct you.
Go with me to clothe you as becomes you. Exeunt.
SCENE III-A Room in PETRUCHIO's House.
Enter KATHARINA and GRUMIO.
Gru. No, no, forsooth; I dare not for my life.
Kath. The more my wrong, the more his spite
What did he marry me to famish me?
Beggars, that come unto my father's door,
Upon entreaty have a present alms ;
If not, elsewhere they meet with charity:
But I, who never knew how to entreat,
Nor never needed that I should entreat,
Am starv'd for meat, giddy for lack of sleep;
With oaths kept waking, and with brawling fed.
And that which spites me more than all these
wants,
He does it under name of perfect love;
As who should say, if I should sleep or eat
'Twere deadly sickness, or else present death.
I prithee go and get me some repast;
I care not what, so it be wholesome food.
Gru. What say you to a neat's foot?
Pet. The poorest service is repaid with thanks, And so shall mine, before you touch the meat. Kath. I thank you, sir.
Hor. Signior Petruchio, fie! you are to blame. Come, Mistress Kate, I'll bear you company.
Pet. Aside. Eat it up all, Hortensio, if thou lov'st me.
Much good do it unto thy gentle heart!
Kate, eat apace: and now, my honey love,
Will we return unto thy father's house,
And revel it as bravely as the best,
With silken coats and caps and golden rings,
With ruffs and cuffs and farthingales and things:
With scarfs and fans and double change of
bravery,
With amber bracelets, beads and all this knavery.
What hast thou din'd? The tailor stays thy
leisure,
To deck thy body with his ruffling treasure. 60
Enter Tailor.
Come, tailor, let us see these ornaments;
Lay forth the gown.
What news with you, sir? Hab. Here is the cap your worship did bespeak. Pet. Why, this was moulded on a porringer; A velvet dish: fie, fie! 'tis lewd and filthy: Why, 'tis a cockle or a walnut-shell,
A knack, a toy, a trick, a baby's cap:
Kath. 'Tis passing good: I prithee let me have Away with it! come, let me have a bigger
Gru. Nay then, I will not: you shall have the mustard,
Or else you get no beef of Grumio.
Kath. Then both, or one, or any thing thou wilt.
Gru. Why then, the mustard without the beef.
Kath. Go, get thee gone, thou false deluding
slave,
Beats him. 31
That feed'st me with the very name of meat.
Sorrow on thee and all the pack of you,
That triumph thus upon my misery!
Go, get thee gone, I say.
Enter PETRUCHIO, with a dish of meat, and
Kath. I'll have no bigger: this doth fit the time,
And gentlewomen wear such caps as these.
Pet. When you are gentle, you shall have one
too;
And not till then.
Hor. Aside. That will not be in haste.
Kath. Why, sir, I trust I may have leave to speak,
And speak I will; I am no child, no babe :
Your betters have endur'd me say my mind,
And if you cannot, best you stop your ears.
My tongue will tell the anger of my heart,
Or else my heart, concealing it, will break:
And rather than it shall, I will be free
Even to the uttermost, as I please, in words.
Pet. Why, thou say'st true; it is a paltry cap,
A custard-coffin, a bauble, a silken pie.
I love thee well in that thou lik'st it not.
Kath. Love me or love me not, I like the cap,
And it I will have, or I will have none.
Exit Haberdasher.
Pet. Thy gown? why, ay: come, tailor, let us
see 't.
O, mercy, God! what masquing stuff is here?
What's this? a sleeve? 'tis like a demi-cannon:
Pet. How fares my Kate? What, sweeting, What! up and down, carv'd like an apple-tart? all amort?
Hor. Mistress, what cheer?
Kath.
Faith, as cold as can be.
Pet. Pluck up thy spirits; look cheerfully upon
Here, love; thou seest how diligent I am
To dress thy meat myself and bring it thee: 40 I am sure, sweet Kate, this kindness merits thanks.
Here's snip and nip and cut and slish and slash,
Like to a censer in a barber's shop.
Why, what, i' devil's name, tailor, call'st thou this?
Hor. Aside. I see, she's like to have neither
Tai. You bid me make it orderly and well, According to the fashion and the time.
Pet. Marry, and did: but if you be remember'd,
I did not bid you mar it to the time.
What! not a word? Nay, then thou lov'st it not, Go, hop me over every kennel home,
And all my pains is sorted to no proof.
Here, take away this dish.
Kath. I never saw a better-fashion'd gown, More quaint, more pleasing, nor more commendable.
Belike you mean to make a puppet of me.
Pet. Why, true; he means to make a puppet
of thee.
Tai. She says your worship means to make a
puppet
of her.
Pet. O monstrous arrogance! Thou liest, thou
thread,
Thou flea, thou nit, thou winter-cricket thou! 110
Brav'd in mine own house with a skein of thread?
Away! thou rag, thou quantity, thou remnant,
Or I shall so be-mete thee with thy yard
As thou shalt think on prating whilst thou liv'st!
I tell thee, I, that thou hast marr'd her gown.
Tai. Your worship is deceiv'd: the gown is
made
Thou thimble,
nail !
Thou yard, three-quarters, half-yard, quarter, Our purses shall be proud, our garments poor:
For 'tis the mind that makes the body rich;
And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds,
So honour peereth in the meanest habit.
What is the jay more precious than the lark
Because his feathers are more beautiful?
Or is the adder better than the eel
Because his painted skin contents the eye?
O, no, good Kate; neither art thou the worse
For this poor furniture and mean array.
If thou account'st it shame, lay it on me ;
And therefore frolic: we will hence forthwith,
To feast and sport us at thy father's house.
Go, call my men, and let us straight to him;
And bring our horses unto Long-lane end;
There will we mount, and thither walk on foot.
Let's see; I think 'tis now some seven o'clock,
And well we may come there by dinner-time.
Kath. I dare assure you, sir, 'tis almost two;
And 'twill be supper-time ere you come there.
Pet. It shall be seven ere I go to horse.
Look, what I speak, or do, or think to do,
You are still crossing it. Sirs, let 't alone:
I will not go to-day; and ere I do,
It shall be what o'clock I say it is.
Hor. Why, so this gallant will command the
Exeunt.
sun.
Just as my master had direction.
Grumio gave order how it should be done.
121
Gru. I gave him no order; I gave him the stuff.
Tai. But how did you desire it should be made?
Gru. Marry, sir, with needle and thread.
Tai. But did you not request to have it cut?
Gru. Thou hast faced many things.
Tai. I have.
Gru. Face not me: thou hast braved many men; brave not me: I will neither be faced nor braved. I say unto thee, I bid thy master cut out the gown; but I did not bid him cut it to pieces: ergo, thou liest.
Tai. Why, here is the note of the fashion to testify.
131
Pet. Read it.
Gru. The note lies in's throat if he say I said so.
Tai. Imprimis, A loose-bodied gown.
Gru. Master, if ever I said 'loose-bodied gown,' sew me in the skirts of it, and beat me to death with a bottom of brown thread. I said a gown. Pet. Proceed,
Tai. With a small compassed cape.
Gru. I confess the cape.
Tai. With a trunk sleeve.
Pet. Aside. Hortensio, say thou wilt see the
tailor paid.
Go take it hence; be gone, and say no more.
Hor. Tailor, I'll pay thee for thy gown to-
Pet. Why, sir, what 's your conceit in that?
Gru. O, sir, the conceit is deeper than you
think for:
161
Take up my mistress' gown to his master's use!
O, fie, fie, fie!
morrow:
Take no unkindness of his hasty words.
Away! I say; commend me to thy master.
Exit Tailor.
Pet. Well, come, my Kate; we will unto your
fat r's,
Even in these honest mean habiliments.
240
To the Pedant. Sir, this is the gentleman I told you of
20
I pray you, stand good father to me now,
Give me Bianca for my patrimony.
[ACT IV..
Bion. His daughter is to be brought by you to the supper.
Luc. And then?
Bion. The old priest at Saint Luke's church is at your command at all hours. Luc. And what of all this?
Ped. Soft, son!
Sir, by your leave: having come to Padua
To gather in some debts, my son Lucentio
Made me acquainted with a weighty cause
Of love between your daughter and himself:
And, for the good report I hear of you,
And for the love he beareth to your daughter,
And she to him, to stay him not too long,
I am content, in a good father's care,
To have him match'd; and if you please to like
No worse than I, upon some agreement
Me shall you find ready and willing
With one consent to have her so bestow'd;
For curious I cannot be with you,
Signior Baptista, of whom I hear so well.
40
Bap. Sir, pardon me in what I have to say:
Your plainness and your shortness please me well.
Right true it is, your son Lucentio here
Doth love my daughter and she loveth him,
Or both dissemble deeply their affections:
And therefore, if you say no more than this,
That like a father you will deal with him
And pass my daughter a sufficient dower,
The match is made, and all is done :
Your son shall have my daughter with consent.
Tra. I thank you, sir. Where then do you
know best
Bion. I cannot tell, except they are busied about a counterfeit assurance: take you assurance of her, cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum. To the church! take the priest, clerk, and some sufficient honest witnesses.
If this be not that you look for, I have no more to say,
But bid Bianca farewell for ever and a day.
Luc. Hearest thou, Biondello ?
97
Bion. I cannot tarry: I knew a wench married in an afternoon as she went to the garden for parsley to stuff a rabbit; and so may you, sir; and so adieu, sir. My master hath appointed me to go to Saint Luke's, to bid the priest be appendix. ready to come against you come with your
Exit.
Luc. I may, and will, if she be so contented: She will be pleas'd; then wherefore should I doubt?
We be affied and such assurance ta'en
As shall with either part's agreement stand? 50
Bap. Not in my house, Lucentio; for, you
know,
Hap what hap may, I'll roundly go about her:
It shall go hard if Cambio go without her. Exit.
Pitchers have ears, and I have many servants.
Besides, old Gremio is hearkening still,
And happily we might be interrupted.
Tra. Then at my lodging an it like you:
There doth my father lie, and there this night
We'll pass the business privately and well.
Send for your daughter by your servant here;
My boy shall fetch the scrivener presently.
The worst is this, that at so slender warning, 60
You're like to have a thin and slender pittance.
Bap. It likes me well: Cambio, hie you home,
And bid Bianca make her ready straight;
And, if you will, tell what hath happened:
Lucentio's father is arriv'd in Padua,
And how she 's like to be Lucentio's wife.
Bion. I pray the gods she may, with all my
heart!
SCENE V.-A public Road
Enter PETRUCHIO, KATHARINA, HORTENSIO and Servants.
Pet. Come on, i' God's name; once more toward our father's.
Good Lord, how bright and goodly shines the
moon!
Tra. Dally not with the gods, but get thee gone.
Signior Baptista, shall I lead the way?
Welcome! one mess is like to be your cheer. 70
Come, sir; we will better it in Pisa.
Kath. The moon! the sun: it is not moon-
light now.
Pet. I say it is the moon that shines so bright.
Kath. I know it is the sun that shines so bright.
Pet. Now, by my mother's son, and that'
myself,
It shall be moon, or star, or what I list,
Or ere I journey to your father's house.
Go one, and fetch our horses back again.
cross'd!
Evermore cross'd and cross'd; nothing but
10
Hor. Say as he says, or we shall never go.
Kath. Forward, I pray, since we have come
so far,
An if you please to call it a rush-candle,
And be it moon, or sun, or what you please.
Pet. I say it is the moon.
I know it is the moon.
Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me.
Kath.
Pet. Nay, then you lie; it is the blessed sun.
Kath. Then God be bless'd, it is the blessed sun:
Bap. I follow you.
20
Exeunt TRANIO, Pedant, and BAPTISTA. But sun it is not when you say it is not,
And the moon changes even as your mind.
What you will have it nam'd, even that it is;
Bion. Cambio!
Luc. What sayest thou, Biondello ?
Bion. You saw my master wink and laugh upon And so it shall be so for Katharine.
you?
Hor. Petruchio, go thy ways; the field is won. Pet. Well, forward, forward! thus the bowl should run,
And not unluckily against the bias.
But soft! what company is coming here?
Luc. Biondello, what of that?
Bion. Faith, nothing; but has left me here
behind to expound the meaning or moral of his
signs and tokens.
Luc. I pray thee, moralise them.
Baptista is safe, talking
Bion. Then thus.
with the deceiving father of a deceitful son.
Luc. And what of him?
Enter VINCENTIO. To VINCENTIO. Good morrow, gentle mistress. where away?
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