TRANIO. What countryman, I pray?

PEDANT. Of Mantua.

TRANIO. Of Mantua, sir? Marry, God forbid, And come to Padua, careless of your life!

PEDANT. My life, sir! How, I pray? for that goes hard.

TRANIO. 'Tis death for any one in Mantua To come to Padua. Know you not the cause? Your ships are stay'd at Venice; and the duke,— For private quarrel 'twixt your duke and him,— Hath publish'd and proclaim'd it openly. 'Tis marvel, but that you are but newly come You might have heard it else proclaim'd about.

PEDANT. Alas, sir! it is worse for me than so; For I have bills for money by exchange From Florence, and must here deliver them.

TRANIO. Well, sir, to do you courtesy, This will I do, and this I will advise you: First, tell me, have you ever been at Pisa?

PEDANT. Ay, sir, in Pisa have I often been, Pisa renowned for grave citizens.

TRANIO. Among them know you one Vincentio?

PEDANT. I know him not, but I have heard of him, A merchant of incomparable wealth.

TRANIO. He is my father, sir; and, sooth to say, In countenance somewhat doth resemble you.

BIONDELLO. [Aside.] As much as an apple doth an oyster, and all one.

TRANIO. 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. If this be courtesy, sir, accept of it.

PEDANT. O, sir, I do; and will repute you ever The patron of my life and liberty.

TRANIO. 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 KATHERINA and GRUMIO.]

GRUMIO. No, no, forsooth; I dare not for my life.

KATHERINA. The more my wrong, the more his spite appears. 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.

GRUMIO. What say you to a neat's foot?

KATHERINA. 'Tis passing good; I prithee let me have it.

GRUMIO. I fear it is too choleric a meat. How say you to a fat tripe finely broil'd?

KATHERINA. I like it well; good Grumio, fetch it me.

GRUMIO. I cannot tell; I fear 'tis choleric. What say you to a piece of beef and mustard?

KATHERINA. A dish that I do love to feed upon.

GRUMIO. Ay, but the mustard is too hot a little.

KATHERINA. Why then the beef, and let the mustard rest.

GRUMIO. Nay, then I will not: you shall have the mustard, Or else you get no beef of Grumio.

KATHERINA. Then both, or one, or anything thou wilt.

GRUMIO. Why then the mustard without the beef.

KATHERINA. Go, get thee gone, thou false deluding slave,

[Beats him.]

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 HORTENSIO.]

PETRUCHIO. How fares my Kate? What, sweeting, all amort?

HORTENSIO. Mistress, what cheer?

KATHERINA. Faith, as cold as can be.

PETRUCHIO. Pluck up thy spirits; look cheerfully upon me. Here, love; thou seest how diligent I am, To dress thy meat myself, and bring it thee:

[Sets the dish on a table.]

I am sure, sweet Kate, this kindness merits thanks. What! not a word? Nay, then thou lov'st it not, And all my pains is sorted to no proof. Here, take away this dish.

KATHERINA. I pray you, let it stand.

PETRUCHIO. The poorest service is repaid with thanks; And so shall mine, before you touch the meat.

KATHERINA. I thank you, sir.

HORTENSIO. Signior Petruchio, fie! you are to blame. Come, Mistress Kate, I'll bear you company.

PETRUCHIO. [Aside.] Eat it up all, Hortensio, if thou lovest 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.

[Enter TAILOR.]

Come, tailor, let us see these ornaments; Lay forth the gown.—

[Enter HABERDASHER.]

What news with you, sir?

HABERDASHER. Here is the cap your worship did bespeak.

PETRUCHIO. 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: Away with it! come, let me have a bigger.

KATHERINA. I'll have no bigger; this doth fit the time, And gentlewomen wear such caps as these.

PETRUCHIO. When you are gentle, you shall have one too, And not till then.

HORTENSIO. [Aside] That will not be in haste.

KATHERINA. 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.

PETRUCHIO. 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.

KATHERINA. Love me or love me not, I like the cap; And it I will have, or I will have none.

[Exit HABERDASHER.]

PETRUCHIO. 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. What, up and down, carv'd like an appletart? 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?

HORTENSIO. [Aside] I see she's like to have neither cap nor gown.

TAILOR. You bid me make it orderly and well, According to the fashion and the time.

PETRUCHIO. Marry, and did; but if you be remember'd, I did not bid you mar it to the time. Go, hop me over every kennel home, For you shall hop without my custom, sir. I'll none of it: hence! make your best of it.

KATHERINA. I never saw a better fashion'd gown, More quaint, more pleasing, nor more commendable; Belike you mean to make a puppet of me.

PETRUCHIO. Why, true; he means to make a puppet of thee.

TAILOR. She says your worship means to make a puppet of her.

PETRUCHIO. O monstrous arrogance! Thou liest, thou thread, Thou thimble, Thou yard, three-quarters, half-yard, quarter, nail! Thou flea, thou nit, thou winter-cricket thou! 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.

TAILOR. Your worship is deceiv'd: the gown is made Just as my master had direction. Grumio gave order how it should be done.

GRUMIO. I gave him no order; I gave him the stuff.

TAILOR. But how did you desire it should be made?

GRUMIO. Marry, sir, with needle and thread.

TAILOR. But did you not request to have it cut?

GRUMIO. Thou hast faced many things.

TAILOR. I have.

GRUMIO. Face not me. Thou hast braved many men; brave not me: I will neither be fac'd nor brav'd. 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.

TAILOR. Why, here is the note of the fashion to testify.

PETRUCHIO. Read it.

GRUMIO. The note lies in 's throat, if he say I said so.

TAILOR. 'Imprimis, a loose-bodied gown.'

GRUMIO. 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.

PETRUCHIO. Proceed.

TAILOR. 'With a small compassed cape.'

GRUMIO. I confess the cape.

TAILOR. 'With a trunk sleeve.'

GRUMIO. I confess two sleeves.

TAILOR. 'The sleeves curiously cut.'

PETRUCHIO. Ay, there's the villainy.

GRUMIO. Error i' the bill, sir; error i' the bill. I commanded the sleeves should be cut out, and sew'd up again; and that I'll prove upon thee, though thy little finger be armed in a thimble.

TAILOR. This is true that I say; an I had thee in place where thou shouldst know it.

GRUMIO. I am for thee straight; take thou the bill, give me thy mete-yard, and spare not me.

HORTENSIO. God-a-mercy, Grumio! Then he shall have no odds.

PETRUCHIO. Well, sir, in brief, the gown is not for me.

GRUMIO. You are i' the right, sir; 'tis for my mistress.

PETRUCHIO. Go, take it up unto thy master's use.

GRUMIO. Villain, not for thy life! Take up my mistress' gown for thy master's use!

PETRUCHIO. Why, sir, what's your conceit in that?

GRUMIO. O, sir, the conceit is deeper than you think for. Take up my mistress' gown to his master's use! O fie, fie, fie!

PETRUCHIO. [Aside] Hortensio, say thou wilt see the tailor paid. [To Tailor.] Go take it hence; be gone, and say no more.

HORTENSIO. [Aside to Tailor.] Tailor, I'll pay thee for thy gown to-morrow; Take no unkindness of his hasty words. Away, I say! commend me to thy master.

[Exit TAILOR.]

PETRUCHIO. Well, come, my Kate; we will unto your father's Even in these honest mean habiliments. 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.

KATHERINA. I dare assure you, sir, 'tis almost two, And 'twill be supper-time ere you come there.

PETRUCHIO. 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.

HORTENSIO. Why, so this gallant will command the sun.

[Exeunt.]



SCENE IV. Padua. Before BAPTISTA'S house.

[Enter TRANIO, and the PEDANT dressed like VINCENTIO.]

TRANIO. Sir, this is the house; please it you that I call?

PEDANT. Ay, what else? and, but I be deceived, Signior Baptista may remember me, Near twenty years ago in Genoa, Where we were lodgers at the Pegasus.

TRANIO. 'Tis well; and hold your own, in any case, With such austerity as 'longeth to a father.

PEDANT. I warrant you. But, sir, here comes your boy; 'Twere good he were school'd.

[Enter BIONDELLO.]

TRANIO. Fear you not him. Sirrah Biondello, Now do your duty throughly, I advise you. Imagine 'twere the right Vincentio.

BIONDELLO. Tut! fear not me.

TRANIO. But hast thou done thy errand to Baptista?

BIONDELLO. I told him that your father was at Venice, And that you look'd for him this day in Padua.

TRANIO. Thou'rt a tall fellow; hold thee that to drink. Here comes Baptista. Set your countenance, sir.

[Enter BAPTISTA and LUCENTIO.]

Signior Baptista, you are happily met. [To the PEDANT] Sir, this is the gentleman I told you of; I pray you stand good father to me now; Give me Bianca for my patrimony.

PEDANT. 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.

BAPTISTA. 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.

TRANIO. I thank you, sir. Where then do you know best We be affied, and such assurance ta'en As shall with either part's agreement stand?

BAPTISTA. Not in my house, Lucentio, for you know Pitchers have ears, and I have many servants; Besides, old Gremio is hearkening still, And happily we might be interrupted.

TRANIO. 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 You are like to have a thin and slender pittance.

BAPTISTA. 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.

LUCENTIO. I pray the gods she may, with all my heart!

TRANIO. 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; Come, sir; we will better it in Pisa.

BAPTISTA. I follow you.

[Exeunt TRANIO, Pedant, and BAPTISTA.]

BIONDELLO. Cambio!

LUCENTIO. What say'st thou, Biondello?

BIONDELLO. You saw my master wink and laugh upon you?

LUCENTIO. Biondello, what of that?

BIONDELLO. Faith, nothing; but has left me here behind to expound the meaning or moral of his signs and tokens.

LUCENTIO. I pray thee moralize them.

BIONDELLO. Then thus: Baptista is safe, talking with the deceiving father of a deceitful son.

LUCENTIO. And what of him?

BIONDELLO. His daughter is to be brought by you to the supper.

LUCENTIO. And then?

BIONDELLO. The old priest at Saint Luke's church is at your command at all hours.

LUCENTIO. And what of all this?

BIONDELLO. I cannot tell, except they are busied about a counterfeit assurance. Take your 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 more to say, But bid Bianca farewell for ever and a day.

[Going.]

LUCENTIO. Hear'st thou, Biondello?

BIONDELLO. 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 ready to come against you come with your appendix.

[Exit.]

LUCENTIO. I may, and will, if she be so contented. She will be pleas'd; then wherefore should I doubt? Hap what hap may, I'll roundly go about her; It shall go hard if Cambio go without her:

[Exit.]



SCENE V. A public road

[Enter PETRUCHIO, KATHERINA, HORTENSIO, and SERVANTS.]

PETRUCHIO. Come on, i' God's name; once more toward our father's. Good Lord, how bright and goodly shines the moon!

KATHERINA. The moon! The sun; it is not moonlight now.

PETRUCHIO. I say it is the moon that shines so bright.

KATHERINA. I know it is the sun that shines so bright.

PETRUCHIO. Now by my mother's son, and that's myself, It shall be moon, or star, or what I list, Or ere I journey to your father's house. Go on and fetch our horses back again. Evermore cross'd and cross'd; nothing but cross'd!

HORTENSIO. Say as he says, or we shall never go.

KATHERINA. Forward, I pray, since we have come so far, And be it moon, or sun, or what you please; And if you please to call it a rush-candle, Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me.

PETRUCHIO. I say it is the moon.

KATHERINA. I know it is the moon.

PETRUCHIO. Nay, then you lie; it is the blessed sun.

KATHERINA. Then, God be bless'd, it is the blessed sun; 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, And so it shall be so for Katherine.

HORTENSIO. Petruchio, go thy ways; the field is won.

PETRUCHIO. Well, forward, forward! thus the bowl should run, And not unluckily against the bias. But, soft! Company is coming here.

[Enter VINCENTIO, in a travelling dress.]

[To VINCENTIO] Good-morrow, gentle mistress; where away? Tell me, sweet Kate, and tell me truly too, Hast thou beheld a fresher gentlewoman? Such war of white and red within her cheeks! What stars do spangle heaven with such beauty As those two eyes become that heavenly face? Fair lovely maid, once more good day to thee. Sweet Kate, embrace her for her beauty's sake.

HORTENSIO. 'A will make the man mad, to make a woman of him.

KATHERINA. Young budding virgin, fair and fresh and sweet, Whither away, or where is thy abode? Happy the parents of so fair a child; Happier the man whom favourable stars Allot thee for his lovely bed-fellow.

PETRUCHIO. Why, how now, Kate! I hope thou art not mad: This is a man, old, wrinkled, faded, wither'd, And not a maiden, as thou sayst he is.

KATHERINA. Pardon, old father, my mistaking eyes, That have been so bedazzled with the sun That everything I look on seemeth green: Now I perceive thou art a reverend father; Pardon, I pray thee, for my mad mistaking.

PETRUCHIO. Do, good old grandsire, and withal make known Which way thou travellest: if along with us, We shall be joyful of thy company.

VINCENTIO. Fair sir, and you my merry mistress, That with your strange encounter much amaz'd me, My name is called Vincentio; my dwelling Pisa; And bound I am to Padua, there to visit A son of mine, which long I have not seen.

PETRUCHIO. What is his name?

VINCENTIO. Lucentio, gentle sir.

PETRUCHIO. Happily met; the happier for thy son. And now by law, as well as reverend age, I may entitle thee my loving father: The sister to my wife, this gentlewoman, Thy son by this hath married. Wonder not, Nor be not griev'd: she is of good esteem, Her dowry wealthy, and of worthy birth; Beside, so qualified as may beseem The spouse of any noble gentleman. Let me embrace with old Vincentio; And wander we to see thy honest son, Who will of thy arrival be full joyous.

VINCENTIO. But is this true? or is it else your pleasure, Like pleasant travellers, to break a jest Upon the company you overtake?

HORTENSIO. I do assure thee, father, so it is.

PETRUCHIO. Come, go along, and see the truth hereof; For our first merriment hath made thee jealous.

[Exeunt all but HORTENSIO.]

HORTENSIO. Well, Petruchio, this has put me in heart. Have to my widow! and if she be froward, Then hast thou taught Hortensio to be untoward.

[Exit.]



ACT V.

SCENE I. Padua. Before LUCENTIO'S house.

[Enter on one side BIONDELLO, LUCENTIO, and BIANCA; GREMIO walking on other side.]

BIONDELLO. Softly and swiftly, sir, for the priest is ready.

LUCENTIO. I fly, Biondello; but they may chance to need the at home, therefore leave us.

BIONDELLO. Nay, faith, I'll see the church o' your back; and then come back to my master's as soon as I can.

[Exeunt LUCENTIO, BIANCA, and BIONDELLO.]

GREMIO. I marvel Cambio comes not all this while.

[Enter PETRUCHIO, KATHERINA, VINCENTIO, and ATTENDANTS.]

PETRUCHIO. Sir, here's the door; this is Lucentio's house: My father's bears more toward the market-place; Thither must I, and here I leave you, sir.

VINCENTIO. You shall not choose but drink before you go. I think I shall command your welcome here, And by all likelihood some cheer is toward.

[Knocks.]

GREMIO. They're busy within; you were best knock louder.

[Enter PEDANT above, at a window.]

PEDANT. What's he that knocks as he would beat down the gate?

VINCENTIO. Is Signior Lucentio within, sir?

PEDANT. He's within, sir, but not to be spoken withal.

VINCENTIO. What if a man bring him a hundred pound or two to make merry withal?

PEDANT. Keep your hundred pounds to yourself: he shall need none so long as I live.

PETRUCHIO. Nay, I told you your son was well beloved in Padua. Do you hear, sir? To leave frivolous circumstances, I pray you tell Signior Lucentio that his father is come from Pisa, and is here at the door to speak with him.

PEDANT. Thou liest: his father is come from Padua, and here looking out at the window.

VINCENTIO. Art thou his father?

PEDANT. Ay, sir; so his mother says, if I may believe her.

PETRUCHIO. [To VINCENTIO] Why, how now, gentleman! why, this is flat knavery to take upon you another man's name.

PEDANT. Lay hands on the villain: I believe 'a means to cozen somebody in this city under my countenance.

[Re-enter BIONDELLO.]

BIONDELLO. I have seen them in the church together: God send 'em good shipping! But who is here? Mine old master, Vincentio! Now we are undone and brought to nothing.

VINCENTIO. [Seeing BIONDELLO.] Come hither, crack-hemp.

BIONDELLO. I hope I may choose, sir.

VINCENTIO. Come hither, you rogue. What, have you forgot me?

BIONDELLO. Forgot you! No, sir: I could not forget you, for I never saw you before in all my life.

VINCENTIO. What, you notorious villain! didst thou never see thy master's father, Vincentio?

BIONDELLO. What, my old worshipful old master? Yes, marry, sir; see where he looks out of the window.

VINCENTIO. Is't so, indeed?

[He beats BIONDELLO.]

BIONDELLO. Help, help, help! here's a madman will murder me.

[Exit.] PEDANT. Help, son! help, Signior Baptista!

[Exit from the window.]

PETRUCHIO. Prithee, Kate, let's stand aside and see the end of this controversy.

[They retire.]

[Re-enter PEDANT below; BAPTISTA, TRANIO, and SERVANTS.]

TRANIO. Sir, what are you that offer to beat my servant?

VINCENTIO. What am I, sir! nay, what are you, sir? O immortal gods! O fine villain! A silken doublet, a velvet hose, a scarlet cloak, and a copatain hat! O, I am undone! I am undone! While I play the good husband at home, my son and my servant spend all at the university.

TRANIO. How now! what's the matter?

BAPTISTA. What, is the man lunatic?

TRANIO. Sir, you seem a sober ancient gentleman by your habit, but your words show you a madman. Why, sir, what 'cerns it you if I wear pearl and gold? I thank my good father, I am able to maintain it.

VINCENTIO. Thy father! O villain! he is a sailmaker in Bergamo.

BAPTISTA. You mistake, sir; you mistake, sir. Pray, what do you think is his name?

VINCENTIO. His name! As if I knew not his name! I have brought him up ever since he was three years old, and his name is Tranio.

PEDANT. Away, away, mad ass! His name is Lucentio; and he is mine only son, and heir to the lands of me, Signior Vicentio.

VINCENTIO. Lucentio! O, he hath murdered his master! Lay hold on him, I charge you, in the Duke's name. O, my son, my son! Tell me, thou villain, where is my son, Lucentio?

TRANIO. Call forth an officer.

[Enter one with an OFFICER.]

Carry this mad knave to the gaol. Father Baptista, I charge you see that he be forthcoming.

VINCENTIO. Carry me to the gaol!

GREMIO. Stay, officer; he shall not go to prison.

BAPTISTA. Talk not, Signior Gremio; I say he shall go to prison.

GREMIO. Take heed, Signior Baptista, lest you be cony-catched in this business; I dare swear this is the right Vincentio.

PEDANT. Swear if thou darest.

GREMIO. Nay, I dare not swear it.

TRANIO. Then thou wert best say that I am not Lucentio.

GREMIO. Yes, I know thee to be Signior Lucentio.

BAPTISTA. Away with the dotard! to the gaol with him!

VINCENTIO. Thus strangers may be haled and abus'd: O monstrous villain!

[Re-enter BIONDELLO, with LUCENTIO and BIANCA.]

BIONDELLO. O! we are spoiled; and yonder he is: deny him, forswear him, or else we are all undone.

LUCENTIO. [Kneeling.] Pardon, sweet father.

VINCENTIO. Lives my sweetest son?

[BIONDELLO, TRANIO, and PEDANT, run out.]

BIANCA. [Kneeling.] Pardon, dear father.

BAPTISTA. How hast thou offended? Where is Lucentio?

LUCENTIO. Here's Lucentio, Right son to the right Vincentio; That have by marriage made thy daughter mine, While counterfeit supposes blear'd thine eyne.

GREMIO. Here 's packing, with a witness, to deceive us all!

VINCENTIO. Where is that damned villain, Tranio, That fac'd and brav'd me in this matter so?

BAPTISTA. Why, tell me, is not this my Cambio?

BIANCA. Cambio is chang'd into Lucentio.

LUCENTIO. Love wrought these miracles. Bianca's love Made me exchange my state with Tranio, While he did bear my countenance in the town; And happily I have arriv'd at the last Unto the wished haven of my bliss. What Tranio did, myself enforc'd him to; Then pardon him, sweet father, for my sake.

VINCENTIO. I'll slit the villain's nose that would have sent me to the gaol.

BAPTISTA. [To LUCENTIO.] But do you hear, sir? Have you married my daughter without asking my good will?

VINCENTIO. Fear not, Baptista; we will content you, go to: but I will in, to be revenged for this villainy.

[Exit.]

BAPTISTA. And I to sound the depth of this knavery.

[Exit.] LUCENTIO. Look not pale, Bianca; thy father will not frown.

[Exeunt LUCENTIO and BIANCA.]

GREMIO. My cake is dough, but I'll in among the rest; Out of hope of all but my share of the feast.

[Exit.]

[PETRUCHIO and KATHERINA advance.]

KATHERINA. Husband, let's follow to see the end of this ado.

PETRUCHIO. First kiss me, Kate, and we will.

KATHERINA. What! in the midst of the street?

PETRUCHIO. What! art thou ashamed of me?

KATHERINA. No, sir; God forbid; but ashamed to kiss.

PETRUCHIO. Why, then, let's home again. Come, sirrah, let's away.

KATHERINA. Nay, I will give thee a kiss: now pray thee, love, stay.

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

[Exeunt.]



SCENE II. A room in LUCENTIO'S house.

[Enter BAPTISTA, VINCENTIO, GREMIO, the PEDANT, LUCENTIO, BIANCA, PETRUCHIO, KATHERINA, HORTENSIO, and WIDOW. TRANIO, BIONDELLO, and GRUMIO, and Others, attending.]

LUCENTIO. At last, though long, our jarring notes agree: And time it is when raging war is done, To smile at 'scapes and perils overblown. My fair Bianca, bid my father welcome, While I with self-same kindness welcome thine. Brother Petruchio, sister Katherina, And thou, Hortensio, with thy loving widow, Feast with the best, and welcome to my house: My banquet is to close our stomachs up, After our great good cheer. Pray you, sit down; For now we sit to chat as well as eat.

[They sit at table.]

PETRUCHIO. Nothing but sit and sit, and eat and eat!

BAPTISTA. Padua affords this kindness, son Petruchio.

PETRUCHIO. Padua affords nothing but what is kind.

HORTENSIO. For both our sakes I would that word were true.

PETRUCHIO. Now, for my life, Hortensio fears his widow.

WIDOW. Then never trust me if I be afeard.

PETRUCHIO. You are very sensible, and yet you miss my sense: I mean Hortensio is afeard of you.

WIDOW. He that is giddy thinks the world turns round.

PETRUCHIO. Roundly replied.

KATHERINA. Mistress, how mean you that?

WIDOW. Thus I conceive by him.

PETRUCHIO. Conceives by me! How likes Hortensio that?

HORTENSIO. My widow says thus she conceives her tale.

PETRUCHIO. Very well mended. Kiss him for that, good widow.

KATHERINA. 'He that is giddy thinks the world turns round': I pray you tell me what you meant by that.

WIDOW. Your husband, being troubled with a shrew, Measures my husband's sorrow by his woe; And now you know my meaning.

KATHERINA. A very mean meaning.

WIDOW. Right, I mean you.

KATHERINA. And I am mean, indeed, respecting you.

PETRUCHIO. To her, Kate!

HORTENSIO. To her, widow!

PETRUCHIO. A hundred marks, my Kate does put her down.

HORTENSIO. That's my office.

PETRUCHIO. Spoke like an officer: ha' to thee, lad.

[Drinks to HORTENSIO.]

BAPTISTA. How likes Gremio these quick-witted folks?

GREMIO. Believe me, sir, they butt together well.

BIANCA. Head and butt! An hasty-witted body Would say your head and butt were head and horn.

VINCENTIO. Ay, mistress bride, hath that awaken'd you?

BIANCA. Ay, but not frighted me; therefore I'll sleep again.

PETRUCHIO. Nay, that you shall not; since you have begun, Have at you for a bitter jest or two.

BIANCA. 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, KATHERINA, and WIDOW.]

PETRUCHIO. 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.

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

PETRUCHIO. A good swift simile, but something currish.

TRANIO. 'Tis well, sir, that you hunted for yourself: 'Tis thought your deer does hold you at a bay.

BAPTISTA. O ho, Petruchio! Tranio hits you now.

LUCENTIO. I thank thee for that gird, good Tranio.

HORTENSIO. Confess, confess; hath he not hit you here?

PETRUCHIO. 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.

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

PETRUCHIO. Well, I say no; and therefore, for assurance, Let's each one 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.

HORTENSIO. Content. What's the wager?

LUCENTIO. Twenty crowns.

PETRUCHIO. Twenty crowns! I'll venture so much of my hawk or hound, But twenty times so much upon my wife.

LUCENTIO. A hundred then.

HORTENSIO. Content.

PETRUCHIO. A match! 'tis done.

HORTENSIO. Who shall begin?

LUCENTIO. That will I. Go, Biondello, bid your mistress come to me.

BIONDELLO. I go.

[Exit.]

BAPTISTA. Son, I'll be your half, Bianca comes.

LUCENTIO. I'll have no halves; I'll bear it all myself.

[Re-enter BIONDELLO.]

How now! what news?

BIONDELLO. Sir, my mistress sends you word That she is busy and she cannot come.

PETRUCHIO. How! She's busy, and she cannot come! Is that an answer?

GREMIO. Ay, and a kind one too: Pray God, sir, your wife send you not a worse.

PETRUCHIO. I hope, better.

HORTENSIO. Sirrah Biondello, go and entreat my wife To come to me forthwith.

[Exit BIONDELLO.]

PETRUCHIO. O, ho! entreat her! Nay, then she must needs come.

HORTENSIO. I am afraid, sir, Do what you can, yours will not be entreated.

[Re-enter BIONDELLO.]

Now, where's my wife?

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

PETRUCHIO. Worse and worse; she will not come! O vile, Intolerable, not to be endur'd! Sirrah Grumio, go to your mistress; say, I command her come to me.

[Exit GRUMIO.] HORTENSIO. I know her answer.

PETRUCHIO. What?

HORTENSIO. She will not.

PETRUCHIO. The fouler fortune mine, and there an end.

[Re-enter KATHERINA.]

BAPTISTA. Now, by my holidame, here comes Katherina!

KATHERINA. What is your sir, that you send for me?

PETRUCHIO. Where is your sister, and Hortensio's wife?

KATHERINA. They sit conferring by the parlour fire.

PETRUCHIO. Go, fetch them hither; if they deny to come, Swinge me them soundly forth unto their husbands. Away, I say, and bring them hither straight.

[Exit KATHERINA.]

LUCENTIO. Here is a wonder, if you talk of a wonder.

HORTENSIO. And so it is. I wonder what it bodes.

PETRUCHIO. Marry, peace it bodes, and love, and quiet life, An awful rule, and right supremacy; And, to be short, what not that's sweet and happy.

BAPTISTA. Now fair befall 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 chang'd, as she had never been.

PETRUCHIO. 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 KATHERINA with BIANCA and WIDOW.]

Katherine, that cap of yours becomes you not: Off with that bauble, throw it underfoot.

[KATHERINA pulls off her cap and throws it down.]

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

BIANCA. Fie! what a foolish duty call you this?

LUCENTIO. I would your duty were as foolish too; The wisdom of your duty, fair Bianca, Hath cost me a hundred crowns since supper-time!

BIANCA. The more fool you for laying on my duty.

PETRUCHIO. Katherine, I charge thee, tell these headstrong women What duty they do owe their lords and husbands.

WIDOW. Come, come, you're mocking; we will have no telling.

PETRUCHIO. Come on, I say; and first begin with her.

WIDOW. She shall not.

PETRUCHIO. I say she shall: and first begin with her.

KATHERINA. 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 mov'd 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, Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe; And craves no other tribute at thy hands But love, fair looks, and true obedience; Too little payment for so great a debt. Such duty as the subject owes the prince, Even such a woman oweth to her husband; And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour, And not obedient to his honest will, What is she but a foul contending rebel And graceless traitor to her loving lord?— I am asham'd that women are so simple To offer war where they should kneel for peace, Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway, When they are bound to serve, love, and obey. Why are our bodies soft and weak and smooth, Unapt to toll and trouble in the world, But that our soft conditions and our hearts Should well agree with our external parts? Come, come, you froward and unable worms! My mind hath been as big as one of yours, My heart as great, my reason haply more, To bandy word for word and frown for frown; But now I see our lances are but straws, Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare, That seeming to be most which we indeed least are. Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot, And place your hands below your husband's foot: In token of which duty, if he please, My hand is ready; may it do him ease.

PETRUCHIO. Why, there's a wench! Come on, and kiss me, Kate.

LUCENTIO. Well, go thy ways, old lad, for thou shalt ha't.

VINCENTIO. 'Tis a good hearing when children are toward.

LUCENTIO. But a harsh hearing when women are froward.

PETRUCHIO. Come, Kate, we'll to bed. We three are married, but you two are sped. 'Twas I won the wager, [To LUCENTIO.] though you hit the white; And being a winner, God give you good night!

[Exeunt PETRUCHIO and KATHERINA.]

HORTENSIO. Now go thy ways; thou hast tam'd a curst shrew.

LUCENTIO. 'Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be tam'd so.

[Exeunt.]

THE END