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, sır, 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. Seignior 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.

If

Rise, Grumio, rise; we will compound this quarrel. Gru. Nay, it is no matter what he leges in Latin. 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? Whom, 'would to God, I had well knocked 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?-0 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?

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 farther than at home,
Where small experience grows. But, in a few,
Seignior 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-favored 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. Seignior 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 burden of my wooing dance,)
Be she as foul as was Florentius' love,
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 stepped thus far in, I will continue that I broached 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 erack.
Hor. Her father is Baptista Minola,
An affable and courteous gentleman.
Her name is Katharina Minola,
Renowned 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.

Gru. I pray you, sir, let him go while the humor 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 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 wooed;
Therefore this order 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, disguised in sober robes,
To old Baptista as a schoolmaster
Well seen in music 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 no knavery! See, to beguile the old folks, now 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!

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

[They retire.

Seignior Baptista's liberality,

I'll mend it with a largess. Take your papers too,
And let me have them very well perfumed;
For she is sweeter than perfume itself,

To whom they go. What will you read to her?
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.

Hor. Grumio, mum!- God save you, seignior Gremio!
Gre. And you're well met, seignior Hortensio. 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 behavior,
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 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 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. [Aride. 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, puffed 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.

For he fears none.

Gru.

Gre. Hortensio, hark!
This gentleman is happily arrived,
My mind presumes, for his own good, and yours.
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.

[Aside.