Enter TRANIO, bravely apparell'd; and BION

DELLO.

Tra. Gentlemen, God save you! If I may be bold, Tell me, I beseech you, which is the readiest way To the house of signior Baptista Minola?

Bion. He that has the two fair daughters:-is't [Aside to TRANIO] he you mean ?

Tra. Even he, Biondello.

sir;

19

Gre. Hark you,
You mean not her to-
Tra. Perhaps him and her, sir; What have you
to do?

Pet. Not her that chides, sir; at any hand, I pray.
Tra. I love no chiders, sir:-Biondello, let's away.
Luc. Well begun, Tranio.

[Aside.

Hor. Sir, a word ere you go;Are you a suitor to the maid you talk of, yea or no? Tra. An if I be, sir, is it any offence?

Gre. No; if without more words, you will get you hence.

Tra. Why, sir, I pray, are not the streets as free For me as for you?

Gre.

But so is not she.

Tra. For what reason, I beseech you?
Gre. For this reason, if you'll know,-

That she's the choice love of Signior Gremio.

Hor. That she's the chosen of Signior Hortensio.
Tra. Softly, my masters! if you be gentlemen,
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;

19 This hiatus is in the old copy, it is most probable that an abrupt sentence was intended.

Then well one more may fair Bianca have:
And so she shall; Lucentio shall make one,
Though Paris came in hope to speed alone.

Gre. What! this gentleman will out-talk us all. Luc. Sir, give him head; I know he'll prove a jade. Pet. Hortensio, to what end are all these words? Hor. Sir, let me be so bold as ask you,

Did

you yet ever see Baptista's daughter? Tra. No, sir; but hear I do that he hath two; The one as famous for a scolding tongue, As is the other for beauteous modesty.

Pet. Sir, sir, the first's for me; let her go by. Gre. Yea, leave that labour to great Hercules; And let it be more than Alcides' twelve.

Pet. Sir, understand you this of me, insooth;The youngest daughter, whom you hearken for, Her father keeps from all access of suitors: And will not promise her to any man, Until the elder sister first be wed: The younger then is free, and not before.

Tra. If it be so, sir, that you are the man Must stead us all, and me among the rest; An if you break the ice, and do this feat,Achieve the elder, set the younger free

For our access,-whose hap shall be to have her, Will not so graceless be, to be ingrate 20.

Hor. Sir, you say well, and well you do conceive; And since you do profess to be a suitor, You must, as we do, gratify this gentleman, To whom we all rest generally beholden.

Tra. Sir, I shall not be slack: in sign whereof, Please ye we may contrive 21 this afternoon,

20 Ungrateful.

21 To contrive is to wear out, to pass away, from contrivi, the preterite of contero, one of the disused Latinisms. So in Damon and Pithias, 1571:

'In travelling countries, we three have contrived
Full many a year.'

And quaff carouses to our mistress' health;
And do as adversaries 22 do in law,-

Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.

Gre. Bion. O excellent motion! Fellows 23, let's begone.

Hor. The motion's good indeed, and be it so;Petruchio, I shall be your ben venuto.

[Exeunt.

ACT II.

SCENE I. The same.

A Room in Baptista's House.

Enter KATHARINA and BIANCA.

Bian. Good sister, wrong me not, nor wrong

yourself,

To make a bondmaid and a slave of me;
That I disdain: but for these other gawds1,
Unbind my hands, I'll put them off myself,
Yea, all my raiment, to my petticoat;

Or,

what you will command me, will I do,

So well I know my duty to my elders.

Kath. Of all thy suitors, here I charge thee, tell Whom thou lov'st best: see thou dissemble not. Bian. Believe me, sister, of all the men alive, I never yet beheld that special face Which I could fancy more than any other.

22 Adversaries most probably here signifies contending barristers, or counsellors; surely not their clients?

23 Fellows means companions, and not fellow-servants, as Malone supposed. 'One that helpeth, aideth, or taketh part, that is companion or fellow. Socius, compaignon, complice, allie.'—Baret. Toys, trifling ornaments.

Kath. Minion, thou liest; Is't not Hortensio ? Bian. If affect him, sister, here I swear,

you

I'll plead for you myself, but you shall have him.
Kath. O then, belike, you fancy riches more;
You will have Gremio to keep you fair.

Bian. Is it for him you do envy me so?
Nay, then you jest; and now I well perceive,
You have but jested with me all this while :
I pr'ythee, sister Kate, untie my hands.

Kath. If that be jest, then all the rest was so.

Enter BAPTISTA.

[Strikes her.

Bap. Why, how now, dame! whence grows

insolence?

this

Bianca, stand aside:-poor girl! she weeps:-
Go ply thy needle; meddle not with her.-
For shame, thou hilding3 of a devilish spirit,
Why dost thou wrong her that did ne'er wrong thee?
When did she cross thee with a bitter word?

Kath. Her silence flouts me, and I'll be reveng'd.

[Flies after BIANCA.

Bap. What, in my sight!-Bianca, get thee in. [Exit BIANCA. Kath. Will you not suffer me? Nay, now I see She is your treasure, she must have a husband; I must dance barefoot on her wedding-day, And,

for your love to her, lead apes in hell.

2 Love.

3 A hilding signified a base low wretch: it is applied to Katharina for the coarseness of her behaviour.

4 The origin of this very old proverbial phrase is not known. Steevens suggests that it might have been considered an act of posthumous retribution for women who refused to bear children, to be condemned to the care of apes in leading strings after death.

Talk not to me; I will go sit and weep,
Till I can find occasion of revenge.

[Exit KATHARINA. Bap. Was ever gentleman thus griev'd as I? But who comes here?

Enter GREMIO, with LUCENTIO in the habit of a mean man; PETRUCHIO, with HORTENSIO as a Musician; and TRANIO, with BIONDELLO bearing a Lute and Books.

Gre. Good-morrow, neighbour Baptista.

Bap. Good-morrow, neighbour Gremio: God save you, gentlemen!

Pet. And you, good sir! Pray, have you not a daughter

Call'd Katharina, fair and virtuous?

Bap. I have a daughter, sir, call'd Katharina. Gre. You are too blunt, go to it orderly.

Pet. You wrong me, Signior Gremio: give me leave.

I am a gentleman of Verona, sir,

That,-hearing of her beauty and her wit,
Her affability, and bashful modesty,

Her wondrous qualities, and mild behaviour,-
Am bold to show myself a forward guest

Within your house, to make mine eye the witness
Of that report which I so oft have heard,
And, for an entrance to my entertainment,
I do present you with a man of mine,

[Presenting HORTENSIO.
Cunning in musick, and the mathematicks,
To instruct her fully in those sciences,
Whereof, I know, she is not ignorant:
Accept of him, or else you do me wrong;
His name is Licio, born in Mantua.