Kath. Mov'd! in good time: let him ́that mov'd

you hither,

Remove you hence I knew you at the first,

You were a moveable.

Pet.

Kath. A joint-stool 12.

Why, what's a moveable?

Pet.
Kath. Asses are made to bear, and so are you.
Pet. Women are made to bear, and so are you.
Kath. No such jade, sir,

Thou hast hit it: come, sit on me.

Pet. Alas, good Kate, I

as you, if me you mean.

will not burden thee:

For knowing thee to be but young and light,Kath. Too light for such a swain as you to catch; And yet as heavy as my weight should be.

Pet. Should be? should buz.

Kath.

Well ta'en, and like a buzzard. Pet. O, slow-wing'd turtle! shall a buzzard take thee?

Kath. Ay, for a turtle; as he takes a buzzard 13. Pet. Come, come, you wasp; i'faith, you are too

angry.

Kath. If I be waspish, best beware my sting.
Pet. My remedy is then, to pluck it out.
Kath. Ay, if the fool could find it where it lies.
Pet. Who knows not where a wasp doth wear
his sting?

In his tail.
Kath.

Pet.

12 A proverbial expression also used by the fool in King Lear: and in Lyly's Mother Bombie :

'Cry your mercy; I took you for a joint stool.'

13 This kind of expression seems also to have been proverbial. So in The Three Lords of London, 1590:

hast no more skill

Than take a falcon for a buzzard.'

Kath. Yours, if you talk of tails; and so farewell. Pet. What with my tongue in your tail? nay,

come again,

Good Kate; I am a gentleman.

Kath.

That I'll try.

[Striking him.

Pet. I swear I'll cuff you, if you strike again. Kath. So may you lose your arms: If you strike me, you are no gentleman; And if no gentleman, why, then no arms.

Pet. A herald, Kate? O, put me in thy books. Kath. What is your crest? a coxcomb?

Pet. A combless cock, so Kate will be my hen. Kath. No cock of mine, you crow too like a craven 14.

Pet. Nay, come, Kate, come; you must not look

so sour.

Kath. It is my fashion when I see a crab.

Pet. Why here's no crab; and therefore look not

sour.

Kath. There is, there is.

Pet. Then show it me.

Kath.

Had I a glass, I would.

Well aim'd of 15 such a young one.

Pet. What, you mean my face?

Kath.

Pet. Now, by Saint George, I am too young for

you.

Kath. Yet you are wither'd.

Pet.

Kath.

"Tis with cares.

I care not.

Pet. Nay, hear you, Kate: in sooth you 'scape

not so.

Kath. I chafe you, if I tarry; let me go. Pet. No, not a whit; I find you passing gentle. 'Twas told me, you were rough, and coy, and sullen, 14 A cowardly degenerate cock. 15 By.

And now I find report a very liar;

For thou art pleasant, gamesome, passing courteous;
But slow in speech, yet sweet as spring-time flowers:
Thou canst not frown, thou canst not look askance,
Nor bite the lip, as angry wenches will;

Nor hast thou pleasure to be cross in talk;
But thou with mildness entertain'st thy wooers,
With gentle conference, soft and affable.

Why does the world report, that Kate doth limp?
O slanderous world! Kate, like the hazle-twig,
Is straight, and slender; and as brown in hue
As hazle nuts, and sweeter than the kernels.
O, let me see thee walk: thou dost not halt.
Kath. Go, fool, and whom thou keep'st command.
Pet. Did ever Dian so become a grove,
As Kate this chamber with her princely gait?
O, be thou Dian, and let her be Kate;

And then let Kate be chaste, and Dian sportful!
Kath. Where did you study all this goodly speech?
Pet. It is extempore, from my mother-wit.
Kath. A witty mother! witless else her son.
Pet. Am I not wise?

Kath.

16 Yes; keep you warm Pet. Marry,so I mean, sweet Katharine, in thy bed: And therefore, setting all this chat aside,

Thus in plain terms:- -Your father hath consented
That you shall be my wife; your dowry 'greed on;
And, will you, nill you, I will marry you.
Now, Kate, I am a husband for your turn;
For, by this light, whereby I see thy beauty,
(Thy beauty, that doth make me like thee well),

16 This appears to allude to some proverb. So in Much Ado About Nothing :

that if he has wit enough to keep himself warm.'

An allusion of the same kind is in Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Lady.

Thou must be married to no man but me:
For I am he, am born to tame you, Kate:
And bring you from a wild Kate to a Kate 17
Conformable, as other household Kates.
Here comes your father; never make denial,
I must and will have Katharine to my wife.

Re-enter BAPTISTA, GREMIO, and TRANIO. Bap. Now,

Signior Petruchio: How speed you with

My daughter?

Pet.

How but well, sir? how but well? It were impossible I should speed amiss.

Bap. Why, how now, daughter Katharine; in your dumps?

Kath. Call you me, daughter? now I promise you,
You have show'd a tender fatherly regard,
To wish me wed to one half lunatick;

A mad-cap ruffian, and a swearing Jack,
That thinks with oaths to face the matter out.

Pet. Father, 'tis thus :-yourself and all the world,
That talk'd of her, have talk'd amiss of her;
If she be curst, it is for policy:

For she's not froward, but modest as the dove;
She is not hot, but temperate as the morn;

For patience she will prove a second Grissel 18;
And Roman Lucrece for her chastity:

And to conclude,-we have 'greed so well together,
That upon Sunday is the wedding-day.

Kath. I'll see thee hang'd on Sunday first.

17 Thus the first folio. The second folio reads:-' a wild Kat to a Kate.' The modern editors, a wild cat.'

18 The story of Griselda, so beautifully related by Chaucer, was taken by him from Boccaccio. It is thought to be older than the time of the Florentine, as it is to be found among the old fubliaux.

Gre. Hark, Petruchio! she says she'll see thee hang'd first.

Tra. Is this your speeding? nay, then, good night our part!

Pet. Be patient, gentlemen; I choose her for myself;

If she and I be pleas'd, what's that to you?
'Tis bargain'd 'twixt us twain, being alone,
That she shall still be curst in company.
I tell you, 'tis incredible to believe

How much she loves me: O, the kindest Kate!-
She hung about my neck; and kiss on kiss
She vied 19 so fast, protesting oath on oath,
That in a twink she won me to her love.
O, you are novices! 'tis a world to see 20,
How tame, when men and women are alone,
A meacock 21 wretch can make the curstest shrew.-
Give me thy hand, Kate: I will unto Venice,
To buy apparel 'gainst the wedding-day:-
Provide the feast, father, and bid the guests;
I will be sure, my Katharine shall be fine.

Bap. I know not what to say: but give me your hands;

God send you joy, Petruchio! 'tis a match.

19 So in the old play :

'Redoubling kiss on kiss upon my cheeks.'

To vie was a term in the old vocabulary of gaming, for to wager the goodness of one hand against another. There was also to revie and other variations. Mr. Gifford has clearly explained the terms in a note on Every Man in his Humour, Act iv. Sc. 1. Petruchio here appears to mean that Katherine played as for a wager with her kisses, vieing or staking kiss on kiss with him.

20 This phrase, which frequently occurs in old writers, is equivalent to, it is a wonder, or a matter of admiration to see.

21 A tame dastardly creature, particularly an overmild husband. A mecocke or pezzant, that hath his head under his wives girdle, or that lets his wife be his maister.'-Junius's Nomenclator, by Fleming, 1585, p. 532.