Although, I think, 't was in another sense,)
I am content to be Lucentio,

Because so well I love Lucentio.

Luc. Tranio, be so, because Lucentio loves : And let me be a slave, t' achieve that maid Whose sudden sight hath thrall'd my wounded eye.

Enter BIONDELLO.

Here comes the rogue.-Sirrah, where have you been? Bion. Where have I been? Nay, how now, where are you?

Master, has my fellow Tranio stol'n your clothes?
Or you stol'n his? or both? pray, what's the news?
Luc. Sirrah, come hither; 't is no time to jest,
And therefore frame your manners to the time.
Your fellow Tranio here, to save my life,
Puts my apparel and my countenance on,
And I for my escape have put on his ;
For in a quarrel, since I came ashore,
I kill'd a man, and fear I was descried.
Wait you on him, I charge you, as becomes,
While I make way from hence to save my life;
You understand me?

Bion.

I, sir? ne'er a whit.
Luc. And not a jot of Tranio in your mouth;
Tranio is chang'd into Lucentio.

Bion. The better for him. 'Would I were so too!
Tra. So would I, faith, boy, to have the next wish

after,

That Lucentio indeed had Baptista's youngest daughter. But, sirrah, not for my sake, but your master's, I advise You use your manners discreetly in all kind of com

panies:

When I am alone, why, then I am Tranio;

But in all places else, your master Lucentio.
Luc. Tranio, let 's go:-

One thing more rests, that thyself execute;

To make one among these wooers: If thou ask me

why,

Sufficeth, my reasons are both good and weighty.

(The Presenters above speak.)

[Exeunt.

A good matter, surely.

1 Serv. My lord, you nod; you do not mind the play. Sly. Yes, by saint Anne, do I.

Comes there any more of it?

Page. My lord, 't is but begun.

Sly. 'Tis a very excellent piece of work, madam lady.

'Would 't were done!

[They sit and mark.

SCENE II.-The same.

Before Hortensio's House.

Enter PETRUCIO 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, sir, 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, sirrab, 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 the matter?-My old

friend Grumio! and my good friend Petrucio!-How do you all at Verona ?

Pet. Signior 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 Petrucio.

Rise, Grumio, rise; we will compound this quarrel.

Gru. Nay, 't is no matter, what he 'leges a in Latin. -If 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 knock'd 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?-O 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. Petrucio, 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,
Signior Hortensio, thus it stands with me:-

Antonio, my father, is deceas'd;

And I have thrust myself into this maze,

a 'Leges-alleges.

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. Petrucio, shall I then come roundly to thee,
And wish thee to a shrew'd ill-favour'd 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. Signior Hortensio, 'twixt such friends as we
Few words suffice: and, therefore, if thou know
One rich enough to be Petrucio's wife,
(As wealth is burthen 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. Petrucio, since we are stepp'd thus far in, I will continue that I broach'd in jest.

I can, Petrucio, 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 intolerable curst,

And shrewd, and froward: so beyond all measure,

a

Aglet-baby. Aglet is aiguillette-a point. The baby was a small carving on the point which carried the lace.

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 't is enough;
For I will board her, though she chide as loud
As thunder, when the clouds in autumn crack.
Hor. Her father is Baptista Minola,

An affable and courteous gentleman:
Her name is Katharina Minola,

Renown'd 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 humour 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 cata you know him not, sir.

Hor. Tarry, Petrucio, 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 rehears'd,)
That ever Katharina will be woo'd,
Therefore this order hath Baptista ta'en,

a Grumio was not a person to be very correct in his similes.