Hor. 'Tis well and I have met a gentleman, Hath promis'd me to help me to another, A fine musician to inftruct our mistress So fhall I no whit be behind in duty To fair Bianca, fo belov'd of me. Gre. Belov'd of me, and that deeds fhall prove. Gru. And that his bags fhall prove.
my
[Afide.
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 curft Katharine
Yea, and to marry her, if her dowry please.
Gre. So faid, fo done, is well:-
Hortenfio, have you told him all her faults?
Pet. I know, fhe is an irksome brawling scold;
If that be all, mafters, I hear no harm.
Gre. No, fay'ft me fo, friend? What countryman ?
Pet. Born in Verona, old Antonio's fon :
My father dead, my fortune lives for me;
And I do hope good days, and long, to fee.
Gre. Oh, fir, 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 affifting you in all,
But will you woo this wild cat?
Pet. Will I live?
Gru. Will he woo her? ay, I'll hang her.
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, puff'd up with winds,
Rage like an angry boar, chafed with sweat?
Have I not heard great ordinance 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 chefnut in a farmer's fire?
Tush, tufh! fear boys with bugs.
Gru. For he fears none.
Gre. Hortenfio, hark!
This gentleman is happily arriv'd,
My mind prefumes, for his own good, and ours.
Hor. I promis'd, we would be contributors,
And bear his charge of wooing, whatfoe'er.
Gre. And fo we will; provided, that he win her.
Gru. I would, I were as fure of a good dinner. [Afide.
To them Tranio bravely apparell'd, and Biondello.
Tra. Gentlemen, God fave you! If I may be bold, Tell me, I beseech you, which is the readiest way To the house of fignior Baptista Minola?
Gre. He that has the two fair daughters? is't he you mean?
Tra. Even he.
Gre. Hark you, fir; You mean not her to
Tra. Perhaps, him and her, fir; What have you to do?
Pet. Not her that chides, fir, at any hand, I pray.
Tra. I love no chiders, fir: Biondello, let's away.
Luc. Well begun, Tranio.
[Afide.
Hor. Sir, a word ere you go ;
Are you a fuitor to the maid you talk of, yea, or no?
Tra. An if I be, fir, is it any offence?
* fear boys with bugs.]-terrify boys with bug-bears. "For Warwick was a bug that fear'd us all." HENRY VI, Part 3, Act V, S. z. K. Edw. A& Gre.
Gre. No; if, without more words, you will get you
hence.
Tra. Why, fir, I pray, are not the streets as free For me, as for you ?
Gre. But fo is not she.
Tra. For what reason, I beseech you?
Gre. For this reafon, if you'll know,-
That she's the choice love of fignior Gremio.
Hor. That fhe's the chofen of fignior Hortenfio.
Tra. Softly, my masters! if you be gentlemen,
Do me this right,-hear me with patience.
Baptifta is a noble gentleman,
To whom my father is not all unknown;
And, were his daughter fairer than she is,
She may more fuitors have, and me for one.
Fair Leda's daughter had a thousand wooers;
Then well one more may fair Bianca have:
And fo fhe fhall; Lucentio fhall 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. Hortenfio, to what end are all these words?
Hor. Sir, let me be fo bold as to ask you,
Did you yet ever see Baptifta's daughter?
Tra. No, fir; but hear I do, that he hath two:
The one as famous for a fcolding tongue,
As the other is for beauteous modefty.
Pet. Sir, fir, the firft'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, infooth ;The youngest daughter, whom you hearken for, Her father keeps from all access of fuitors;
Helen.
And will not promise her to any man,
Until the eldest fifter first be wed:
The younger then is free, and not before.
Tra. If it be fo, fir, that you are the man
Must stead us all, and me amongst the rest
An if you break the ice, and do this feat,—
Atchieve the elder, fet the younger free
;
For our accefs,-whose hap fhall be to have her,
Will not fo graceless be, to be ingrate.
Hor. Sir, you fay well, and well you do conceive:
And fince you do profefs to be a fuitor,
You muft, as we do, gratify this gentleman,
To whom we all rest generally beholden.
Tra. Sir, I fhall not be flack: in fign whereof,
Please ye we may " contrive this afternoon,
And quaff caroufes to our mistress' health;
And do as adverfaries do in law,-
Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.
Gre. O excellent motion! Fellows, let's begone.
Hor. The motion's good indeed, and be it so;—
Petruchio, I fhall be
your ben venuto.
ACT II. SCENE I.
Baptifta's House in Padua.
Enter Katharina and Bianca.
Bian. Good fifter, wrong me not, nor wrong, yourself, To make a bondmaid and a flave of me;
That I difdain: but for thefe other gawds,
contrive]-fpend it together in forming our fchemes-onvive, feast, banquet together.
Unbind my hands, I'll pull 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 fuitors, here I charge thee, tell
Whom thou lov'ft beft: fee thou diffemble not.
Bian. Believe me, fifter, of all the men alive,
I never yet beheld that special face
Which I could fancy more than any other.
Kath. Minion, thou ly'ft; Is't not Hortenfio?
Bian. If you affect him, fifter, here I fwear,
I'll plead for you myself, but you shall have him.
Kath. Oh then, belike, you fancy riches more;
You will have Gremio to keep you " fair.
Bian. Is it for him you do envy me fo?
Nay, then you jeft; and now I well perceive,
You have but jested with me all this while :
I pr'ythee, fifter Kate, untie my hands.
Kath. If that be jeft, then all the reft was fo.
[Strikes ber.
Enter Baptifta.
Bap. Why, how now, dame! whence grows this infolence?
Bianca, ftand afide ;-poor girl! fhe weeps:-
Go ply thy needle; meddle not with her.-
For fhame, thou hilding of a devilish spirit,
Why doft thou wrong her that did ne'er wrong thee?
When did the cross thee with a bitter word?
Kath. Her filence flouts me, and I'll be reveng'd.
[Flies after Bianca.
fair.]-in finery.
thou bilding of a devilish spirit,]-thou vileft of termagants, thou most outrageous vixen. P flouts]-infults.
Bap.
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