Fit for her turn; well read in poetry,
And other books,-good ones, I warrant ye.
Hor. "Tis well and I have met a gentleman
Hath promis'd 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 belov'd of me.

Gre. Belov'd of me, and that my deeds shall
Gru. And that his bags shall prove.

prove.

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?

Will I live?

Pet.
Gru. Will he woo her? ay, or 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,

to help ME to another,] Folios, one for "me:" corrected by Rowe. old ANTONIO's son:] The old copies read, "old Butonio's son."

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 hear2,

As will a chestnut in a farmer's fire?

Tush tush! fear boys with bugs3.

Gru.

Gre. Hortensio, hark.

This gentleman is happily arriv'd,

For he fears none.

My mind presumes, for his own good, and yours.
Hor. I promis'd 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.

Enter TRANIO, bravely apparelled; and BIONDELLO.
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 he you mean?

Tra. Even he, Biondello.

Gre. Hark you, sir: you mean not her to-4

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.

2 That gives not half so great a blow TO HEAR,] This, as the old reading, is to be preferred; and it is perfectly intelligible without altering " to hear” into “ to the ear," as Sir Thomas Hanmer, Malone, Steevens, &c., thought fit to do. 3 -FEAR boys with BUGS.] i. e. Frighten boys with bug-bears.

4 Hark you, sir: you mean not her to- -] In the old copies there is a dash after "to," as if Gremio were interrupted by Tranio, who appears to have anticipated that Gremio meant to conclude by the word woo.

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;
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;
And if you break the ice, and do this seek3,
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.

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 beholding.

Tra. Sir, I shall not be slack: in sign whereof,
Please ye we may contrive this afternoon',
And quaff carouses to our mistress' health;
And do as adversaries do in law,

Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.
Gru. Bion. O, excellent motion !

begone.

Fellows, let's

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

[Exeunt.

5 AND if you break the ice, and do this SEEK,] Rowe substituted feat for seek," but unnecessarily. Tranio refers of course to Petruchio's enterprise to "seek" and "achieve the elder." All the modern editors have here abandoned the ancient authorities. "And do this seek," is equivalent to, “and do this one seek."

6

generally BEHOLDING.] Such was the language of the time (see Vol. ii. p. 83, note 8, &c.), though modern editors have substituted beholden. Shakespeare always employs the active participle, and it was the universal practice of his contemporaries.

7 Please ye we may CONTRIVE this afternoon,] i. e. Spend the afternoon, or wear out the afternoon: from the Latin contero. The word is used in the same sense in the novel of Romeo and Juliet, in Painter's "Palace of Pleasure :" "Juliet, knowing the fury of her father, &c. retired for the day into her chamber, and contrived that whole night more in weeping than sleeping."

8 Petruchio, I shall be your ben cenuto.] The beginning of Act ii. is not marked in the old copies, although we meet with "Actus Primus," "Actus Tertia," "Actus Quartus," and "Actus Quintus." The first act probably ended here; but in the folios the divisions are so obviously wrong, that it has been necessary to vary from them.

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 goods',
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.

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

9 but for these other GOODS,] Theobald read gawds, and all the modern editors have followed him, but without any necessity for the change from the old reading.

1 - here I charge THEE, tell-] An obvious omission was here supplied by the editor of the second folio, who inserted "thee."