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Pet. Roundly replied.

Kath.

Mistress, how mean you that? Wid. Thus I conceive by him. Pet. Conceives by me! How likes Hortensio that?

Hor. My widow says, thus she conceives her tale. Pet. Very well mended: Kiss him for that, good widow.

Kath. He that is giddy, thinks the world turns round:

I pray you, tell me what you meant by that.

Wid. Your husband, being troubled with a shrew,
Measures my husband's sorrow by his woe:
And now you know my meaning.

Kath. A very mean meaning.
Wid.

Right, I mean you.

Kath. And I am mean, indeed, respecting you. Pet. To her, Kate!

Hor. To her, widow !

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Sir, my mistress sends you word That she is busy, and she cannot come. Pet. How! she is busy, and she cannot come ! Is that an answer? Gre.

Ay, and a kind one too : Pray God, sir, your wife send you not a worse. Pet. I hope, better.

Hor. Sirrah, Biondello, go, and entreat my wife To come to me forthwith. Pet.

[Erit BIONDELLO. O, ho! entreat her !

Pet. A hundred marks, my Kate does put her Nay, then she must needs come.

down.

Hor. That's my office.
Pet. Spoke like an officer :-

Ha' to thee, lad.
[Drinks to HORTENSIO.
Bap. How likes Gremio these quick-witted folks?
Gre. Believe me, sir, they butt together well.
Bian. Head, and butt? an hasty witted body
Would say your head and butt were head and horn.
Vin. Ay, mistress bride, hath that awaken'd you?
Bian. Ay, but not frighted me; therefore I'll
sleep again.

Pet. Nay, that you shall not; since you have begun,

Have at you for a bitter jest or two.

Bian. Am I your bird? I mean to shift my bush, And then pursue me as you draw your bow: — You are welcome all.

[Exeunt BIANCA, KATHARINA, and Widow. Pet. She hath prevented me. — Here, signior Tranio,

This bird you aim'd at, though you hit her not;
Therefore, a health to all that shot and miss'd.

Tra. O, sir, Lucentio slipp'd me like his greyhound,

Which runs himself, and catches for his master,

Pet. A good swift simile, but something currish. Tra. 'Tis well, sir, that you hunted for yourself; 'Tis thought, your deer does hold you at a bay. Bap. O ho, Petruchio, Tranio hits you now. Luc. I thank thee for that gird, good Tranio. Hor. Confess, confess, hath he not hit you here? Pet. 'A has a little gall'd me, I confess ; And, as the jest did glance away from me, 'Tis ten to cne it maim'd you two outright. Bap. Now, in good sadness, son Petruchio, I think thou hast the veriest shrew of all. Pet. Well, I say

surance,

-no: and therefore, for as

Let's each one send unto his wife;

And he, whose wife is most obedient
To come at first when he doth send for her,
Shall win the wager which we will propose.

Hor. Content:

Luc.

Pet. Twenty crowns!

What is the wager?

Twenty crowns.

I'll venture so much on my hawk, or hound,

But twenty times so much upon my wife.
Luc. A hundred then.

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come,

Swinge me them soun fly forth unto their husbands: Away, I say, and bring them hither straight.

[Exit KATHARINA. Luc. Here is a wonder, if you talk of a wonder. Hor. And so it is, I wonder what it bodes. Pet. Marry, peace it bodes, and love, and quiet life,

An awful rule, and right supremacy ;
And, to be short, what not, that's sweet and happy.
Bap. Now fair befal thee, good Petruchio!
The wager thou hast won; and I will add
Unto their losses twenty thousand crowns!
Another dowry to another daughter,
For she is chang'd, as she had never been.

Pet. Nay, I will win my wager better yet;
And show more sign of her obedience,
Her new-built virtue and obedience.

Re-enter KATHARINA, with BIANCA and Widow.

See, where she comes; and brings your froward

wives

As prisoners to her womanly persuasion. —

T

Katharine, that cap of yours becomes you not;
Off with that bauble, throw it under foot.

[KATHARINA pulls off her cap, and throws it
down.

Wid. Lord, let me never have a cause to sigh, Till I be brought to such a silly pass!

Bian. Fye! what a foolish duty call you this? Luc. I would, your duty were as foolish too : The wisdom of your duty, fair Bianca,

Hath cost me an hundred crowns since suppertime.

Bian. The more fool you, for laying on my duty. Pet. Katharine, I charge thee, tell these headstrong women,

What duty they do owe their lords and husbands. Wid. Come, come, you're mocking; we will

have no telling.

Pet. Come on, I say; and first begin with her. Wid. She shall not.

Pet. I say, she shall; — and first begin with her. Kath. Fye, fye! unknit that threat'ning unkind brow;

And dart not scornful glances from those eyes,
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor :
It blots thy beauty, as frosts bite the meads;
Confounds thy fame, as whirlwinds shake fair buds;
And in no sense is meet or amiable.

A woman mov'd, is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
And, while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip, or touch one drop of it.
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance: commits his body
To painful labour, both by sea and land;
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
While thou liest warm at home, secure and safe;
And craves no other tribute at thy hands,
But love, fair looks, and true obedience;
Too little payment for so great a debt.
Such duty as the subject owes the prince,
Even such a woman oweth to her husband:

And when she's froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And not obedient to his honest wil!,
What is she, but a foul contending rebel,
And graceless traitor to her loving lord?
I am asham'd, that women are so simple
To offer war, where they should kneel for peace;
Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway,
When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.
Why are our bodies soft, and weak, and smooth,
Unapt to toil, and trouble in the world;
But that our soft conditions, and our hearts,
Should well agree with our external parts?
Come, come, you froward and unable worms!
My mind hath been as big as one of yours,
My heart as great; my reason, haply, more,
To bandy word for word, and frown for frown;
But now, I see our lances are but straws;
Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare,
That seeming to be most, which we least are.
Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot;
And place your hands below your husband's foot:
In token of which duty, if he please,
My hand is ready, may it do him ease.
Pet. Why, there's a wench!
kiss me, Kate.

Come on, and

Luc. Well, go thy ways, old lad: for thou shalt ha't.

Vin. 'Tis a good hearing, when children are toward.

Luc. But a harsh hearing, when women are fro

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SCENE I.

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ACT I.

Sicilia. An Antechamber in Leontes'
Palace.

Enter CAMILLO and ARCHIDAMUS. Arch. If you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on the like occasion whereon my services are now on foot, you shall see, as I have said, great difference betwixt our Bohemia, and your Sicilia.

Cam. I think, this coming summer, the king of Sicilia means to pay Bohemia the visitation which he justly owes him.

Arch. Wherein our entertainment shall shame us, we will be justified in our loves: for, indeed, Cam. 'Beseech you,

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Arch. Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my knowledge: we cannot with such magnificence in so rare- I know not what to say. We will give you sleepy drinks; that your senses, unintelligent of our insufficience, may, though they cannot praise us, as little accuse us.

Cam. You pay a great deal too dear, for what's given freely.

Arch. Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs me, and as mine honesty puts it to utter

ance.

Cam. Sicilia cannot show himself over-kind to 275

Bohemia. They were trained together in their childhoods; and there rooted betwixt them then such an affection, which cannot choose but branch now Since their more mature dignities, and royal necessities, made separation of their society, their encounters, though not personal, have been royally attornied, with interchange of gifts, letters, loving embassies; that they have seemed to be together, though absent; shook hands, as over a vast; and embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds. The heavens continue their loves!

Arch. I think, there is not in the world either malice, or matter, to alter it. You have an unspeakable comfort of your young prince Mamillius; it is a gentleman of the greatest promise, that ever came into my note..

Cam. I very well agree with you in the hopes of him: It is a gallant child; one that, indeed, physicks the subject, makes old hearts fresh; they, that went on crutches ere he was born, desire yet their life, to see him a man.

Arch. Would they else be content to die?

Cam. Yes; if there were no other excuse why they should desire to live.

Arch. If the king had no son, they would desire to live on crutches till he had one. [Exeunt. T 2

SCENE II.

The same.

A Room of State in the
Palace.

Enter LEONTES, POLIXENES, HERMIONE, MAMILLIUS,
CAMILLO, and Attendants.

Pol. Nine changes of the wat'ry star have been
The shepherd's note, since we have left our throne
Without a burden: time as long again

Would be fill'd up, my brother, with our thanks;
And yet we should,fo r perpetuity,

Go hence in debt: And therefore, like a cipher,
Yet standing in rich place, I multiply,
With one we-thank-you, many thousands more
That go before it.

Stay your thanks awhile;

Leon.
And pay them when you part.
Pol.

Sir, that's to-morrow.
I am question'd by my fears, of what may chance,
Or breed upon our absence: That may blow
No sneaping winds at home, to make us say,
This is put forth too truly! Besides, I have stay'd
To tire your royalty.

Leon.

We are tougher, brother,

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I'll no gain-saying.

Pol.
Press me not, 'beseech you, so;
There is no tongue that moves, none, none i̇' the
world,

So soon as yours, could win me: so it should now,
Were there necessity in your request, although
'Twere needful I denied it. My affairs

Do even drag me homeward: which to hinder
Were, in your love, a whip to me; my stay,
To you a charge, and trouble: to save both,
Farewell, our brother.

Leon. Tongue-tied, our queen? speak you.
Her. I had thought, sir, to have held my peace,
until

You had drawn oaths from him, not to stay. You, sir,
Charge him too coldly: Tell him, you are sure,
All in Bohemia's well: this satisfaction
The by-gone day proclaim'd; say this to him,
He's beat from his best ward.

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The borrow of a week. When at Bohemia
You take my lord, I'll give him my commission,
To let him there a month, behind the gest
Prefix'd for his parting: yet, good deed, Leontes,
I love thee not a jar o' the clock behind
What lady she her lord. . You'll stay?

Pol.

Her. Nay, but you will?

Pol.

Her. Verily!

No, madam.

I may not verily.

You put me off with imber vows: But I,

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Her. Was not my lord the verier wag o' the two?
Pol. We were as twinn'd lambs, that did frisk i'
the sun,

And bleat the one at the other: What we chang'd
Was innocence for innocence; we knew not
The doctrine of ill-doing, no, nor dream'd
That any did: Had we pursued that life,
And our weak spirits ne'er been higher rear'd
With stronger blood, we should have answer'd

heaven

Boldly, Not guilty; the imposition clear'd,
Hereditary ours.

Her.
By this we gather,
You have tripp'd since.
Pol.

O my most sacred lady,
Temptations have since then been born to us: for
In those unfledg'd days was my wife a girl;
Your precious self had then not cross'd the eyes
Of my young play-fellow.

Her.

Grace to boot!

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At my request, he would not.

Hermione, my dearest, thou never spok'st
To better purpose.

Her.

Leon.

Never?

Never, but once.

Her. What? have I twice said well? when was't

before?

I pr'ythee, tell me : Cram us with praise, and make

us

As fat as tame things: One good deed, dying tongue-
less,

Slaughters a thousand, waiting upon that.
Our praises are our wages: You may ride us,
With one soft kiss, a thousand furlongs, ere
With spur we heat an acre. But to the goal;
My last good was, to entreat his stay;
What was my first? it has an elder sister,
Or I mistake you: O, would her name were Grace!
But once before I spoke to the purpose: When?

Though you would seek to unsphere the stars with Nay, let me hav't; I long.

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Leon.

[Giving her hand to POLIXENES. Too hot, too hot: [Aside. To mingle friendship far, is mingling bloods. I have tremor cordis on me :- my heart dances; But not for joy, not joy. This entertainment May a free face put on; derive a liberty From heartiness, from bounty, fertile bosom, And well become the agent: it may, I grant: But to be paddling palms, and pinching fingers, As now they are; and making practis'd smiles, As in a looking glass; and then to sigh, as 'twere The mort o' the deer; O, that is entertainment My bosom likes not, nor my brows. Art thou my boy?

Mam.

-

Ay, my good lord.

Mamillius,

I'fecks?

Leon. Why, that's my bawcock. What, hast smutch'd thy nose?

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Mam.

Yes, if you will, my lord. Leon. Thou want'st a rough pash, and the shoots that I have, To be full like me: - yet, they say we are Almost as like as eggs; women say so, That will say any thing: But were they false As o'er-died blacks, as wind, as waters; false As dice are to be wish'd, by one that fixes No bourn 'twixt his and mine; yet were it true To say this boy were like me. — Come, sir page, Look on me with your welkin eye: Sweet villain ! Most dear'st! my collop!-Can thy dam?-may't be? Affection! thy intention stabs the centre : Thou dost make possible, things not so held, Communicat'st with dreams; (How can this

be?)

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What cheer? how is't with you, best brother?
Her.

As if you held a brow of much distraction :
Are you mov'd, my lord?
Leon.
No, in good earnest,
How sometimes nature will betray its folly,
Its tenderness, and make itself a pastime
To harder bosoms! Looking on the lines
Of my boy's face, methoughts, I did recoil
Twenty-three years; and saw myself unbreech'd,
In my green velvet coat; my dagger muzzled,
Lest it should bite its master, and so prove,

As ornaments oft do, too dangerous.
How like, methought, I then was to this kernel,
This quash, this gentleman:
:- - Mine honest friend,

Will you take eggs for money?

Mam. No, my lord, I'll fight.

Leon. You will? why, happy man be his dole!
My brother,

Are you so fond of your young prince, as we
Do seem to be of ours?

Pol.
If at home, sir,
He's all my exercise, my mirth, my matter:
Now my sworn friend, and then mine enemy;
My parasite, my soldier, statesman, all :
He makes a July's day short as December;
And, with his varying childness, cures in me
Thoughts that would thick my blood.

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If you would seek us, We are your's i'the garden: Shall's attend you there? Leon. To your own bents dispose you: you'll be

found,

Be you beneath the sky: - I am angling now,
Though you perceive me not how I give line.
Go to, go to!

[Aside. Observing POLIXENES and HERMIONE. How she holds up the neb, the bill to him! And arms her with the boldness of a wife To her allowing husband! Gone already; Inch-thick, knee-deep, o'er head and ears a fork’d one. [Exeunt POLIXENES, HERMIONE, and Attendants.

Go, play, boy, play ; — - thy mother plays, and I
Play too; but so disgrac'd a part, whose issue
Will hiss me to my grave; contempt and clamour
Will be my knell. - Go, play, boy, play; - There

have been,

Or I am much deceiv'd, cuckolds ere now;
And many a man there is, even at this present,
Now, while I speak this, holds his wife by the arm,
That little thinks she has been sluic'd in his absence,
And his pond fish'd by his next neighbour, by
Sir Smile, his neighbour: nay, there's comfort in't.
Whiles other men have gates; and those gates
open'd,

As mine, against their will: Should all despair,
That have revolted wives, the tenth of mankind
Would hang themselves. Physick for't there is

none;

It is a bawdy planet, that will strike

Where 'tis predominant; and 'tis powerful, think it,
From east, west, north, and south: Be it concluded,
No barricado for a belly; know it;
It will let in and out the enemy,

With bag and baggage: many a thousand of us
Have the disease, and feel't not. How now, boy?
Mam. I am like you, they say.
Leon.

Why, that's some comfort.

What! Camillo there?

Cam. Ay, my good lord.

--

Leon. Go play, Mamillius; thou'rt an honest

man.

[Exit MAMILLIUS. Camillo, this great sir will yet stay longer. Cam. You had much ado to make his anchor hold: When you cast out, it still came home.

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