Bap. What then? Bap. When will he be here? Bion. When he stands where I am, and sees you there. 15 Bion. Who, that Petruchio came? Bion. No, sir; I say, his horse comes with Tra. But, say, what to thine old news? Bion. Why, Petruchio is coming, inanew hat, and 20 an old jerkin; a pair of old breeches, thrice turn'd;| a pair of boots that had been candle-cases, one buckled, another lac'd; an old rusty sword ta'en out of the town armory, with a broken hilt, and chapeless, with two broken points: His horse hip'd 25 with an old mothy saddle, the stirrups of no kindred: besides, possessed with the glanders, and like to mose in the chine; troubled with the lampass, infected with the fashions', full of windgalls, sped with spavins, raied with the yellows, past cure of 30 the fives', stark spoiled with the staggers, begnawn with the bots; sway'd in the back, and shouldershotten; near legg'd' before, and with a halfcheck'd bit, and a headstall of sheep's leather; which bring restrain'd to keep him from stumb-35 ling, hath been often burst, and now repair'd with knots: one girt six times pierc'd, and a woman's crupper of velure, which hath two letters for her name, fairly set down in studs, and here and there pieced with packthread, Bap. Who comes with him? Bap. Why, that's all one. Bion. Nay, by saint Jamy, I hold you a penny. many. Enter Petruchio and Grumio. Pet. Come, where be these gallants? who is at Bap. You are welcome, sir. Pet. Were it better, I should rush in thus, [day: Bap. Why, sir, you know, this is your wedding- Tra. And tell us, what occasion of import Pet. Tedious it were to tell, and harsh to hear; robes; 40 Go to my chamber, put on cloaths of mine. Bion. Oh, sir, his lacquey, for all the world caparison'd like the horse; with a linen stock' on one leg, and a kersey boot hose on the other, garter'd with a red and blue list; an old hat, and 45 The humour of forty fancies' prick'd in't for a feather: a monster, a very monster in apparel; and not like a christian foot-boy, or a gentleman's lacquey. To me she's marry'd, not unto my cloaths: Tra. 'Tis some odd humour pricks him to this 50 When I should bid good-morrow to my bride, fashion; Yet oftentimes he goes but mean apparell❜d. Bap. I am glad he is come, howsoever he comes. Bap. Didst thou not say, he comes? And seal the title with a lovely kiss? [Exe. Pet. Gru. and Bion. Tra. He hath some meaning in his mad attire: We will persuade him, be it possible, [55]To put on better ere he go to church. 4 i. e. velvet. i. e. stocking, 3 Meaning, 1 That is, the farcy. 2 A distemper in horses, little differing from the strangles. This was some ballad or drollery of that he cuts, or interferes. that time, which the poet here ridicules, by making Petruchio prick it up in his foot-boy's old hat for a feather. In Shakspeare's time, the kingdom was over-run with these doggrel compositions; and he seems to have bore them a very particular grudge. He frequently ridicules both them and their makers with excellent humour. In Aiuch ado about Nothing, he makes Benedick say, Prove that ? i, e. to deviate ever I lose more blood with love than I get again with drinking, prick out my eyes with a balladmaker's pen; as the bluntness of it would make the execution extremely painful. Вар. from my promise. Bap. I'll after him, and see the event of this. Tra. But, sir, our love concerneth us to add It skills not much; we'll fit him to our turn,- Luc. Were it not that my fellow school-master Tra. That by degrees we mean to look into, Signior Gremio! came you from the church? Gre. As willingly as e'er I came from school. home? 5 [10] Such a mad marriage never was before: [plays. Pet. Gentlemen and friends, I thank you for your Bap. Is't po sible, you will away to-night? 20 25 30 35 Gre.A bridegroom,say yon? 'tis a groom, indeed, Tra. What said. the wench, when he rose up Gre. Trembled and shook; for why, he stamp'd, 45 A health, quoth he; as if he had been aboard, Gre. Let me intreat you. Pet. It cannot be. Kath. Let me intreat you. Pet. I am content. Kath. Are you content to stay? Pet. I am content you shall intreat me stay; But yet not stay, intreat me how you can. Kath. Now, if you love me, stay. Pet. Grumio, my horses. [the horses". Gru. Ay, sir, they be ready; the oats have eaten Kath. Nay, then, Do what thou canst, I will not go to-day; Gre. Ay, marry, sir: now it begins to work. [mand:- My horse, my ox, my ass, my any thing; The fashion of introducing a bowl of wine into the church at a wedding to be drank by the bride and bridegroom and persons present, was very anciently a constant ceremony; and, as appears from this passage, not abolished in our author's age. Meaning, that they had eaten more oats than they were worth. Draw Bian. That, being mad herself, she's madly mated. For to supply the places at the table, You know, there wants no junkets at the feast;— Tra. Shall sweet Bianca practise how to bride it? SCENE I. Petruchio's Country-house. ACTIV. Gru. FYE, fye, on all tired jades! on all mad 1201 masters! and all foul ways! Was 25 ever man so beaten? was ever man so ray'd'? was ever man so weary? I am sent before to make a fire, and they are coming after to warm them. Now, were not I a little pot, and soon hot2, my very lips might freeze to my teeth, my tongue to 30 the roof of my mouth, my heart in my belly, ere I should come by a fire to thaw me:-But, I, with blowing the fire, shall warm myself; for, consi-| dering the weather, a taller man than I will take cold. Holla, hoa! Curtis ! Enter Curtis. Curt. Who is that, calls so coldly? Gru. A cold world, Curtis, in every office but thine; and, therefore, fire: Do thy duty, and have thy duty; for my master and mistress are almost frozen to death. Curt. There's fire ready: And therefore, good Grumio, the news? Gru. Why, Jack boy! ho boy! and as much news as thou wilt. Curt. Come, you are so full of conycatching:Gru. Why therefore, fire; for I have caught extremecold. Where's the cook? is supper ready, the house trimm'd, rushes strew'd, cobwebs swept; the serving-men in their new fustian, their white stockings, and every officer his wedding garment on? be the jacks fair within, the Jills fair 35 without, the carpets laid, and every thing in order? Gru. A piece of ice: if thou doubt it, thou may'st slide from my shoulder to my heel, with no greater a run but my head and my neck. A fire, 40 good Curtis. Curt. Is my master and his wife coming, Grumio? Gru. Oh, ay, Curtis, ay: and therefore fire, fire; cast on no water. Curt. Is she so hot a shrew as she's reported? Gru. She was, good Curtis, before this frost ;| but, thou know'st, winter tames man, woman, and beast; for it hath tam'd my old master, and my new mistress, and myself, fellow Curtis. Curt. Away, you three-inch' fool! I am no beast. 45 Curt. All ready; And therefore, I pray thee, news? Gru. First know, my horse is tired; my master and mistress fallen out. Curt. How? Gru. Out of their saddles into the dirt; And thereby hangs a tale. Curt. Let's ha't, good Grumio. Gru. Lend thine ear. Curt. Here. Gru. There. [Strikes him. Curt. This is to feel a tale, not to hear a tale. Gru. And therefore 'tis call'd, a sensible tale: 50 and this cuff was but to knock at your ear, and beseech listning, Now I begin: Imprimis, we came down a foul hill, my master riding behind ny mistress : Gru. Am I but three inches? Why, thy horn is a foot; and so long am I, at the least. But wilt thou make a fire, or shall I complain on thee 55 to our mistress, whose hand (she being now at hand) thou shalt soon feel, to thy cold comfort, for being slow in thy hot office? Curt. I pr'ythee, good Grumio, tell me, How goes the world? Curt. Both on one horse? Gru. Tell thou the tale;-But hadst thou not cross'd me, thou should'st have heard how the horse fell, and she under her horse; thou should'st |60|have heard, in how miry a place: how she was 3 i. e. with a skull three inches thick; a The meaning is, that he had made Curtis a cuckold. i. e. are the drinking-vessels clean, and the maid-servants bemoil'd; 'That is, made dirty. A proverbial expression. phrase taken from the thicker sort of planks. This is a fragment of some old ballad. dressed? bemoil'd'; how he left her with the horse upon her; how he beat me because her horse stumbled;} how she waded through the dirt to pluck him off me; how he swore; how she pray'd-that never pray'd before; how I cry'd; how the horses ran 5 away; how her bridle was burst; how I lost my crupper;-with many things of worthy memory; which now shall die in oblivion, and thou return unexperienc'd to thy grave. Curt. By this reckoning, he is more shrew than 10 she. Gru. Ay; and that thou and the proudest of you all shall find, when he comes home. But what talk I of this?-call forth Nathaniel, Joseph, Nicholas, Philip, Walter, Sugarsop, and the rest: 15 let their heads be sleekly comb'd, their blue coats brush'd, and their garters of an indifferent knit': let them curtsy with their left legs; and not presume to touch a hair of my master's horse-tail, 'till they kiss their hands. Are they all ready? Curt. They are. Gru. Call them forth. Gru. Nathaniel's coat, sir, was not fully made, The rest were ragged, old, and beggarly; Re-enter Servants with Supper. merry. Off with my boots, you rogues, you villains; When? 20 Out, you rogue! you pluck my foot awry: 25 Where's my spanielTroilus-Sirrah,get you hence, Where are my slippers? Shall I have some water? 30 Come, Kate, and wash, and welcome heartily:You whoreson villain! will you let it fall? Kath. Patience, I pray you; 'twas a fault unwilling. Pet. A whoreson, beetleheaded, flap-ear'd knave! 35 Come, Kate, sit down; I know you have a stomach. Gru. Welcome, you ;-how now, you ;-what, you;-fellow, you;-and thus much for greeting. Now, my spruce companions, is all ready, and all 40 things neat? Nath. All things are ready: How near is our master? Gru. E'en at hand, alighted by this; and therefore be not,Cock's passion, silence!I hear 45 my master. Enter Petruchio and Katharine. Pet. Where be these knaves? What, no man To hold my stirrup, nor to take my horse! All Serv. Here, here, sir; here, sir, Pet. Here, sir! here, sir! here sir here sir! Gru. Here, sir; as foolish as I was before. Did not I bid thee meet me in the park, 50 Pet. 'Tis burnt; and so is all the meat: [Throws the meat, &c. about the stage. 55 And better t'were that both of us did fast,- [Exeunt. 1i. e. be-draggled, be-mired. Meaning, that their garters should be fellows; indifferent, or not different, one from the other. A link, is a torch of pitch. That is, sweet, sweet. This is a frag ment of some ancient ballad. Enter Act 4. Scene 2.] And rails, and swears, and rates; that she, poor [Exeunt. Pet. Thus have I politicly begun my reign, That all is done in reverent care of her; He that knows better how to tame a shrew, SCENE II. Before Baptista's House. Enter Tranio and Hortensio. [Bianca I tell thee, Licio, this is wonderful. Hor. Mistake no more; I am not Licio, Tra. Signior Hortensio, I have often heard 10 And since mine eyes are witness to her lightness, Tra. And here I take the like unfeigned oath,→ Never to marry her, though she would intreat : 20 Fye on her! see, how beastly she doth court him! Hor. 'Would all the world but he, had quite forsworn! For me, that I may surely keep mine oath, 25 Ere three days pass; which hath as long lov'd me, Kindness in women, not their beauteous looks, 35 [Lucentio and Bianca come forward. Bian. Tranio, you jest; but have you both for[sworn me? Tra. Mistress, we have. Luc. Then we are rid of Licio. Tra. I'faith, he'll have a lusty widow now, 40 That shall be woo'd and wedded in a day. 45 Tra. Is't possible, friend Licio, that mistress me that. Luc. I read that I profess, the art to love. I pray, ger, A haggard is a wild hawk; to man a hawk is to Tra. Ay, and he'll tame her. Tra. 'Faith, he is gone unto the taming school. a place? Tra. Ay, mistress, and Petruchio is the master; Bion. Oh master, master, I have watch'd so long Tra. What is he, Biondello? Bion. Master, a mercatantè3, or a pedant, Tra. If he be credulous, and trust my tale, Meaning, perhaps, an ancient messen i, e. a merchant. And |