Coft me an hundred crowns fince fupper-time.
Bian. The more fool you for laying on my duty.
Pet. Catharine, I charge thee, tell these headstrong women, What duty they owe to their lords and husbands.
Wid. Come, come, you're mocking; we will have no telling.
Pet. Come on, I fay; and first begin with her.
Wid. She fhall not.
Pet. I fay, the fhall; and first begin with her.
Cath. Fie, fie! unknit that threat'ning unkind brow,
And dart not scornful glances from those eyes,
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governour.
It blots thy beauty, as frosts bite the meads;
Confounds thy fame, as whirlwinds shake fair buds,
And in no fenfe is meet, or amiable.
A woman mov'd is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-feeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
And while it is fo, none fo dry or thirsty
Will deign to fip, or touch a drop of it.
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy fovereign; one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance: commits his body
To painful labour, both by fea and land;
To watch the night in ftorms, the day in cold,
While thou lieft warm at home, fecure and fafe;
And craves no other tribute at thy hands,
But love, fair looks, and true obedience;
Too little payment for fo great a debt.
Such duty as the fubject owes the prince,
Even fuch a woman oweth to her husband:
And, when she's froward, peevish, fullen, four,
And not obedient to his honeft will,
What is the but a foul contending rebel,
And graceless traitor to her loving lord?
I am afham'd that women are fo fimple,
To offer war where they fhould kneel for peace;
Or feek for rule, fupremacy, and fway,
VOL. II.
Tt
When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.
Why are our bodies foft, 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're froward and unable worms;
My mind hath been as big as one of yours,
My heart as great; my reafon, haply, more,
To bandy word for word, and frown for frown:
But now, I fee, our launces are but ftraws;
Our strength is weak, our weakness past compare,
That seeming to be moft, which we indeed leaft are.*
Enter two Servants bearing Sly in his own apparel, and leave him on the ftage. Then enter a Tapfter.
Sly. [awaking.] Sim, give's some more wine -what! all the players gone? am not I a lord?
Tap. A lord, with a murrain! come, art thou drunk still? Sly. Who's this? tapfter! o, I have had the bravest dream that ever thou heard'ft in all thy life.
Tap. Yea, marry; but thou hadst beft get thee home, for your wife will course you for dreaming here all night.
Sly. Will be? I know how to tame a fhrew. I dream'd upon it all this night, and thou haft wak'd me out of the best dream that ever I had. But I'll to my wife, and tame her too, if she anger me.
indeed 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! come on, and kiss me, Kate.
Luc. Well, go thy ways, old lad, for thou fhalt ha't.
Vin. 'Tis a good hearing when children are toward.
Luc. But a harsh hearing when women are froward,
Pet. Come, Kate, we'll to bed;
We two are married, but you two are sped.
'Twas I won the wager, though you hit the white,
And, being a winner, god give you good night!
Hor. Now go thy ways, thou haft tam'd a curft fhrew.
Luc. 'Tis a wonder, by your leave, fhe will be tam'd fo.
[Exe. Petruchio and Cath.
[Exeunt.
VILLE DE LYON Biblioth. du Palais des Arts
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. Act. 2.Sc.3.
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