ACT IV.

SCENE I. PETruchio's country house.

Enter GRUMIO.

Gru. Fie, fie on all tired jades, on all mad masters, and all foul ways! Was ever man so beaten? was ever man so rayed? 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 hot, my very lips might freeze to my teeth, my tongue to 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, considering the weather, a taller man than I will take cold. Holla, ho! Curtis.

Enter CURTIS.

Curt. Who is it that calls so coldly ?

Gru. A piece of ice: if thou doubt it, thou mayst slide from my shoulder to my heel with no greater a run but my head and my neck. A fire, 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 :

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but, thou knowest, winter tames man, woman and beast; for it hath tamed my old master and my new mistress and myself, fellow Curtis.

Curt. Away, you three-inch fool! I am no beast.

Gru. Am I but three inches? why, thy horn is a foot; and so long am I at the least. But 30 wilt thou make a fire, or shall I complain on thee 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 prithee, good Grumio, tell me, how goes the world?

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 will thaw.

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Curt. Come, you are so full of cony-catching! Gru. Why, therefore fire; for I have caught extreme cold. Where's the cook? is supper ready, the house trimmed, rushes strewed, cobwebs swept; the serving-men in their new fustian, their white stockings, and every officer his 50 wedding-garment on? Be the jacks fair within, the jills fair without, the carpets laid, and every thing in order?

Curt. All ready; and therefore, I pray thee,

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.

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Curt. Here.

Gru. There.

[Strikes him.

Curt. This is to feel a tale, not to hear a tale.

Gru. And therefore 'tis called a sensible tale:

and this cuff was but to knock at your ear, and beseech listening. Now I begin: Imprimis, we came down a foul hill, my master riding behind my mistress,

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Curt. Both of one horse?
Gru. What's that to thee?

Curt. Why, a horse.

Gru. Tell thou the tale: but hadst thou not crossed me, thou shouldst have heard how her horse fell and she under her horse; thou shouldst have heard in how miry a place, how she was bemoiled, 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 80 me, how he swore, how she prayed, that never prayed before, how I cried, how the horses ran 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 unexperienced to thy grave.

Curt. By this reckoning he is more shrew than she.

Gru. Ay; and that thou and the proudest of you all shall find when he comes home. But what 90 71. of, on.

talk I of this? Call forth Nathaniel, Joseph, Nicholas, Philip, Walter, Sugarsop and the rest: let their heads be sleekly combed, their blue coats brushed 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 horsetail till they kiss their hands. Are they all ready? Curt. They are.

Gru. Call them forth.

Curt. Do you hear, ho? you must meet my 100 master to countenance my mistress.

Gru. Why, she hath a face of her own.

Curt. Who knows not that?

Gru. Thou, it seems, that calls for company to countenance her.

Curt. I call them forth to credit her.

Gru. Why, she comes to borrow nothing of them.

Enter four or five Serving-men.

Nath. Welcome home, Grumio!

Phil. How now, Grumio!

Jos. What, Grumio!

Nich. Fellow Grumio!

Nath. How now, old lad?

Gru. Welcome, you ;-how now, you;-what, you;-fellow, you; and thus much for greeting. Now, my spruce companions, is all ready, and all things neat ?

Nath. All things is ready. How near is our

master?

Gru. E'en at hand,

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alighted by this; and 120 therefore be not-Cock's passion, silence! I hear my master.

Enter PETRUCHIO and KATHARINA.

Pet. Where be these knaves? What, no man
at door

To hold my stirrup nor to take my horse!
Where is Nathaniel, Gregory, Philip ?

All Serv. Here, here, sir; here, sir.

Pet. Here, sir! here, sir! here, sir! here, sir!

You logger-headed and unpolish'd grooms!
What, no attendance? no regard? no duty?
Where is the foolish knave I sent before?

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Gru. Here, sir; as foolish as I was before.
Pet. You peasant swain! you whoreson malt-

horse drudge!

Did I not bid thee meet me in the park,

And bring along these rascal knaves with thee?

Gru. Nathaniel's coat, sir, was not fully made,
And Gabriel's pumps were all unpink'd i' the heel;
There was no link to colour Peter's hat,

And Walter's dagger was not come from sheathing :
There were none fine but Adam, Ralph, and

Gregory;

The rest were ragged, old, and beggarly;
Yet, as they are, here are they come to meet
you.

Pet. Go, rascals, go, and fetch my supper in.

[Exeunt Servants.

[Singing] Where is the life that late I led

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