Faith, sirrah, an you 'll not knock, I'll ring it;
I'll try how you can sol, fa, and sing it.

[He wrings him by the ears. Gru. Help, masters, help! my master is mad. Pet. Now, knock when I bid you, sirrah

villain !

30

Enter HORTENSIO. Hor. How now! what's the matter? My old 20 friend Ġrumio! and my good friend Petruchio ! How do you all at Verona? Pet. Signior Hortensio, come you to part the

fray? •Con tutto il cuore, ben trovato,' may I

say. Hor. ‘Alla nostra casa ben venuto, molto honorato signor mio Petruchio.' Rise, Grumio, rise: we will compound this

quarrel. Gru. Nay, 'tis no matter, sir, what he 'leges in Latin. If this be not a lawful cause for me to leave his service, look you, sir, he bid me knock him and rap him soundly, sir : well, was it fit for a servant to use his master so, being perhaps, for aught I see, two and thirty, a pip out? Whom would to God I had well knock'd at first, Then had not Grumio come by the worst.

Pet. A senseless villain ! Good Hortensio,
I bade the rascal knock upon your gate
And could not get him for my heart to do it.

Gru. Knock at the gate! O heavens! Spake you not these words plain, 'Sirrah, knock me 40 here, rap me here, knock me well, and knock me 24. Con tutto, etc., with all out, drunk.

6

50

soundly'? And come you now with, “knocking at the gate'?

Pet. Sirrah, be gone, or talk not, I advise you.

Hor. Petruchio, patience; I am Grumio's pledge : Why, this' a heavy chance 'twixt him and you, Your ancient, trusty, pleasant servant Grumio. And tell me now, sweet iriend, what happy gale Blows you to Padua here from old Verona ? Pet. Such wind as scatters young men through

the world
To seek their fortunes farther than at home
Where small experience grows.

But in a few,
Signior Hortensio, thus it stands with me :
Antonio, my father, is deceased ;
And I have thrust myself into this maze,
Haply to wive and thrive as best I may:
Crowns in my purse I have and goods at home,
And so am come abroad to see the world.

Hor. Petruchio, shall I then come roundly to thee
And wish thee to a shrewd ill-favour'd wife ?
Thou ’ldst thank me but a little for my counsel :
And yet I 'll promise thee she shall be rich
And very rich : but thou 'rt too much my friend,
And I'll not wish thee to her.

Pet. Signior Hortensio, 'twixt such friends as we
Few words suffice; and therefore, if thou know
One rich enough to be Petruchio's wife,
As wealth is burden of my wooing dance,
Be she as foul as was Florentius' love,

46. this', this is (a common committed a homicide, he was contraction).

promised life on condition of 52. in a few, in brief.

answering the question 'what 56. Haply, at haphazard.

desire.' An 69. Florentius' love. Knight 'olde lothly woman offered Florent was the hero of him the answer provided he famous mediæval riddle-story engaged himself to marry her.

60

women

most

a

70

As old as Sibyl, and as curst and shrewd
As Socrates' Xanthippe, or a worse,
She moves me not, or not removes, at least,
Affection's edge in me, were she as rough
As are the swelling Adriatic seas:
I come to wive it wealthily in Padua;
If wealthily, then happily in Padua.

Gru. Nay, look you, sir, he tells you flatly what his mind is : why, give him gold enough and marry him to a puppet or an aglet-baby; or an old trot with ne'er a tooth in her head, though 80 she have as many diseases as two and fifty horses : why, nothing comes amiss, so money comes withal.

Hor. Petruchio, since we are stepp'd thus far in,
I will continue that I broach'd in jest.
I can, Petruchio, help thee to a wife
With wealth enough and young and beauteous,
Brought up as best becomes a gentlewoman:
Her only fault, and that is faults enough,
Is that she is intolerable curst
And shrewd and froward, so beyond all measure
That, were my state far worser than it is,
I would not wed her for a mine of gold.
Pet. Hortensio, peace! thou know'st not gold's

effect :
Tell me her father's name and 'tis enough;
For I will board her, though she chide as loud
As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack.

Hor. Her father is Baptista Minola,
An affable and courteous gentleman:
Her name is Katharina Minola,
Renown'd in Padua for her scolding tongue.

Pet. I know her father, though I know not her ; And he knew my deceased father well.

79. aglet-baby, a small image carved on the tag of a point or lace ('aiguillette,' 'aglet').

90

100

I will not sleep, Hortensio, till I see her;
And therefore let me be thus bold with you
To give you over at this first encounter,
Unless you will accompany me thither.

Gru. I pray you, sir, let him go while the humour lasts. O’ my word, an she knew him as well as I do, she would think scolding would do little good upon him : she may perhaps call him 110 half a score knaves or so: why, that's nothing ; an he begin once, he 'll rail in his rope-tricks. I'll tell you what, sir, an she stand him but a little, he will throw a figure in her face and so disfigure her with it that she shall have no more eyes to see withal than a cat. You know him not, sir.

Hor. Tarry, Petruchio, I must go with thee,
For in Baptista's keep my treasure is:
He hath the jewel of my life in hold,
His youngest daughter, beautiful Bianca,
And her withholds from me and other more,
Suitors to her and rivals in my love,
Supposing it a thing impossible,
For those defects I have before rehearsed,
That ever Katharina will be woo'd;
Therefore this order hath Baptista ta’en,
That none shall have access unto Bianca
Till Katharine the curst have got a husband.

Gru. Katharine the curst!
A title for a maid of all titles the worst.

Hor. Now shall my friend Petruchio do me grace,

120

130

a

105. give you over, leave you. ib. encounter, meeting.

114. throw a figure in her face, "make

her

face ' figure.'

And offer me disguised in sober robes
To old Baptista as a schoolmaster
Well seen in music, to instruct Bianca;
That so I may, by this device, at least
Have leave and leisure to make love to her,
And unsuspected court her by herself.

Gru. Here's no knavery! See, to beguile the old folks, how the young folks lay their heads together!

140

Enter Gremio, and LUCENTIO disguised. Master, master, look about you: who goes there,

ha ? Hor. Peace, Grumio! it is the rival of my

love. Petruchio, stand by a while.

Gru. A proper stripling and an amorous !

Gre. O, very well; I have perused the note.
Hark you, sir ; I'll have them very fairly bound :
All books of love, see that at any hand;
And see you read no other lectures to her:
You understand me: over and beside
Signior Baptista's liberality,
I'll mend it with a largess. Take your paper too,
And let me have them very well perfumed:
For she is sweeter than perfume itself
To whom they go to. What will you read to her ?

Luc. Whate’er I read to her, I'll plead for you
As for my patron, stand you so assured,
As firmly as yourself were still in place:
Yea, and perhaps with more successful words
Than you, unless you were a scholar, sir.

Gre. ( this learning, what a thing it is!