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Remove you hence I knew you at the first,

You were a moveable.

Pet. Why, what's a moveable?

Kath. A joint stool.'

Pet. Thou hast hit it: come, sit on me.

Kath. Asses are made to bear, and so are you.
Pet. Women are made to bear, and so are you.
Kath. No such jade, sir, as you, if me you mean.
Pet. Alas, good Kate! I will not burden thee:
For, knowing thee to be but young and light,—
Kath. Too light for such a swain as you to catch;
And yet as heavy as my weight should be.

Pet. Should be? should buz.

Kath. Well ta'en, and like a buzzard.

Pet. O, slow-wing'd turtle! shall a buzzard take thee? Kath. Ay, for a turtle; as he takes a buzzard.2

Pet. Come, come, you wasp; i'faith, you are too angry. Kath. If I be waspish, best beware my sting.

Pet. My remedy is then, to pluck it out.

Kath. Ay, if the fool could find it where it lies.

Pet. Who knows not where a wasp doth wear his sting? In his tail.

Kath. In his tongue.

Pet. Whose tongue

?

Kath. Yours, if you talk of tails; and so farewell.

Pet. What, with my tongue in your tail? nay, come again, Good Kate; I am a gentleman.

Kath. That I'll try.

[Striking him.

Pet. I swear I'll cuff you, if you strike again.

Kath. So may you lose your arms :

If you strike me, you are no gentleman;
And if no gentleman, why, then no arms.

Pet. A herald, Kate? O put me in thy books.
Kath. What is your crest? a coxcomb?

Pet. A combless cock, so Kate will be my ben.
Kath. No cock of mine, you crow too like a craven.3
Pet. Nay, come, Kate, come; you must not look so sour.
Kath. It is my fashion, when I see a crab.

STEEVENS.

This is a proverbial expression. [2] Perhaps we may read better-Ay, for a turtle, and he takes a buzzard. i. e he may take me for a turtle, and he shall find me a hawk.

JOHNSON.

[3] A craven is a degenerate, dispirited cock. STEEVENS. Craven was a term also applied to those who in appeals of battle became recreant, and by pronouncing this word, called for quarter from their opponents; the consequence of which was, that they forever after were deemed infamous. REED.

Pet. Why, here's no crab; and therefore look not sour.

Kath. There is, there is.

Pet. Then show it me.

Kath. Had I a glass, I would.

Pet. What, you mean my face?

Kath. Well aim'd of such a young one.

Pet. Now, by saint George, I am too young
Kath. Yet you are wither d.

Pet. 'Tis with cares.

Kath. I care not.

for you.

Pet. Nay, hear you, Kate: in sooth, you 'scape not so. Kath. I chafe you, if I tarry; let me go.

Pet. No, not a whit; I find you passing gentle.
'Twas told me you were rough, and coy, and sullen,
And now I find report a very liar ;

For thou art pleasant, gamesome, passing courteous,
But slow in speech, yet sweet as spring-time flowers:
Thou canst not frown, thou canst not look askance,
Nor bite the lip, as angry wenches will;

Nor hast thou pleasure to be cross in talk;
But thou with mildness entertain'st thy wooers,
With gentle conference, soft and affable.
Why does the world report, that Kate doth limp?
O slanderous world! Kate, like the hazle-twig,
Is straight and slender; and as brown in hue,
As hazle nuts, and sweeter than the kernels.
O, let me see thee walk: thou dost not halt.

Kath. Go, fool, and whom thou keep'st command.
Pet. Did ever Dian so become a grove,

As Kate this chamber with her princely gait?

O, be thou Dian, and let her be Kate;

And then let Kate be chaste, and Dian sportful !

Kath. Where did you study all this goodly speech?
Pet. It is extempore from my mother-wit.

Kath. A witty mother! witless else her son.
Pet. Am I not wise?

Kath. Yes; keep you warm.

Pet. Marry, so I mean, sweet Katharine, in thy bed: And therefore, setting all this chat aside,

Thus in plain terms:-Your father hath consented
That you shall be my wife; your dowry 'greed on;
And, will nill
you,
I will marry you.
Now, Kate, I am a husband for your turn;

you,

For, by this light, whereby I see thy beauty,
(Thy beauty, that doth make me like thee weii,)
Thou must be married to no man but me:
For I am he, am born to tame you, Kate;
And bring you from a wild cat' to a Kate
Conformable, as other household Kates.
Here comes your father; never make denial,
I must and will have Katharine to my wife.

Re-enter BAPTISTA, GREMIO, and TRANIO.
Bap. Now,

Signior Petruchio: How speed you with
My daughter?

Pet. How but well, sir? how but well?

It were impossible, I should speed amiss.

Bap. Why, how now, daughter Katharine ? in your dumps? Kath. Call you me, daughter? now I promise you, You have show'd a tender fatherly regard,

To wish me wed to one half lunatic;

A mad-cap ruffian, and a swearing Jack,

That thinks with oaths to face the matter out.

Pet. Father, 'tis thus,-yourself and all the world,
That talk'd of her, have talk'd amiss of her;
If she be curs'd, it is for policy :

For she's not froward, but modest as the dove ;
She is not hot, but temperate as the morn;

For patience she will prove a second Grissel;5
And Roman Lucrece for her chastity :

And to conclude,-we have 'greed so well together,
That upon Sunday is the wedding-day.

Kath. I'll see thee hang'd on Sunday first.

Gre. Hark, Petruchio! she says, she'll see thee hang'd first.

Tra. Is this your speeding? nay, then, good night our part!

Pet. Be patient, gentlemen; I choose her for myself; If she and I be pleas'd, what's that to you?

"Tis bargain'd 'twixt us twain, being alone, That she shall still be curst in company.

I tell you, 'tis incredible to believe

How much she loves me: O, the kindest Kate!—

[4] The editor of the second folio with some probability reads-from a wila Kat (meaning certainly cat.) MALONE.

[5] The story of Grisel is to be found among the compositions of the French Fabliers. DOUCE.

She hung about my neck; and kiss on kiss
She vied so fast, protesting oath on oath,
That in a twink she won me to her love.
O, you are novices! 'tis a world to see,
How tame, when men and women are alone,
A meacock wretch can make the curstest shrew.
-Give me thy hand, Kate: I will unto Venice,
To buy apparel 'gainst the wedding-day :-
Provide the feast, father, and bid the guests;
I will be sure, my Katharine shall be fine.

Bap. I know not what to say: but give me your hands; -God send you joy, Petruchio! tis a match.

Gre. Tra. Amen, say we; we will be witnesses.
Pet. Father, and wife, and gentlemen, adieu :

I will to Venice, Sunday comes apace :—
We will have rings, and things, and fine array;
And kiss me, Kate, we will be married o' Sunday.

[Exe. PET. and KATH. severally.
Gre. Was ever match clapp'd up so suddenly?
Bap. Faith, gentlemen, now I play a merchant's part,
And venture madly on a desperate mart.

Tra. 'Twas a commodity lay fretting by you:

'Twill bring you gain, or perish on the seas.
Bap. The gain I seek is-quiet in the match.
Gre. No doubt, but he hath got a quiet catch
But now, Baptista, to your younger daughter ;-
Now is the day we long have looked for ;
I am your neighbour, and was suitor first.

Tra. And I am one, that love Bianca more
Than words can witness, or your thoughts can guess.
Gre. Youngling! thou canst not love so dear as I.
Tra. Grey-beard! thy love doth freeze.

Gre. But thine doth fry."

Skipper, stand back; 'tis age, that nourisheth.
Tra. But youth, in ladies' eyes that flourisheth.

[6] i. e. a timorous dastardly creature. STEEVENS.
[7] Old Gremio's notions are confirmed by Shadwell:

"The fire of love in youthful blood,
Like what is kindled in brush-wood,
But for the moment burns:-

But when crept into aged veins,

It slowly burns, and long remains ;

It glows, and with a sullen heat,

Like fire in logs, it burns, and warms us long,

And though the flame be not so great,
Yet is the heat as strong." JOHNSON.

VOL. II.

30

Bap. Content you, gentlemen; I'll compound this strife;
'Tis deeds must win the prize; and he, of both,
That can assure my daughter greatest dower,
Shall have Bianca's love.

-Say, signior Gremio, what can you assure her?
Gre. First, as you know, my house within the city
Is richly furnished with plate and gold;

8

Basons, and ewers, to lave her dainty hands;
My hangings all of Tyrian tapestry:
In ivory coffers I have stuff'd my crowns;
In cypress chests my arras, counterpoints,
Costly apparel, tents, and canopies,
Fine linen, Turkey cushions boss'd with pearl,
Valance of Venice gold in needle-work,
Pewter and brass, and all things that belong
To house, or house-keeping: then, at my farm,
I have a hundred milch-kine to the pail,
Sixscore fat oxen standing in my stalls,
And all things answerable to this portion.
Myself am struck in years, I must confess;
And, if I die to-morrow, this is hers,
If, whilst I live, she will be only mine.

Tra. That only came well in.-Sir, list to me,

I am my father's heir, and only son:

If I may have your daughter to my wife,
I'll leave her houses three or four as good.
Within rich Pisa walls, as any one
Old signior Gremio has in Padua ;
Besides two thousand ducats by the year,
Of fruitful land, all which shall be her jointure.--
What, have I pinch'd you, signior Gremio?

Gre. Two thousand ducats by the year, of land !
My land amounts not to so much in all :
That she shall have; besides an argosy,
That now is lying in Marseilles' road :—
What, have I chok'd you with an argosy?

Tra. Gremio, 'tis known, my father hath no less
Than three great argosies; besides two galliasses,1

[8] Counterpoints were in ancient times extremely costly. In Wat Tyler's rebellion, Stowe informs us, when the insurgents broke into the wardrobe in the Savoy, they destroyed a coverlet, worth a thousand marks. MALONE.

[9] We may suppose that pewter was, even in the time of Queen Elizabeth, too costly to be used in common. STEEVENS.

[1] A galeas or gelliass, is a heavy low-built vessel of burthen, with both sails and oars, partaking at once of the nature of a ship and a galley STEEVENS.

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