Twere good, methinks, to steal our marriage; Tra. That by degrees we mean to look into, Re-enter GREMIO. Signior Gremio! came you from the church? The mad-brain'd bridegroom took him such a cuff, Tra. What said the wench, when he arose again? He calls for wine,-A health, quoth he, as if But that his beard grew thin and hungerly, [swore, (Muse) Enter PETRUCHIO, KATHARINA, BIANCA, BAPTISTA, HORTENSIO, GRUMIO, and Train. Pet. Gentlemen and friends, I thank you for your pains: I know, you think to dine with me to-day, Gre. Pet. It cannot be. Pet. I am content. Kath. Let me entreat you. Let me entreat you. Are you content to stay? Pet. I am content you shall entreat me stay; But yet not stay, entreat me how you can. Kath. Now, if you love me, stay. Pet. Grumio, my horses. Gru. Ay, sir, they be ready; the oats have eaten the horses. Kath. Nay, then, Do what thou canst, I will not go to-day; No, nor to-morrow, nor till I please myself. The door is open, sir, there lies your way. You may be jogging, whiles your boots are green; Pet. O Kate, content thee; pr'ythee, be not angry I see a woman may be made a fool, If she had not a spirit to resist. Pet. They shall go forward, Kate, at thy command. Obey the bride, you that attend on her; Nay, look not big, nor stamp, nor stare, nor fret ; I will be master of what is mine own: She is my goods, my chattels; she is my house, My horse, my ox, my ass, my any thing; And here she stands, touch her whoever dare; That stops my way in Padua. - Grumio, Draw forth thy weapon, we're beset with thieves; Fear not, sweet wench, they shall not touch thee, Kate; [Exeunt Petruchio, Katharina, and Grumio. Bap. Nay, let them go, a couple of quiet ones. Gre. Went they not quickly? I should die with laughing. Tra. Of all mad matches, never was the like! Bap. Neighbours and friends, though bride and bridegroom wants 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? [Exeunt. ACT IV. SCENE L-A Hall in Petruchio's Country House. Enter GRUMIO. Gru. Fy, fy, on all tired jades! on all mad masters! and all foul ways! Was 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 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, hoa! Curtis ! Enter CURTIS. Curt. Who is that calls so coldly? 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, good Curtis. Curt. Is my master and his wife coming, Grumio? Gru. O, 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 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 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 pr'ythee, 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. F 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 coney-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 servingmen in their new fustian, their white stockings, and every officer his 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, 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. (Striking 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,Curt. Both on one horse ? Gru. What's that to thee? 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 me; how he swore; how she prayed that never pray'd 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 talk I of this call forth Nathaniel, Joseph, Nicholas, Philip. Walter, Sugarsop, and the rest; let their heads be |