INDUC. SLY. Now Lord be thanked for my good amends!
Sc. II ALL. Amen.

SLY. I thank thee: thou shalt not lose by it.

Enter the Page as a Lady, with Attendants.

PAGE. How fares my noble Lord?

SLY. Marry, I fare well; for here is cheer enough.
Where is my wife?

PAGE. Here, noble Lord: what is thy will with her ?
SLY. Are you my wife, and will not call me Husband?

100

My men should call me Lord: I am your goodman. PAGE. My Husband and my Lord, my Lord and Husband;

I am your wife in all obedience.

SLY. I know it well.

LORD. Madam.

What must I call her?

SLY. Al'ce Madam, or Joan Madam?
LORD. Madam, and nothing else: so lords call ladies.
SLY. Madam Wife, they say that I have dream'd,
And slept about some fifteen year or more.
PAGE. Ay; and the time seems thirty unto me,

Being all this time abandon'd from your bed.
SLY. 'Tis much. Servants, leave me and her alone.
Madam, undress you, and come now to bed.
PAGE. Thrice-noble Lord, let me entreat of you
To pardon me yet for a night or two;
Or, if not so, until the Sun be set :

For your physicians have expressly charg'd,
In peril to incur your former malady,

That I should yet absent me from your bed :

I hope this reason stands for my excuse.

SLY. Ay; it stands so that I may hardly tarry so long. But I would be loth to fall into my dreams again: I will therefore tarry in despite of the flesh and the blood.

Enter a Messenger.

MESS. Your Honour's Players, hearing your amendment,
Are come to play a pleasant comedy;

For so your doctors hold it very meet,

130

Seeing too much sadness hath congeal'd your blood,
And Melancholy is the nurse of Frenzy:
Therefore they thought it good you hear a play,
And frame your mind to mirth and merriment,
Which bars a thousand harms, and lengthens life.
SLY. Marry, I will; let them play it. Is not a commonty
A Christmas gambold or a tumbling-trick?
PAGE. No, my good Lord; it is more pleasing stuff.

SLY. What, household stuff?

PAGE.

SLY. Well, we'll see 't.

It is a kind of history.

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Come, Madam Wife, sit by my side,

And let the world slip: we shall ne'er be younger.

INDUC.
Sc. II

[Flourish.

ACT I

SCENE I. Padua. A Public Place.

Enter LUCENTIO and his man TRANIO.

Luc. Tranio, since for the great desire I had
To see fair Padua, nursery of arts,
I am arriv'd in fruitful Lombardy,
The pleasant garden of great Italy;
And by my father's love and leave am arm'd
With his good will and thy good company,
My trusty servant, well approv'd in all;
Here let us breathe, and haply institute
A course of learning and ingenuous studies.
Pisa, renowned for grave citizens,

Gave me my being, and my father first,
A merchant of great traffic through the world,
Vincentio, come of the Bentivolii.

Lucentio his son, brought up in Florence,

It shall become, to serve1 all hopes conceiv'd,
To deck his fortune with his virtuous deeds :
And therefore, Tranio, for the time I study,
Virtue and that part of philosophy
Will I apply that treats of happiness

10

ACT I
Sc. I

By virtue specially to be achiev'd.
Tell me thy mind; for I have Pisa left,
And am to Padua come, as he that leaves
A shallow plash1 to plunge him in the deep,
And with satiety seeks to quench his thirst.
TRA. Mi perdonate, gentle Master mine,
I am in all affected as yourself;
Glad that you thus continue your resolve
To suck the sweets of sweet Philosophy.
Only, good Master, while we do admire
This virtue and this moral discipline,
Let's be no stoics nor no stocks, I pray;
Or so devote to Aristotle's ethics

As Ovid be an outcast quite abjur'd :
Balk logic with acquaintance that you have,
And practise rhetoric in your common talk ;
Music and poesy use, to quicken you;

The mathematics and the metaphysics,

Fall to them as you find your stomach serves you :

No profit grows where is no pleasure ta'en :

In brief, Sir, study what you most affect.
Luc. Gramercies, Tranio, well dost thou advise.

If Biondello now were come ashore,
We could at once put us in readiness ;
And take a lodging fit to entertain
Such friends as time in Padua shall beget.
But stay awhile: what company is this?
TRA. Master, some show to welcome us to Town.

20

30

40

Enter BAPTISTA with his two Daughters, KATHARINA and
BIANCA, GREMIO (a Pantaloon), and HORTENSIO,
Suitor to BIANCA. LUCENTIO and TRANIO stand by.

BAP. Gentlemen, pray importune me no farther,
For how I firmly am resolv'd you know;
That is, not to bestow my youngest daughter
Before I have a husband for the elder:
If either of you both love Katharina,
Because I know you well, and love you well,

Leave shall you have to court her at your pleasure.

50

GRE. [aside.] To cart her rather: she's too rough for ACT I

me,

There, there, Hortensio, will you any wife?

KATH. I pray you, Sir, is it your will

To make a stale1 of me amongst these mates ?2

HOR. Mates, Maid! how mean you that? no mates for you,

Unless you were of gentler, milder mood.
KATH. I'faith, Sir, you shall never need to fear :
I wis it is not half way to her heart;

But, if it were, doubt not her care should be
To comb your noddle with a three-legg'd stool,
And paint your face, and use you like a fool.

HOR. From all such Devils, O good Lord, deliver us!

GRE. And me too, O good Lord!

TRA. Hush, Master! here is some good pastime toward :
That wench is stark mad or wonderful froward.

Luc. But in the other's silence do I see

Maid's mild behaviour and sobriety.

Peace!

TRA.

Well said, Master; mum! and gaze your fill.

BAP. Well, Gentlemen, that I may soon make good

What I have said, Bianca, get you in :

And let it not displease thee, good Bianca;

For I will love thee ne'er the less, my Girl.

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70

KATH. A pretty peat ! it is best put finger in the eye, an she knew why.

BIAN. Sister, content you in my discontent.

Sir, to your pleasure humbly I subscribe :

My books and instruments shall be my company,

On them to look and practise by myself.

Luc. Hark, Tranio! thou may'st hear Minerva speak.

Hor. Signior Baptista, will you be so strange ?5

Sorry am I that our good will effects

80

Sc. I

Bianca's grief.

GRE.

Why will you mew her up,

Signior Baptista, for this fiend of Hell,

And make her bear the penance of her tongue?

BAP. Content ye, Gentlemen; I am resolv'd :

Go in, Bianca :

89

[Exit BIANCA.

ACT I

Sc. I

And for I know she taketh most delight
In music, instruments, and poetry,
Schoolmasters will I keep within my house,
Fit to instruct her youth. If you, Hortensio,
Or, Signior Gremio, you, know any such,
Prefer them hither; for to cunning1 men
I will be very kind, and liberal

To mine own children in good bringing-up:
And so, farewell. Katharina, you may stay;
For I have more to commune with Bianca.

99

[exit.

KATH. Why, and I trust I may go too, may I not? What, shall I be appointed hours; as though, belike, I knew not what to take, and what to leave, ha? [exit. GRE. You may go to the Devil's dam: your gifts are so good here's none will hold you. Our love is not so great, Hortensio, but we may blow our nails together, and fast it fairly out: our cake's dough on both sides.* Farewell: yet, for the love I bear my sweet Bianca, if I can by any means light on a fit man to teach her that wherein she delights, I will wish him to her father.

III

HOR. So will I, Signior Gremio: but, a word, I pray. Though the nature of our quarrel yet never brook'd parle, know now, upon advice, it toucheth us both, that we may yet again have access to our fair mistress, and be happy rivals in Bianca's love, to labour and effect one thing specially.

GRE. What's that, I pray ?

HOR. Marry, Sir, to get a husband for her sister.

GRE. A husband! a Devil.

120

Hor. I say a husband.

GRE. I say a Devil. Think'st thou, Hortensio, though her father be very rich, any man is so very a fool to be married to Hell?

HOR. Tush, Gremio, though it pass your patience and mine to endure her loud alarums, why, Man, there be

good fellows in the World, an a man could light on them, would take her with all faults, and money enough.

129

GRE. I cannot tell; but I had as lief take her dowry

1 expert.

2 do nothing.

14

7 absolute.

3 i.e. mine and yours.' 4 recommend. 5 discussing. • reflection.