Go forward160. This contents:
    The rest will comfort, for thy counsel’s sound.

TRANIO    Master, you looked so longly162 on the maid,
    Perhaps you marked not163 what’s the pith of all.

LUCENTIO    O, yes, I saw sweet beauty in her face,
    Such as the daughter of Agenor165 had,
    That made great Jove to humble him166 to her hand.
    When with his knees he kissed167 the Cretan strand.

TRANIO    Saw you no more? Marked you not how her sister
    Began to scold and raise up such a storm
    That mortal ears might hardly endure the din?

LUCENTIO    Tranio, I saw her coral lips to move
    And with her breath she did perfume the air.
    Sacred and sweet was all I saw in her.

TRANIO    Nay, then, ’tis time to stir him from his trance.—

Aside

    I pray, awake, sir. If you love the maid,
    Bend176 thoughts and wits to achieve her. Thus it stands:
    Her elder sister is so curst177 and shrewd
    That till the father rid his hands of her,
    Master, your love must live a maid179 at home,
    And therefore has he closely180 mewed her up,
    Because she will not be annoyed181 with suitors.

LUCENTIO    Ah, Tranio, what a cruel father’s he!
    But art thou not advised183 he took some care
    To get her cunning schoolmasters to instruct her?

TRANIO    Ay, marry, am I, sir, and now ’tis plotted.

LUCENTIO    I have it, Tranio.

TRANIO    Master, for my hand187,
    Both our inventions meet188 and jump in one.

LUCENTIO    Tell me thine first.

TRANIO    You will be schoolmaster
    And undertake the teaching of the maid:
    That’s your device192.

LUCENTIO    It is: may it be done?

TRANIO    Not possible, for who shall bear194 your part,
    And be in Padua here Vincentio’s son,
    Keep house196 and ply his book, welcome his friends,
    Visit his countrymen and banquet them?

LUCENTIO    Basta198, content thee, for I have it full.
    We have not yet been seen in any house,
    Nor can we be distinguished by our faces
    For man or master. Then it follows thus:
    Thou shalt be master, Tranio, in my stead,
    Keep house and port203 and servants as I should.
    I will some other be, some Florentine,
    Some Neapolitan, or meaner205 man of Pisa.
    ’Tis hatched and shall be so. Tranio, at once
    Uncase207 thee: take my coloured hat and cloak.

They exchange clothes

    When Biondello comes, he waits on thee,
    But I will charm209 him first to keep his tongue.

TRANIO    So had you need.
    In brief, sir, sith211 it your pleasure is,
    And I am tied212 to be obedient —
    For so your father charged213 me at our parting,
    ‘Be serviceable to my son’, quoth he,
    Although I think ’twas in another sense —
    I am content to be Lucentio,
    Because so well I love Lucentio.

LUCENTIO    Tranio, be so, because Lucentio loves.
    And let me be a slave, t’achieve that maid
    Whose sudden sight220 hath thralled my wounded eye.

Enter Biondello
    Here comes the rogue. Sirrah, where have you been?

BIONDELLO    Where have I been? Nay, how now? Where are you?
    Master, has my fellow Tranio stolen your clothes? Or you
    stolen his? Or both? Pray, what’s the news?

LUCENTIO    Sirrah, come hither. ’Tis no time to jest,
    And therefore frame226 your manners to the time.
    Your fellow Tranio here, to save my life,
    Puts my apparel and my count’nance228 on,
    And I for my escape have put on his,
    For in a quarrel since I came ashore
    I killed a man, and fear I was descried231.
    Wait you on him, I charge you, as becomes232,
    While I make way from hence to save my life.
    You understand me?

BIONDELLO    I, sir? Ne’er a whit.

LUCENTIO    And not a jot of Tranio in your mouth.
    Tranio is changed into Lucentio.

BIONDELLO    The better for him. Would I were so too!

TRANIO    So could I, faith, boy, to have the next wish after,
    That Lucentio indeed had Baptista’s youngest daughter.
    But, sirrah, not for my sake, but your master’s, I advise
    You use your manners discreetly242 in all kind of companies:
    When I am alone, why, then I am Tranio,
    But in all places else your master Lucentio.

LUCENTIO    Tranio, let’s go. One thing more rests245 that thyself
    execute: to make246 one among these wooers. If thou ask me
    why, sufficeth247 my reasons are both good and weighty.

Exeunt
The Presenters above speak

FIRST SERVINGMAN    My lord, you nod. You do not mind248 the play.

SLY    Yes, by Saint Anne, do I. A good matter249, surely.
    Comes there any more of it?

PAGE    My lord, ’tis but begun.

SLY    ’Tis a very excellent piece of work, madam lady.
    Would253 ’twere done!

They sit and mark

[Act 1 Scene 2]

running scene 2 continues

Enter Petruchio and his man Grumio

PETRUCHIO    Verona1, for a while I take my leave,
    To see my friends in Padua; but of all2
    My best belovèd and approvèd friend,
    Hortensio, and I trow4 this is his house.
    Here, sirrah Grumio, knock, I say.

GRUMIO    Knock6, sir? Whom should I knock? Is there any man
    has rebused7 your worship?

PETRUCHIO    Villain, I say, knock me here soundly.

GRUMIO    Knock you here, sir? Why, sir, what am I, sir, that I
    should knock you here, sir?

PETRUCHIO    Villain11, I say, knock me at this gate
    And rap me well, or I’ll knock your knave’s pate12.

GRUMIO    My master is grown quarrelsome. I should knock you first,
    And then I know after who comes by the worst13.

PETRUCHIO    Will it not be?
    Faith, sirrah, an you’ll not knock, I’ll ring16 it.
    I’ll try how you can sol-fa and sing it17.

He wrings him by the ears

GRUMIO    Help, mistress18, help! My master is mad.

PETRUCHIO    Now, knock when I bid you, sirrah villain.

Enter Hortensio

HORTENSIO    How now? What’s the matter? My old friend Grumio
    and my good friend Petruchio? How do you all21 at Verona?

PETRUCHIO    Signior Hortensio, come you to part the fray?
    Con tutto il cuore, ben trovato23, may I say.

HORTENSIO    Alla nostra casa ben venuto, molto honorata signor
    mio24 Petruchio. Rise, Grumio, rise. We will compound25 this
    quarrel.

GRUMIO    Nay, ’tis no matter, sir, what he ’leges27 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 use30 his master so, being perhaps, for aught I
    see, two and thirty, a pip out31?
    Whom would to God I had well knocked at first,
    Then had not Grumio come by the worst.

PETRUCHIO    A senseless villain! Good Hortensio,
    I bade the rascal knock upon your gate
    And could not get him for my heart36 to do it.

GRUMIO    Knock at the gate? O heavens! Spake you not these
    words plain, ‘Sirrah, knock me here, rap me here, knock me
    well, and knock me soundly’? And come you now with,
    ‘knocking at the gate’?

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

HORTENSIO    Petruchio, patience. I am Grumio’s pledge42.
    Why, this’43 a heavy chance ’twixt him and you,
    Your ancient44, trusty, pleasant servant Grumio.
    And tell me now, sweet friend, what happy45 gale
    Blows you to Padua here from old Verona?

PETRUCHIO    Such wind as scatters young men through the world,
    To seek their fortunes further than at home
    Where small experience grows. But in a few49,
    Signior Hortensio, thus it stands with me:
    Antonio, my father, is deceased,
    And I have thrust myself into this maze,
    Happily to wive53 and thrive as best I may.
    Crowns54 in my purse I have and goods at home,
    And so am come abroad to see the world.

HORTENSIO    Petruchio, shall I then come roundly56 to thee
    And wish57 thee to a shrewd ill-favoured wife?
    Thou’ldst58 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.

PETRUCHIO    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 burden65 of my wooing dance —
    Be she as foul as was Florentius’ love66,
    As old as Sibyl67 and as curst and shrewd
    As Socrates’ Xanthippe68, or a worse,
    She moves me not69, 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.

GRUMIO    Nay, look you, sir, he tells you flatly what his mind74
    is. Why, give him gold enough and marry him to a puppet or
    an aglet-baby76; or an old trot with ne’er a tooth in her head,
    though she have as many diseases as two and fifty horses.
    Why, nothing comes amiss, so money comes withal78.

HORTENSIO    Petruchio, since we are stepped thus far in79,
    I will continue that I broached80 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 intolerable85 curst
    And shrewd and froward, so beyond all measure
    That, were my state87 far worser than it is,
    I would not wed her for a mine of gold.

PETRUCHIO    Hortensio, peace! Thou know’st not gold’s effect.
    Tell me her father’s name and ’tis enough,
    For I will board91 her, though she chide as loud
    As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack92.

HORTENSIO    Her father is Baptista Minola,
    An affable and courteous gentleman.
    Her name is Katherina Minola,
    Renowned in Padua for her scolding tongue.

PETRUCHIO    I know her father, though I know not her,
    And he knew my deceasèd father well.
    I will not sleep, Hortensio, till I see her,
    And therefore let me be thus bold with you
    To give you over101 at this first encounter,
    Unless you will accompany me thither.

GRUMIO    I pray you, sir, let him go while the humour103 lasts. O’
    my word, an104 she knew him as well as I do, she would think
    scolding would do little good upon him. She may perhaps
    call him half a score106 knaves or so. Why, that’s nothing; an he
    begin once, he’ll rail107 in his rope-tricks. I’ll tell you what, sir,
    an she stand108 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 withal110 than a cat. You know him not, sir.

HORTENSIO    Tarry, Petruchio, I must go with thee,
    For in Baptista’s keep112 my treasure is:
    He hath the jewel of my life in hold113,
    His youngest daughter, beautiful Bianca,
    And her withholds from me and other more115,
    Suitors to her and rivals in my love,
    Supposing it a thing impossible,
    For those defects118 I have before rehearsed,
    That ever Katherina will be wooed:
    Therefore this order120 hath Baptista ta’en,
    That none shall have access unto Bianca
    Till Katherine the curst have got a husband.

GRUMIO    Katherine the curst!
    A title for a maid of all titles the worst.

HORTENSIO    Now shall my friend Petruchio do me grace125,
    And offer me disguised in sober robes
    To old Baptista as a schoolmaster
    Well seen128 in music, to instruct Bianca,
    That so I may by this device at least
    Have leave and leisure to make love to130 her
    And unsuspected court her by herself.

Enter Gremio and Lucentio disguised

GRUMIO    Here’s no knavery!132 See, to beguile the old folks, how
    the young folks lay their heads together! Master, master, look
    about you. Who goes there, ha?

HORTENSIO    Peace, Grumio, it is the rival of my love.
    Petruchio, stand by a while.

They stand aside

GRUMIO    A proper stripling137 and an amorous!

Aside

GREMIO    O, very well, I have perused the note138.

To Lucentio

    Hark you, sir, I’ll have them very fairly139 bound —
    All books of love, see that at any hand140 —
    And see you read no other lectures141 to her.
    You understand me. Over and beside
    Signior Baptista’s liberality143,
    I’ll mend it with a largesse144. Take your paper too,

Gives Lucentio the note

    And let me have them145 very well perfumed,
    For she is sweeter than perfume itself
    To whom they go to.