Pet. Now, for my life, Hortensio fears hus wi

dow.

Wid. Then never trust me if I be afeard.

Pet. How! She is busy, and she cannot come ! Is that an answer?

Gre Ay, and a kind one too:

sense;

I mean, Hortensio is afeard of you.

Pet. I hope, better.

round.

Pet. Roundly replied.

Kath. Mistress, how mean you that?

Wid. Thus I conceive by him.

Pet. Conceives by me!-How likes Hortensio that?

Hor. My widow says, thus she conceives her tale. Pet Very well mended: kiss him for that, good widow.

Kath. He that is giddy, thinks the world turns round :

I pray you, tell me what you meant by that.
Wid. Your husband, being troubled with a shrew,
Measures ny husband's sorrow by his woe:
And now you know my meaning.

Kuth. A very mean meaning.

Wid. Right, I mean you.

Kath. And I am mean, indeed, respecting you. Pet. To her, Kate!

Hor. To her, widow!

Pet. A hundred marks, my Kate does put her down.

Hor. That's my office.

Pet. Spoke like an officer:-Ha' to thee, lad.

[Drinks to Hortensio. Bap. How likes Gremio these quick-witted folks? Gre. Believe ine, Sir, they butt together well. bian. Head, and butt? An hasty-witted body Would say, your head and butt were head and

horn.

Vin. Ay, mistress bride, hath that awaken'd you? Bian. Ay, but not frighted me; therefore I'll sleep again.

Pet. Nay, that you shall not; since you have begun,

Have at you for a bitter jest or two.

Bian. Am I your bird? I mean to shift my bush, And then pursue me as you draw your bow:You are welcome all. [Exeunt Bianca, Katharina, and Widow.

Pet. She hath prevented me.-Here, signior
Tranio,

This bird you ain'd at, though you hit her not;
Therefore, a health to all that shot and miss'd.
Tra. O, Sir, Lucentio slipp'd me like his grey-
hound,

Which runs himself, and catches for his master.
Pet. A good swift+simile, but something currish.
Tra. 'Tis well, Sir, that you hunted for yourself;
'Tis thought, your deer does hold you at a bay.
Bap. O ho, Petruchio, Tranio hits you now,
Luc. I thank thee for that gird 1, good Tranio.
Hor. Confess, confess; hath he not hit you here?
Pet. 'A has a little gall'd me, I confess;
And, as the jest did glance away from me,
'Tis ten to one it maim'd you two outright.
Bap. Now, in good sadness, son Petruchio,

I think thou hast the veriest shrew of all.

Pet. Well, I say no: and therefore, for assur

ance,

Let's each one send unto his wife;
And he, whose wife is most obedient
To come at first when he doth send for her,
Shall win the wager which we will propose.
Hor. Content;-What is the wager?

Luc. Twenty crowns.

Pet. Twenty crowns!

I'll venture so much on my hawk, or hound,
But twenty times so much upon my wife.
Luc. A hundred then.

Hor. Content.

Pet. A match; 'tis done.

Hor. Who shall begin?

Lac. That will 1. Go,

Biondello, bid your mistress come to nie.

Bion. 1 go.

[Exit.

Bap. Son, I will be your half, Bianca comes. Luc. I'll have no halves; I'll bear it all myself.

Re-enter BIONDELLO.

How now! What news?

Bion. Sir, my mistress sends

That she is busy, and she cannot come,

• Dreads.

Swinge me them soundly forth unto their husbands Away, I say, and bring them hither straight. [Exit Katharina. Luc. Here is a wonder, if you talk of a wonder. Hor. And so it is; I wonder what it bodes. Pet. Marry, peace it bodes, and love, and quiet life,

An awful rule, and right supremacy;

And, to be short, what not, that's sweet and happy.
Bap. Now fair betai thee, good Petruchio!
The wager thou hast won; and I will add
Unto their losses twenty thousand crowns;
Another dowry to another daughter,
For she is changed as she had never been.

Pet. Nay, I will win my wager better yet;
And shew more sign of her obedience,

Her new-built virtue and obedience.

Re-enter KATHARINA, with BIANCA, and WIDOW. See, where she comes; and brings your froward wives

As prisoners to her womanly persuasion.--
Katharine, that cap of yours becomes you not;
Off with that bauble, throw it under foot.

[Katharina pulls off her Cap, and throws it down. Wid. Lord, let me never have a cause to sigh, Till I be brought to such a silly pass!

Bian. Fie! What a foolish duty call you this? Luc. I would your duty were as foolish too: The wisdom of your duty, fair Bianca, Hath cost me an hundred crowns since supper-time. Bian. The more fool you, for laying on my duty. Pet. Katharine, I charge thee, tell these headstrong women

What duty they do owe their lords and husbands. Wid. Come, come, you're mocking; we will have no telling.

Pet. Come on, I say; and first begin with her.
Wid. She shall not.

Pet. I say, she shall;-and first begin with her.
Kath. Fie, fie! Unknit that threat'ning unkind

brow;

And dart not scornful glances from those eyes,
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor:
It blots thy beauty, as frosts bite the meads;
Confounds thy fame, as whirlwinds shake tair Luds;
And in no sense is meet, or amiable.
A woman moved, is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
And, while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip, or touch one drop of it.
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance: commits his body
To painful labour both by sea and land ;
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
While thou liest warm at home, secure and sale;

And craves no o ner tribute at thy hands,
But love, fair looks, and true obedience ;-
Too little payment for so great a debt.
Such duty as the subject owes the prince,
Even such, a woman oweth to her husband:
And, when she's froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And, not obedient to his honest will,
What is she, but a foul contending rebel,
And graceless traitor to her loving lord ?—
I am ashamed, that women are so simple

To offer war where they should kneel for peace;
Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway,
When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.
Why are our bodies soft, and weak, and smooth,
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world;
But that our soft conditions and our hearts,
Should well agree with our external parts ?
Come, come, you froward and unable worms!
My mind hath been as big as one of yours,
My heart as great; my reason, haply, more,
To bandy word for word, and frown for frown:
But now, I see our lances are but straws;
Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare,-

• Gentle temper.

That seeming to be most, which we least are.
Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot;
And place your hands below your husband's foot:
In token of which duty, if he please,
My hand is ready, may it do him ease.

Pet. Why, there's a wench -Come on, and kiss me, Kate.

Luc. Well, go thy ways, old lad; for thou shalt ha't.

Vin. 'Tis a good hearing, when children are toward.

Luc. But a harsh hearing, when women are froward.

Pet. Come, Kate, we'll to-bed :

We three are married, but you two are sped. 'Twas I won the wager, though you hit the white. [To Lucentie,

And, being a winner, God give you good night! [Exeunt Petruchio and Katharina,

Hor. Now go thy ways, thou hast tamed a curst

shrew.

Laic. Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be tamed so. [Exeunt,

Abate your spirits.

ACT L

SCENE I-Sicilia.-An Antechamber in LEONTES'

Palace.

Enter CAMILLO, and ARCHADAMUS. Arch. If you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on the like occasion whereon my services are now on foot, you shall see, as I have said, great difference betwixt our Bohemia, and your Sicilia. Cam. I think, this coming summer, the king of Sicilia means to pay Bohemia the visitation which he justly owes him.

Arch. Wherein our entertainment shall shame us, we will be justified in our loves: for indeed,Cam. 'Beseech you,

Arch. Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my knowledge: we cannot with such magnificencein so rare-I know not what to say.We will give you sleepy drinks; that your senses, unintelligent of our insufficience, may, though they cannot praise us, as little accuse us.

Cam. You pay a great deal too dear, for what's given freely.

Arch. Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs me, and as mine honesty puts it to ut

terance.

Cum. Sicilia cannot shew himself over-kind to Bohemia. They were train'd together in their childhoods; and there rooted betwixt them then such an affection, which cannot choose but branch now. Since their more mature dignities, and royal neces sities, made separation of their society, their encounters, though not personal, have been royally attornied with interchange of gifts, letters, loving embassies; that they have seem'd to be together, though absent: shook hands, as over a vast; and embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds. The heavens continue their loves!

Arch. I think, there is not in the world either malice, or matter, to alter it. You have an unspeakable comfort of your young prince Mamillius; it is a gentleman of the greatest promise, that ever came into my note.

Cam. I very well agree with you in the hopes of him: it is a gallant child; one that, indeed, physics the subject, makes old hearts fresh: they, that went on crutches ere he was born, desire yet their life, to see him a man,

Arch. Would they else be content to die? Cam. Yes; if there were no other excuse why they should desire to live.

Arch. If the king had no son, they would desire to live on crutches till he had one. [Exeunt.

Nobly supplied by substitution of embassies.
Wide waste of country.

Affords a cordial to the state

SCENE II.-The same.-A Room of State in the Palace.

Enter LEONTES, POLIXENES, HERMIONE, MAMIL LIUS, CAMILLO, and Attendants.

Pol. Nine changes of the wat'ry star have been The shepherd's note, since we have left our throne Without a burden: time as long again Would be till'd up, my brother, with our thanks; And yet we should, for perpetuity, Go hence in debt: and therefore, like a cypher, Yet standing in rich place, I multiply, With one we-thank-you, many thousands more That go before it.

Leon. Stay your thanks a while; And pay them when you part.

Pol. Sir, that's to-morrow.

I am question'd by my fears, of what may chance,
Or breed upon our absence: that may blow
No sneaping winds at home, to make us say,
This is put forth too truly! Besides, I have stay'd
To tire your royalty.

Leon. We are tougher, brother,
Than you can put us to't.

Pol. No longer stay.
Leon. One seven-night longer.
Pol. Very sooth, to-morrow.

Leon. We'll part the time between 's then: and in that I'll no gain-saying,

Pol. Press me not, 'beseech you, so; There is no tongue that moves, none, none i' the world,

So soon as yours, could win me: so it should now,
Were there necessity in your request, although
Twere needful I denied it. My affairs
Do even drag me homeward: which to hinder,
Were, in your love, a whip to me; my stay,
To you a charge and trouble: to save both,
Farewell, our brother.

Leon. Tongue-tied, our queen? Speak you.
Her. I had thought, Sir, to have held iny peace,

until

You had drawn oaths from him, not to stay. You, Sir,
Charge him too coldly: tell him, you are sure,
All in Bohemia's well: this satisfaction
The by-gone day proclaim'd; say this to him,
He's beat from his best ward.

Leon. Well said, Hermione.

Her. To tell, he longs to see his son were strong: But let him say so then, and let him go; But let him swear so, and he shall not stay, We'll thwack him hence with distaffsYet of your royal presence (To Polixenes.] I'll ad

venture

The borrow of a week. When at Bohemia.

• Nipping.

Her. It is Grace, Indeed.

Why, lo you now, I have spoke to the purpose

twice:

The one for ever earu'd a royal husband; The other for some while a friend.

oaths,

Should yet say, Sir, no going. Verily,
You shall not go; a lady's verily is

As potent as a lord's. Will you go yet?
Force me to keep you as a prisoner,

Not like a guest; so you shall pay your fees, When you depart, and save your thanks. How say you?

My prisoner? Or my guest? By your dread verily, One of them you shall be.

Pol. Your guest, then, madam:

To be your prisoner, should import offending;
Which is for me less easy to commit,

Than you to punish.

Her. Not your gaoler then,

But your kind hostess. Come, I'll question you
Of my lord's tricks, and yours, when you were boys;
You were pretty lordings then.

Pol. We were, fair queen,

Two lads, that thought there was no more behind,
But such a day to-morrow as to-day,
And to be boy eternal.

Her. Was not my lord the verier wag o'the two? Pol. We were as twinn'd lambs, that did frisk i' the sun,

And bleat the one at the other: what we changed,
Was innocence for innocence; we knew not
The doctrine of ill-doing, no, nor dream'd
That any did: had we pursued that lite,
And our weak spirits ne'er been higher rear'd
With stronger blood, we should have answer'd
heaven

Boldly, Not guilty; the imposition clear'd,
Hereditary ours ¶.

Her. By this we gather,

You have tripp'd since.

Pol. O my most sacred lady,

Temptations have since then been born to us: for
In those unfledged days was my wite a girl:
Your precious self had not then cross'd the eyes
Of my young play-fellow.

Her. Grace to boot!

Her. What? Have I twice said well? When was't before?

I pr'ythee, tell me : cram us with praise, and make us As fat as tame things: one good deed, dying tongueless,

Slaughters a thousand, waiting upon that.
Our praises are our wages: you may ride us,
With one soft kiss, a thousand forlongs, ere
With spur we heat an acre. But to the goal;-
My last good was, to entreat his stay;
What was my first? It has an elder sister,

Or I mistake you: 0, would her name were Grace!
But once before I spoke to the purpose: When?
Nay, let me have 't; I long.

Leon. Why, that was when

[Giving her hand to Polixenes.
Leon. Too hot, too hot :
[Aside.
To mingle friendship far, is mingling bloods.
I have tremor cordis on me :-My heart dances;
But not for joy,-not joy.-This entertainment
From heartiness, from bounty, fertile bosom,
And well become the agent: it may, I grant:
But to be paddling palms, and pinching fingers,
As now they are; and making practised smiles,
As in a looking glass;-and then to sigh, as 'twere
The mort o' the deer: 0, that is entertainment
My bosom likes not, nor my brows.-Mamillius,
Art thou my boy?

Mum. Ay, my good lord.
Leon l' fecks?

Why, that's my bawcock. What, hast smutch'd thy nose?

They say, it's a copy out of mine. Come, captain,
We must be neat; not neat, but cleanly, capta
And yet the steer, the heifer, and the calf,
Are all call'd, neat.-Still virginalling §.

[Observing Polixenes and Hermin Upon his palm ?-How now, you wanton calf! Art thou my calf?

Cam. Yes, if you will my lord.

Leon. Thou want'st a rough pash, and the shoots that I have,

To be full like me,-yet, they say, we are
Almost as like as eggs; women say so,
That will say any thing: but were they false
As o'er-died blacks, as wind, as waters; faise
As dice are to be wish'd, by one that fixes
No bourn 'twixt his and mine; yet were it true
To say this boy were like me.-Come, Sir page,
Look on me with your welkineye: sweet villain!
Most dear'st! My collop!-Can thy dam?-May't bel
Affection! thy intention stabs the center:
Thou dost make possible, things not so held,
Communicatest with dreams;-(How can this bef)
With what's unreal thou coactive art,

And fellow'st nothing: then 'tis very credent,
Thou may'st co-join with something; and thou dost;
(And that beyond commission; and I find it,)
And that to the infection of my brains,
And hardening of my brows.

Pol. What means Sicilia?

Her. He something seems unsettled.
Pol. How, my lord?

What cheer? How is't with you, best brother?
Her. You look,

As if you held a brow of much distraction:
Are you moved, my lord?

Leon. No, in good earnest.

How sometimes nature will betray its folly,
Its tenderness; and make itself a pastime
To harder bosoms! [Aside.]--Looking on the lines
Of my boy's face, methoughts, I did recoil
Twenty three years; and saw myself unbreech'd,
In my green velvet coat: my dagger muzzjed,
Lest it should bite its master, and so prove,
As ornaments oft do, too dangerous.
How like, methought, 1 then was to this kernel,
This quash, this gentleman:-Mine honest friend,
Will you take eggs for money §§?
Mam. No, my lord, I'll fight.

Leon. You will? Why, happy man be his doleit
My brother,

Are you so fond of your young prince, as we
Do seem to be of ours?

Pol. If at home, Sir,

He's all my exercise, my mirth, my matter;
Now my sworn friend, and then mine enemy;
My parasite, my soldier, statesman, all:
He makes a July's day short as December;
And, with his varying childness, cures in me

death,

Leon. So stands this squire

Onced with me: we two will waik, my lord,
And leave you to your graver steps.--Hermione,
How thou lovest us, shew in our brother's welcome;
Let what is dear in Sicily, be cheap :
Next to thyself, and my young rover, he's
Apparent to my heart.

Her. If you would seek us,

We are yours i' the garden: shall's attend you there?

Leon. To your own bents dispose you: you'll be found,

Be you beneath the sky-I am angling now,
Though you perceive me not how I give line.
Go to, go to! [Aside.-Observing Polixeyes and
Hermione.

How she holds up the nebt, the bill to him!
And arms her with the boldness of a wife
To her allowing husband! Gone already;
Inch-thick, knee deep; o'er head and ears a fork'd
one §. [Exeunt Polixenes, Hermione, and
Attendants.

Go, play, boy, play; thy mother plays, and I
Play too but so disgraced a part, whose issue
Will hiss me to my grave; contempt and clamour
Will be my knell.-Go, play, boy, play ;-there
have Leen,

Or I am much deceived, cuckolds ere now;
And many a man there is, even at this present,
Now, while I speak this, holds his wife by the arm,
That little thinks she has been sluiced in his
absence,

And his pond fish'd by his next neighbour, by
Sir Smile, his neighbour: nay, there's comfort in't,
Whiles other men have gates; and those gates
open'd,

As mine, against their will: should all despair,
That have revolted wives, the tenth of mankind
Would hang themselves. Physic for't there is

none;

It is a bawdy planet, that will strike

Where 'tis predominant; and 'tis powerful, think it, From east, west, north, and south: be it concluded, No barricado for a belly; know it;

It will let in and out the enemy,

With bag and baggage; many a thousand of us
Have the disease, and feel't not.-How now, boy?
Mam. I am like you, they say.
Leon. Why, that's some comfort.-
What! Camillo there?

Cam. Ay, my good lord.

Leon. Go play, Mamillius; thou'rt an honest man. [Exit Mamillius. Camillo, this great Sir will yet stay longer. Cam. You had much ado to make his anchor hold; When you cast out, it still came home.

Leon. Didst note it?

Cam. He would not stay at your petitions; made His business more material.

Leon. Didst thou perceive it?

Hast cleansed my bosom! I from thee departed
Thy penitent reform'd; but we have been
Deceived in thy integrity, deceived

In that which seems so.

Cam. Be it forbid, my lord!

Leon. To bide upon 'i;-Thou art not honest; If thou inclinest that way, thou art a coward: Which hoxes honesty behind, restraining From course required: or else thou must be counter A servant, grafted in my serious trust, And therein negligent; or else a fool, That seest a game play'd home, the rich stake drawr And takest it all for jest.

Cam. My gracious lord,

I may be negligent, foolish, and fearful;
In every one of these no man is free,
But that his negligence, his folly, fear,
Amongst the infinite doings of the world,
Sometime puts forth in your affairs, my lord,
If ever I were wilful-negligent,
It was my folly; if industriously
I play'd the fool, it was my negligence,
Not weighing well the end; if ever fearful
To do a thing, where I the issue doubted,
Whereof the execution did cry out
Against the non-performance, 'twas a fear
Which oft affects the wisest: these, my lord,
Are such allow'd infirmities, that honesty
Is never free of. But, 'beseech your grace,
Be plainer with me; let me know my trespass
By its own visage; if I then deny it,

'Tis none of mine.

Leon. Have not you seen, Camillo, (But that's past doubt: you have; or your eye-glass Is thicker than a cuckold's horn;) or heard, (For, to a vision so apparent, rumour Cannot be mute,) or thought, (for cogitation Resides not in that man, that does not think it,) My wife is slippery? If thou wilt confess, (Or else be impudently negative,

To have nor eyes, nor ears, nor thought,) then say
My wife's a hobbyhorse; deserves a name
Aš rank as any flax-wench, that puts to
Before her troth-plight: say it, and justify it.

Cam. I would not be a stander-by, to hear
My sovereign mistress clouded so, without
My present vengeance taken: 'shrew my heart,
You never spoke what did become you less
Than this; which to reiterate, were sin
As deep as that, though true.

Leon. Is whispering nothing?

Is leaning cheek to cheek? Is meeting noses?
Kissing with inside lip? Stopping the career
Of laughter with a sigh? (A note infallible
Of breaking honesty :) horsing foot on foot?
Skulking in corners? Wishing clocks more swift?
Hours, minutes? Noon, midnight? And all eyes

blind

With the pin and web, but theirs, theirs only, That would unseen be wicked? Is this nothing?

ing .

Sicilia is a so-forth: 'tis far gone,

When I shall gust ¶ it last.-How came't, Camillo, That he did stay?

Cam. At the good queen's entreaty.

The covering sky is nothing; Bohemia nothing; Wy wife is nothing; nor nothing have these nothings,

If this be nothing.

Cam. Good my lord, be cured

tinent;

Eat so it is, it is not. Was this taken
Bany understanding pate but thine?
For thy conceit is soaking, will draw in

More than the common blocks:-Not noted, is't,
But of the finer natures? By some severals,
Of head-piece extraordinary? Lower messes**,
Perchance, are to this business purblind: say.
Cam. Business, my lord? I think, most understand
Bohemia stays here longer.
Leon. Ha?

Cam. Stays here longer. Leon. Ay, but why?

Cam. To satisfy your highness, and the entreaties
Of our most gracious mistress.
Leon. Satisfy

The entreaties of your mistress-satisfy ?—
Let that suffice. I have trusted thee, Camillo,
With all the nearest things to my heart, as well
My chamber-councils, wherein, priest-like, thou
Heir apparent, next claimant. + Mouth.
* Approving.
A horned one, enckold.
To round in the ear was to tell secretly.
** Inferiors in rank.

Taste.

For 'tis most dangerous.

Leon. Say, it be; 'tis true.
Cam. No, no, my lord.

Leon. It is; you lie, you lie:

I say, thou liest, Camillo, and I hate thee;
Pronounce thee a gross lout, a mindless slave;
Or else a hovering temporizer, that
Canst with thine eyes at once see good and evil,
Inclining to them both; were my wife's liver
Infected as her life, she would not live
The running of one glass ‡.

Cam. Who does infect her?

Leon. Why he, that wears her like her medal, hanging

About his neck, Bohemia: who,-if I
Had servants true about me; that bare eyes
To see alike mine honour as their profits,
Their own particular thrifts,-they would do that
Which should undo more doing: ay, and thou,
His cup-bearer-whom I, from meaner form
Have bench'd, and rear'd to worship; who may'st