Pet. My horses there! what, ho! my horses there!

Cath. 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, while your boots are green.
For me, I'll not go till I please myself;
'Tis like you'll prove a jolly surly groom,
To take it on you at the first so roundly.

Bap. O Kate, content thee; pr'ythee, be not

angry.

Cath. I will be angry: what hast thou to do? Father, be quiet; he shall stay my leisure. Hor. Ay, marry, Sir, now it begins to work. Cath. Gentlemen, forward to the bridal din

ner.

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:
Go to the feast, revel and domineer;
Carouse full measure to her maidenhead;
Be mad and inerry, or go hang yourselves;
But for my bonny Kate, she must with me.
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 household-stuff, my field, my barn,

My horse, my ox, my ass, my any thing;
And here she stands, touch her whoever dare;
I'll bring my action on the proudest he

That stops my way in Padua; Petruchio, Draw forth thy weapon, thou'rt beset with thieves;

Rescue thy wife then, if thou be a man.

Fear not, sweet wench, they shall not touch thee Kate;

I'll buckler thee against a million, Kate.

[Exeunt Petruchio and Catherine. Bap. Nay, let them go, a couple of quiet

ones.

"Hor. Of all mad matches never was the like.

"What's your opinion of your gentle sister? "Bian. That being mad herself, she's madly "match'd.

"Bap. Neighbours and friends, tho' bride and bridegroom want

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"For to supply the places at the table

"You know there wants no junkets at the feast, "Hortensio, you supply the bridegroom's place, "And let Bianca take her sister's room.

"Bian. My sister's room! were I in her's in"deed,

"This swaggerer shou'd repent his insolence." [Exeunt omnes.

SCENE, before PETRUCHIO's house.

Enter GRUMIO.

Grum. Fy, fy on all jades, and all mad masters, and foul ways! Was ever man so beaten?

Was ever man so raide? Was ever man so weary? I am sent before to make a fire, and they are coming after to warm them.-Now were I not 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 coldHolla, hoa, Curtis !

Enter CURTIS.

Cur. Who is it that calls so coldly?

Grum. 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.

Cur. Is my master and his wife coming, Grumio?

Grum. Oh, ay, Curtis, ay; and therefore fire, fire, cast on no water.

Cur. Is she so hot a shrew as she's reported? Grum. She was, good Curtis, before the frost; but thou know'st, winter tames man, woman, and

beast, for it hath tam'd my old master, and my new mistress, and myself, fellow Curtis.

Cur. Away, you thick-pated fool; I am no beast.

Grum. Where's the cook? Is supper ready, the house trimmed, rushes strewed, cobwebs swept, the serving-men in their new fustian, their white stockings, and every officer his wed ding-garments on? be the Jacks fair within, the Jills fair without, carpets laid, and every thing in order?

Cur. All ready: and therefore, I pray thee, what news?

Grum. First know, my horse is tired, and my master and mistress fallen out.

Cur. How?

Grum. Out of their saddles into the dirt; and thereby hangs a tale.

Cur. Let's ha't, good Grumio.

Grum. Lend thine ear.

Cur. Here.

Grum. There.

[Strikes him.

Cur. This is to feel a tale, not to hear a tale. Grum. And therefore is called a sensible tale : and this cuff was but to knock at your ear, and beseech you listening. Now I begin: Imprimis, we came down a foul hill, my master riding be hind my mistress.

Cur. Both on one horse?

Grum. What's that to thee? tell thou the

tale. But, hadst thou not crost 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 prayed before! how I cryed, how the horses ran away, how her bridle was burst, how I lost my crupper; how my mistress lost her slippers, tore and bemired her garments, limped to the farm-house, put on Rebecca's old shoes and peticoat; with many things worthy of memory, which now shall die in oblivion, and thou return unexperienced to thy grave.

Cur. By this reckoning, he is more shrew than she.

Grum. Ay, for the nonce-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 sleek "combed, and their blue coats brushed, and "their garters of an indifferent knit; let them "courtesy with their left legs, and not presume "to touch a hair of my master's horse tail, till they kiss their hands." Are they all ready? Cur. They are.

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Grum. Call them forth.

E