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 assurance,
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? Luc.

That will I. Go, Biondello, bid your mistress come to me. .

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

Bion. I go.

Re-enter BIONDELLO.
How now! what news ?
Bion.
Sir, my mistress sends

you

word That she is busy, and she cannot come.

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

Ay, and a kind one too :
Pray God, sir, your

wife send

you

not a worse. Pet. I hope, better.

Hor. Sirrah, Biondello, go, and entreat my wife To come to me forthwith.

[Erit BiondeLLO. Pet.

0, ho! entreat her! Nay, then she must needs come.

Hor.

I am afraid, sir, Do what you, can yours will not be entreated.

Re-enter BIONDELLO.

Now, where's my wife?

Bion. She says, you have some goodly jest in hand; She will not come; she bids you come to her.

Pet. Worse and worse; she will not come ! O vile,
Intolerable, not to be endur'd!
Sirrah, Grumio, go to your mistress;
Say, I command her come to me. [Erit GRUMIO.. ;

Hor. I know her answer.
Pet.

What?
Hor.

She will not come. Pet. The fouler fortune mine, and there an end.

Enter KATHARINA.

Bap. Now, by my holidame, here comes Katharina !
Kath. What is your will, sir, that you send for me?
Pet. Where is your sister, and Hortensio's wife?
Kath. They sit conferring by the parlour fire.

Pet. Go, fetch them hither; if they deny to come,
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 befal 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 chang’d, as she had never been.

Pet. Nay, I will win my wager better yet ;
And show 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. Fye! 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. Fye, fye! 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 do bite the meads;
Confounds thy fame, as whirlwinds shake fair buds;
And in no sense is meet, or amiable.
A woman mov’d, 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 home, secure and safe ;
And craves no other 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 asham'd, 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 forward 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,-
That seeming to be most, which we indeed 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.P

n

our soft conditions,] The gentle qualities of our minds.
Then vail your stomachs,) i. e. Abate your pride, your spirit.

you two are sped.] i. e. The fate of you both is decided ; for you have wives who exhibit early proofs of disobedience.-STEEVENS.

р

'Twas I won the wager, though you hit the white ;9

T. LUCENTIO. And, being a winner, God give you good night!

[Exeunt PetRUCH10 and Katr. Hor. Now go thy ways, thou hast tam'd a curst shrew. Luc. 'Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be tam'd so.

[Exeunt: - though you hit the white ;] To hit the white is a phrase borrowed from archery : the mark was commonly white. Here it alludes to the name, Bianca, or white.-Johnson.

* Of this play the two plots are so well united, that they can hardly be called two without injury to the art with which they are interwoven. The attention is entertained with all the variety of a double plot, yet is not distracted by unconnected incidents.": ,

The part between Katharine and Petruchio is eminently sprightly and diverting. At the marriage of Bianca the arrival of the real father, perhaps, produces more perplexity than pleasure. The whole play is very popular and diverting.-JOHNSON.