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Pet. I say it is the moon that shines so bright.
Kath. I know it is the sun that shines so bright.
Pet. Now, by my mother's son, and that's myself,
It shall be moon, or star, or what I list,

Or ere I journey to your father's house :-
Go on, and fetch our horses back again,—
Evermore cross'd, and cross'd; nothing but cross'd!
Hor. Say as he says, or we shall never go.
Kate. Forward, I pray, since we have come so far,
And be it moon, or sun, or what you please :
And if you please to call it a rush candle,
Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me.

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Pet. Nay, then you lie, it is the blessed sun,

Kath. Then, God be bless'd, it is the blessed sun :

But sun it is not, when you say it is not;

And the moon changes, even as your mind.

What you will have it named, even that it is;

And so it shall be so, for Katharine.

Hor (to himself) Petruchio, go thy ways; the field is won. Pet. Well, forward, forward: thus the bowl should run, And not unluckily against the bias.

But soft; what company is coming here?

Enter VINCENTIO, in a travelling dress.

Good-morrow, gentle mistress; Where away?-
Tell me, sweet Kate, and tell me truly too,
Hast thou beheld a fresher gentlewoman?
Such war of white and red within her cheeks!
What stars do spangle heaven with such beauty,
As those two eyes become that heavenly face?—
Fair lovely maid, once more good day to thee :-
Sweet Kate, embrace her for her beauty's sake.

[To VINCENTIO

Hor. 'A will make the man mad, to make a woman of him.
Kath. Young budding virgin, fair, and fresh, and sweet.

Whither away: or where is thy abode ?

Happy the parents of so fair a child;
Happier the man, whom favorable stars

Allot thee for his lovely bed-fellow!

Pet. Why, how now, Kate! I hope thou art not mad ; This is a man, old, wrinkled, faded, wither'd;

And not a maiden, as thou say'st he is.

Kath. Pardon, old father, my mistaking eyes,

That have beer so bedazzled with the sun,

That everything I look on seemeth green :
Now I perceive thou art a reverend father;
Pardon, I pray thee, for my mad mistaking.

The bride and bridegroom have now arrived at their place of destination, and the gentlemen of the party are talking in a room by themselves:

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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?

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Bion.

Re-enter BIONDELLO.

Sir, my mistress sends you word

That she is busy, and she cannot come
Pet. How, she is busy, and cannot come !

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

Pet.

Oho! ENTREAT her '

Nay, then she must needs come.

[Exit.

Erit BIONDELLO

Hor.

I am afraid, sir,

Do what you can, your's will not be entreated.

Now, where's my wife?

Re-enter BIONDELLO.

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.

Hor. I know her answer.

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[Exit GRUMIO

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 parlor 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.

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 befall 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.

[Exit KATHARINA

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 a 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 telhog Pet. I say she shall; and first begin with her.

Kath. Fye, fye! unknit that threat'ning unkind brow;
And aart 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 labor, both by sea and land;

To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,

While thou liest warm at 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 troward, 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 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,—
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 husbands' 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.

Pet.

Come, Kate, we'll to bed;

We three are married, but you two are sped.

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.2

[Exeunt

1 "His horse hipped," &c., &c.—If Ben Jonson had poured forth this profusion of horse-dealer's knowledge (a little overdone, it must be confessed, even for farce), it would have been charged against him as ostentation.

"Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be tam'd so."-He means to intimate that he does not think her tamed after all. A woman, by the way, like Katharine, could never have uttered those beautiful words about "a fountain troubled," &c. But this is the constant exception to Shakspeare's otherwise perfect nature. He makes all his characters, unless they are downright fools, talk as well as himself.

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