That, all amaz'd, the priest let fall the book:

And, as he stoop'd again to take it up,

This mad-brain'd bridegroom took him such a cuff,
That down fell priest and book, and book and priest;
"Now take them up," quoth he, “if any list."
TRA. What said the wench, when he arose again?
GRE. Trembled and shook; for why, he stamp'd, and swore,
As if the vicar meant to cozen him.

But after many ceremonies done,

།་

He calls for wine :-" A health," quoth he", as if
He had been aboard, carousing to his mates
After a storm :-Quaff'd off the muscadel,
And threw the sops all in the sexton's face;
Having no other reason,-

But that his beard grew thin and hungerly,
And seem'd to ask him sops as he was drinking.
This done, he took the bride about the neck,
And kiss'd her lips with such a clamorous smack,
That, at the parting, all the church did echo.
And I, seeing this, came thence for very shame;
And after me, I know, the rout is coming:
Such a mad marriage never was before.
Hark, hark! I hear the minstrels play a.

[Music.

Enter PETRUCIO, KATHARINA, BIANCA, BAPTISTA, HORTENSIO, GRUMIO,

and Train.

PET. Gentlemen and friends, I thank you for your pains:

I know, you think to dine with me to-day,

And have prepar'd great store of wedding cheer;

But so it is, my haste doth call me hence,
And therefore here I mean to take my leave.
BAP. Is 't possible you will away to-night?
PET. I must away to-day, before night come 18:
Make it no wonder; if you knew my business
You would entreat me rather go than stay.
And, honest company, I thank you all,
That have beheld me give away myself

To this most patient, sweet, and virtuous wife:
Dine with my father, drink a health to me;
For I must hence, and farewell to you all.
TRA. Let us entreat you stay till after dinner.
PET. It may not be.

* This speech is printed as prose in the first folio, but metrically in the second folio.

ou canst, I will not go to-day; morrow, nor till I please myself. open, sir, there lies your way, e jogging whiles your boots are green; ll not be gone, till I please myself: ou 'll prove a jolly surly groom, it on you at the first so roundly. content thee; prithee be not angry. -e angry. What hast thou to do? quiet he shall stay my leisure. y, sir: now it begins to work. nen, forward to the bridal dinner : man may be made a fool,

not a spirit to resist.

ll go forward, Kate, at thy command:
ride, you that attend on her:
east, revel and domineer,

l measure to her maidenhead,
d merry, or go hang yourselves;

—or

bonny Kate, she must with me.

ot big, nor stamp, nor stare, nor fret;

aster of what is mine own:

goods, my chattels; she is my house,
old-stuff, my field, my barn,

ny ox, my ass, my anything;
he stands, touch her whoever dare;

nine action on the proudest he

my way in Padua. Grumio,

thy weapon, we are beset with thieves;

mistress, if thou be a man:

weet wench, they shall not touch thee, Kate;

r thee against a million.

[Exeunt PETRUCIO, KATHARINA, and GRUMIO.

Horse is here used in the plural.

BB

BAP. Nay, let them go, a couple of quiet ones.
GRE. Went they not quickly I should die with laughing.
TRA. Of all mad matches, never was the like!
Luc. Mistress, what's your opinion of your sister?
BIAN. That, being mad herself, she 's madly mated.

GRE. I warrant him, Petrucio is Kated.

BAP. Neighbours and friends, though bride and bridegroom wants
For to supply the places at the table,

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

TRA. Shall sweet Bianca practise how to bride it?
BAP. She shall, Lucentio.-Come, gentlemen, let's go.

[Exeunt.

on all tired jades! on all mad masters! and all foul ways! Was so beaten? was ever man so rayed a? was ever man so weary? I efore to make a fire, and they are coming after to warm them. not I a little pot, and soon hot, my very lips might freeze to my tongue to the roof of my mouth, my heart in my belly, ere I ne by a fire to thaw me:-But, I, with blowing the fire, shall elf; for, considering the weather, a taller man than I will take la, hoa! Curtis !

Enter CURTIS.

that calls so coldly?

of ice 19: If thou doubt it, thou mayst slide from my shoulder to

ed with mire-sullied. As in Spenser (Faery Queen,' b. vi., c. 5):

"From his soft eyes the tears he wip'd away,

And from his face the filth that did it ray."

my heel, with no greater a run but my head and my neck. A fire, good Curtis.

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

GRU. O, ay, Curtis, ay: and therefore fire, fire; cast on no water.

CURT. Is she so hot a shrew as she's reported?

GRU. She was, good Curtis, before this frost: but, thou know'st, winter tames man, woman, and beast; for it hath tamed my old master, and my new mis-¦ tress, and myselfa, fellow Curtis.

CURT. Away, you three-inch fool! I am no beast.

GRU. Am I but three inches? why, thy horn is a foot; and so long am I, at the least. But wilt thou make a fire, or shall I complain on thee to our mistress, whose hand (she being now at hand) thou shalt soon feel, to thy cold comfort, for being slow in thy hot office?

CURT. I prithee, good Grumio, tell me, How goes the world?

GRU. A cold world, Curtis, in every office but thine; and, therefore, fire: Do thy duty, and have thy duty; for my master and mistress are almost frozen to death.

CURT. There's fire ready; And, therefore, good Grumio, the news?
GRU. Why," Jack, boy! ho, boy!" 20 and as much news as thou wilt.
CURT. Come, you are so full of conycatching.

GRU. Why, therefore, fire; for I have caught extreme cold. Where's the cook? is supper ready, the house trimmed, rushes strewed, cobwebs swept; the serving-men in their new fustian, the white stockings, and every officer his wedding garment on? Be the jacks fair within, the jills fair without", the carpets laid, and everything in order?

CURT. All ready. And, therefore, I pray thee, news?

GRU. First, know, my horse is tired; my master and mistress fallen out.
CURT. HOW?

GRU. Out of their saddles into the dirt. And thereby hangs a tale.

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

GRU. Lend thine ear.

CURT. Here.

GRU. There.

CURT. This 't is to feel a tale, not to hear a tale.

[Striking him.

GRU. And therefore 't is called, a sensible tale: and this cuff was but to knock at your ear, and beseech listening. Now I begin: Imprimis, we came down a foul hill, my master riding behind my mistress :

CURT. Both on one horse?

GRU. What's that to thee?

⚫ Myself. Some would read thyself, because Curtis says "I am no beast." But Grumio, calling himself a beast, has also called Curtis fellow,-hence the offence.

Jacks were leathern drinking-vessels-jills, cups or measures of metal. The leathern jugs were to be kept clean within-the pewter ones bright without. But Grumio is quibbling upon the application of Jills to maids, and Jacks to men.

• Carpets laid-to cover the tables. The floors were strewed with rushes.

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