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HORTENSIO.

       Sir, let me be so bold as ask you,

       Did you yet ever see Baptista’s daughter?

       TRANIO.

       No, sir, but hear I do that he hath two,

       The one as famous for a scolding tongue

       As is the other for beauteous modesty.

       PETRUCHIO.

       Sir, sir, the first’s for me; let her go by.

       GREMIO.

       Yea, leave that labour to great Hercules,

       And let it be more than Alcides’ twelve.

       PETRUCHIO.

       Sir, understand you this of me, in sooth:

       The youngest daughter, whom you hearken for,

       Her father keeps from all access of suitors,

       And will not promise her to any man

       Until the elder sister first be wed;

       The younger then is free, and not before.

       TRANIO.

       If it be so, sir, that you are the man

       Must stead us all, and me amongst the rest;

       And if you break the ice, and do this feat,

       Achieve the elder, set the younger free

       For our access, whose hap shall be to have her

       Will not so graceless be to be ingrate.

       HORTENSIO.

       Sir, you say well, and well you do conceive;

       And since you do profess to be a suitor,

       You must, as we do, gratify this gentleman,

       To whom we all rest generally beholding.

       TRANIO.

       Sir, I shall not be slack; in sign whereof,

       Please ye we may contrive this afternoon,

       And quaff carouses to our mistress’ health;

       And do as adversaries do in law,

       Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends.

       GRUMIO, BIONDELLO.

       O excellent motion! Fellows, let’s be gone.

       HORTENSIO.

       The motion’s good indeed, and be it so:—

       Petruchio, I shall be your ben venuto.

       [Exeunt.]

       ACT II.

       SCENE I. Padua. A room in BAPTISTA’S house.

       [Enter KATHERINA and BIANCA.]

       BIANCA.

       Good sister, wrong me not, nor wrong yourself,

       To make a bondmaid and a slave of me;

       That I disdain; but for these other gawds,

       Unbind my hands, I’ll pull them off myself,

       Yea, all my raiment, to my petticoat;

       Or what you will command me will I do,

       So well I know my duty to my elders.

       KATHERINA.

       Of all thy suitors here I charge thee tell

       Whom thou lov’st best: see thou dissemble not.

       BIANCA.

       Believe me, sister, of all the men alive

       I never yet beheld that special face

       Which I could fancy more than any other.

       KATHERINA.

       Minion, thou liest. Is’t not Hortensio?

       BIANCA.

       If you affect him, sister, here I swear

       I’ll plead for you myself but you shall have him.

       KATHERINA.

       O! then, belike, you fancy riches more:

       You will have Gremio to keep you fair.

       BIANCA.

       Is it for him you do envy me so?

       Nay, then you jest; and now I well perceive

       You have but jested with me all this while:

       I prithee, sister Kate, untie my hands.

       KATHERINA.

       If that be jest, then an the rest was so.

       [Strikes her.]

       [Enter BAPTISTA.]

       BAPTISTA.

       Why, how now, dame! Whence grows this insolence?

       Bianca, stand aside. Poor girl! she weeps.

       Go ply thy needle; meddle not with her.

       For shame, thou hilding of a devilish spirit,

       Why dost thou wrong her that did ne’er wrong thee?

       When did she cross thee with a bitter word?

       KATHERINA.

       Her silence flouts me, and I’ll be reveng’d.

       [Flies after BIANCA.]

       BAPTISTA.

       What! in my sight? Bianca, get thee in.

       [Exit BIANCA.]

       KATHERINA.

       What! will you not suffer me? Nay, now I see

       She is your treasure, she must have a husband;

       I must dance barefoot on her wedding-day,

       And, for your love to her, lead apes in hell.

       Talk not to me: I will go sit and weep

       Till I can find occasion of revenge.

       [Exit.]

       BAPTISTA. Was ever gentleman thus griev’d as I?

       But who comes here?

       [Enter GREMIO, with LUCENTIO in the habit of a mean man;

       PETRUCHIO, with HORTENSIO as a musician; and TRANIO, with

       BIONDELLO bearing a lute and books.]

       GREMIO.

       Good morrow, neighbour Baptista.

       BAPTISTA.

       Good morrow, neighbour Gremio. God save you, gentlemen!

       PETRUCHIO.

       And you, good sir! Pray, have you not a daughter

       Call’d Katherina, fair and virtuous?

       BAPTISTA.

       I have a daughter, sir, call’d Katherina.

       GREMIO.

       You are too blunt: go to it orderly.

       PETRUCHIO.

       You wrong me, Signior Gremio: give me leave.

       I am a gentleman of Verona, sir,

       That, hearing of her beauty and her wit,

       Her affability and bashful modesty,

       Her wondrous qualities and mild behaviour,

       Am bold to show myself a forward guest

       Within your house, to make mine eye the witness

       Of that report which I so oft have heard.

       And, for an entrance to my entertainment,

       I do present you with a man of mine,

       [Presenting HORTENSIO.]

       Cunning in music and the mathematics,

       To instruct her fully in those sciences,

       Whereof I know she is not

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