And then pursue me as you draw your bow :— [Exeunt BIANCA, KATHARINA, and WIDOW. Tra. O, sir, Lucentio slipp'd me like his greyhound, Pet. Well, I say-no: and, therefore, for assurance, And he, whose wife is most obedient To come at first when he doth send for her, Luc. Pet. Twenty crowns! 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. Pet. Content. A match; 't is done. Hor. Who shall begin? Luc. That will I. Go, Biondello, bid your mistress come to me. Bion. I go. Bap. Son, I will be your half, Bianca comes. Luc. I'll have no halves; I'll bear it all myself. [Exit. 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's 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. Hor. Sirrah Biondello, go, and entreat my wife Pet. [Exit BIONDELLO. O, ho! entreat her! I am afraid, sir, Nay, then she must needs come. Hor. 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. Hor. I know her answer. Pet. Hor. [Exit GRUMIO. What? She will not. 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 KATH. 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 Petrucio! For she is chang'd, as she had never been. Her new-built virtue and obedience. Re-enter KATHARINA, with BIANCA and Widow. Katharine, that cap of yours becomes you not; [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. Fie! what a foolish duty call you this? 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. I say, she shall;-and first begin with her. Kath. Fie, fie! unknit that threat'ning unkind brow; A woman mov'd is like a fountain troubled,* Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty; What is she, but a foul contending rebel, I am asham'd, that women are so simple To offer war, where they should kneel for peace; When they are bound to serve, love, and obey. Come, come, you Our strength as weak, our weakness past compare,— And place your hands below your husbands' foot: 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. We three are married, but you two are sped. [To LUCENTIO. And, being a winner, God give you good night! [Exeunt PETRUCIO and KATH. Hor. Now go thy ways, thou hast tam'd a curst shrew.b Luc. 'Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be tam'd so. a Hit the white-a term in archery. [Exeunt.3 b Shrew. It would appear from this couplet, and another in this scene, where shrew rhymes to woe, that shrow was the old pronunciation. |