That, were my state far worser than it is,

I would not wed her for a mine of gold.

PET. Hortensio, peace! thou know'st not gold's effect: Tell me her father's name and 't is enough;

For I will board her, though she chide as loud
As thunder when the clouds in autumn crack.
HOR. Her father is Baptista Minola,
An affable and courteous gentleman:

Her name is Katharina Minola,

Renown'd in Padua for her scolding tongue.
PET. I know her father, though I know not her;
And he knew my deceased father well.

I will not sleep, Hortensio, till I see her;

And therefore let me be thus bold with you
To give you over at this first encounter,
Unless you will accompany me thither.

GRU. I pray you, sir, let him go while the humour lasts. O' my word, an she knew him as well as I do, she would think scolding would do little good upon him: she may perhaps call him half a score knaves or so: why, that's nothing; an he begin once, he 'll rail in his ropetricks. I'll tell you what, sir, an she stand him but a little, he will throw a figure in her face and so disfigure 102-103 let me encounter] let me be so frank as to tell you that I shall abandon you at our first meeting.

109-110 rope-tricks] Cf. Rom. and Jul., II, iv, 141-142: "What saucy merchant was this that was so full of his ropery," i. e. "roguery." But the use of "figure (of speech)" in the next sentence suggests that Grumio is mispronouncing "rhetoric" when he employs the word "rope-tricks."

111 figure] a figure of speech.

Perhaps there is a quibbling reference

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her with it that she shall have no more eyes to see withal than a cat. You know him not, sir.

HOR. Tarry, Petruchio, I must go with thee;
For in Baptista's keep my treasure is :
He hath the jewel of my life in hold,
His youngest daughter, beautiful Bianca;
And her withholds from me and other more,
Suitors to her and rivals in my love;
Supposing it a thing impossible,

For those defects I have before rehearsed,
That ever Katharina will be woo'd;
Therefore this order hath Baptista ta'en,
That none shall have access unto Bianca

Till Katharine the curst have got a husband.
GRU. Katharine the curst!

A title for a maid of all titles the worst.

HOR. Now shall my friend Petruchio do me grace; And offer me disguised in sober robes

To old Baptista as a schoolmaster

Well seen in music, to instruct Bianca;
That so I may, by this device, at least
Have leave and leisure to make love to her,
And unsuspected court her by herself.

GRU. Here's no knavery! See, to beguile the old folks, how the young folks lay their heads together!

to the common phrase about "setting the ten commandments in your face," which meant using the ten fingers or the fists for purposes of assault.

113 a cat] The cat was commonly reputed to be purblind or blear-eyed by day, though well able to see in the dark.

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130

Enter GREMIO, and LUCENTIO disguised

Master, master, look about you: who goes there, ha ?
HOR. Peace, Grumio! it is the rival of my love.
Petruchio, stand by a while.

GRU. A proper stripling and an amorous!

GRE. O, very well; I have perused the note.
Hark you, sir; I'll have them very fairly bound:
All books of love, see that at any hand;

And see you read no other lectures to her:
You understand me: over and beside
Signior Baptista's liberality,

I'll mend it with a largess. Take your paper too,
And let me have them very well perfumed :
For she is sweeter than perfume itself

To whom they go to. What will you read to her?
Luc. Whate'er I read to her, I'll plead for you
As for my patron, stand you so assured,
As firmly as yourself were still in place:
Yea, and perhaps with more successful words
Than you, unless you were a scholar, sir.

GRE. O this learning, what a thing it is!
GRU. O this woodcock, what an ass it is!
PET. Peace, sirrah!

HOR. Grumio, mum! God save you, Signior Gremio.

147 Take your paper too] Paper is the old reading, for which Pope and most succeeding editors substitute papers. The reference seems to be to the "note" or list of books, mentioned in line 141. 66 Them," in line 148, doubtless refers to the books themselves.

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GRE, And you are well met, Signior Hortensio. Trow you whither I am going? To Baptista Minola. I promised to inquire carefully

About a schoolmaster for the fair Bianca:

And by good fortune I have lighted well

On this young man, for learning and behaviour

Fit for her turn, well read in poetry

And other books, good ones, I warrant ye.

HOR. 'Tis well; and I have met a gentleman
Hath promised me to help me to another,

A fine musician to instruct our mistress;
So shall I no whit be behind in duty

To fair Bianca, so beloved of me.

GRE. Beloved of me; and that my deeds shall prove.
GRU. And that his bags shall prove.

HOR. Gremio, 't is now no time to vent our love:
Listen to me, and if you speak me fair,
I'll tell you news indifferent good for either.
Here is a gentleman whom by chance I met,
Upon agreement from us to his liking,
Will undertake to woo curst Katharine,
Yea, and to marry her, if her dowry please.
GRE. So said, so done, is well.

Hortensio, have you told him all her faults?

PET. I know she is an irksome brawling scold:

If that be all, masters, I hear no harm.

GRE. No, say'st me so, friend? What countryman ?
PET. Born in Verona, old Antonio's son:

My father dead, my fortune lives for me;
And I do hope good days and long to see.

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GRE. O sir, such a life, with such a wife, were

strange!

But if you have a stomach, to 't i' God's name:
You shall have me assisting you in all.

But will you woo this wild-cat?

PET.

Will I live?

GRU. Will he woo her? ay, or I'll hang her.
PET. Why came I hither but to that intent?
Think you a little din can daunt mine ears?
Have I not in my time heard lions roar?
Have I not heard the sea puff'd up with winds
Rage like an angry boar chafed with sweat?
Have I not heard great ordnance in the field,
And heaven's artillery thunder in the skies?
Have I not in a pitched battle heard

Loud 'larums, neighing steeds, and trumpets' clang?
And do you tell me of a woman's tongue,

That gives not half so great a blow to hear

As will a chestnut in a farmer's fire?

Tush, tush! fear boys with bugs.

GRU.

GRE. Hortensio, hark:

This gentleman is happily arrived,

For he fears none.

My mind presumes, for his own good and ours.
HOR. I promised we would be contributors
And bear his charge of wooing, whatsoe❜er.
GRE. And so we will, provided that he win her.
GRU. I would I were as sure of a good dinner.

207 fear... bugs] frighten boys with bugbears. Cf. 3 Hen. VI, V, ii, 2: "Warwick was a bug that fear'd us all.”

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