The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Part 485

GRUMIO. O, sir, the conceit is deeper than you think for.

Take up my mistress' gown to his master's use!

O fie, fie, fie!

PETRUCHIO. [Aside] Hortensio, say thou wilt see the tailor paid.- Go take it hence; be gone, and say no more.

HORTENSIO. Tailor, I'll pay thee for thy gown to-morrow; Take no unkindness of his hasty words.

Away, I say; commend me to thy master. Exit TAILOR PETRUCHIO. Well, come, my Kate; we will unto your father's Even in these honest mean habiliments; Our purses shall be proud, our garments poor; For 'tis the mind that makes the body rich; And as the sun breaks through the darkest clouds, So honour peereth in the meanest habit.

What, is the jay more precious than the lark Because his feathers are more beautiful?

Or is the adder better than the eel Because his painted skin contents the eye?

O no, good Kate; neither art thou the worse For this poor furniture and mean array.

If thou account'st it shame, lay it on me; And therefore frolic; we will hence forthwith To feast and sport us at thy father's house.

Go call my men, and let us straight to him; And bring our horses unto Long-lane end; There will we mount, and thither walk on foot.

Let's see; I think 'tis now some seven o'clock, And well we may come there by dinner-time.

KATHERINA. I dare a.s.sure you, sir, 'tis almost two, And 'twill be supper-time ere you come there.

PETRUCHIO. It shall be seven ere I go to horse.

Look what I speak, or do, or think to do, You are still crossing it. Sirs, let 't alone; I will not go to-day; and ere I do, It shall be what o'clock I say it is.

HORTENSIO. Why, so this gallant will command the sun.

Exeunt

SCENE IV.

Padua. Before BAPTISTA'S house

Enter TRANIO as LUCENTIO, and the PEDANT dressed like VINCENTIO

TRANIO. Sir, this is the house; please it you that I call?

PEDANT. Ay, what else? And, but I be deceived, Signior Baptista may remember me Near twenty years ago in Genoa, Where we were lodgers at the Pegasus.

TRANIO. 'Tis well; and hold your own, in any case, With such austerity as longeth to a father.

Enter BIONDELLO

PEDANT. I warrant you. But, sir, here comes your boy; 'Twere good he were school'd.

TRANIO. Fear you not him. Sirrah Biondello, Now do your duty throughly, I advise you.

Imagine 'twere the right Vincentio.

BIONDELLO. Tut, fear not me.

TRANIO. But hast thou done thy errand to Baptista?

BIONDELLO. I told him that your father was at Venice, And that you look'd for him this day in Padua.

TRANIO. Th'art a tall fellow; hold thee that to drink.

Here comes Baptista. Set your countenance, sir.

Enter BAPTISTA, and LUCENTIO as CAMBIO

Signior Baptista, you are happily met.

[To To the PEDANT] Sir, this is the gentleman I told you of; I pray you stand good father to me now; Give me Bianca for my patrimony.

PEDANT. Soft, son!

Sir, by your leave: having come to Padua To gather in some debts, my son Lucentio Made me acquainted with a weighty cause Of love between your daughter and himself; And- for the good report I hear of you, And for the love he beareth to your daughter, And she to him- to stay him not too long, I am content, in a good father's care, To have him match'd; and, if you please to like No worse than I, upon some agreement Me shall you find ready and willing With one consent to have her so bestow'd; For curious I cannot be with you, Signior Baptista, of whom I hear so well.

BAPTISTA. Sir, pardon me in what I have to say.

Your plainness and your shortness please me well.

Right true it is your son Lucentio here Doth love my daughter, and she loveth him, Or both dissemble deeply their affections; And therefore, if you say no more than this, That like a father you will deal with him, And pa.s.s my daughter a sufficient dower, The match is made, and all is done- Your son shall have my daughter with consent.

TRANIO. I thank you, sir. Where then do you know best We be affied, and such a.s.surance ta'en As shall with either part's agreement stand?

BAPTISTA. Not in my house, Lucentio, for you know Pitchers have ears, and I have many servants; Besides, old Gremio is heark'ning still, And happily we might be interrupted.

TRANIO. Then at my lodging, an it like you.

There doth my father lie; and there this night We'll pa.s.s the business privately and well.

Send for your daughter by your servant here; My boy shall fetch the scrivener presently.

The worst is this, that at so slender warning You are like to have a thin and slender pittance.

BAPTISTA. It likes me well. Cambio, hie you home, And bid Bianca make her ready straight; And, if you will, tell what hath happened- Lucentio's father is arriv'd in Padua, And how she's like to be Lucentio's wife. Exit LUCENTIO BIONDELLO. I pray the G.o.ds she may, with all my heart.

TRANIO. Dally not with the G.o.ds, but get thee gone.

Exit BIONDELLO Signior Baptista, shall I lead the way?

Welcome! One mess is like to be your cheer; Come, sir; we will better it in Pisa.

BAPTISTA. I follow you. Exeunt

Re-enter LUCENTIO as CAMBIO, and BIONDELLO

BIONDELLO. Cambio.

LUCENTIO. What say'st thou, Biondello?

BIONDELLO. You saw my master wink and laugh upon you?

LUCENTIO. Biondello, what of that?

BIONDELLO. Faith, nothing; but has left me here behind to expound the meaning or moral of his signs and tokens.

LUCENTIO. I pray thee moralize them.

BIONDELLO. Then thus: Baptista is safe, talking with the deceiving father of a deceitful son.

LUCENTIO. And what of him?

BIONDELLO. His daughter is to be brought by you to the supper.

LUCENTIO. And then?

BIONDELLO. The old priest at Saint Luke's church is at your command at all hours.

LUCENTIO. And what of all this?

BIONDELLO. I cannot tell, except they are busied about a counterfeit a.s.surance. Take your a.s.surance of her, c.u.m privilegio ad imprimendum solum; to th' church take the priest, clerk, and some sufficient honest witnesses.

If this be not that you look for, I have more to say, But bid Bianca farewell for ever and a day.

LUCENTIO. Hear'st thou, Biondello?

BIONDELLO. I cannot tarry. I knew a wench married in an afternoon as she went to the garden for parsley to stuff a rabbit; and so may you, sir; and so adieu, sir. My master hath appointed me to go to Saint Luke's to bid the priest be ready to come against you come with your appendix.

Exit LUCENTIO. I may and will, if she be so contented.

She will be pleas'd; then wherefore should I doubt?

Hap what hap may, I'll roundly go about her; It shall go hard if Cambio go without her. Exit

SCENE V.

A public road

Enter PETRUCHIO, KATHERINA, HORTENSIO, and SERVANTS

PETRUCHIO. Come on, a G.o.d's name; once more toward our father's.

Good Lord, how bright and goodly s.h.i.+nes the moon!

KATHERINA. The moon? The sun! It is not moonlight now.

PETRUCHIO. I say it is the moon that s.h.i.+nes so bright.

KATHERINA. I know it is the sun that s.h.i.+nes so bright.

PETRUCHIO. 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!