Kath. No, sir; God forbid:--but ashamed to kiss. Pet. Why, then let's home again:-Come, sirrah, let's away.

Kath. Nay, I will give thee a kiss: now pray thee, love, stay.

Pet. Is not this well?-Come, my sweet Kate; Better once than never, for never too late. [Exe. SCENE II.-A room in Lucentio's house. A

Pet. Nay, that you shall not; since you have begun,

Have at you for a bitter jest or two.

Bian. Am I your bird? I mean to shift my bush, And then pursue me as you draw your bow:You are welcome all.

[Exeunt Bianca, Katharina, and Widow. Pet. She hath prevented me.-Here, Signior Tranio,

banquet set out. Enter Baptista, Vincentio, This bird you aim'd at, though you hit her not;
Gremio, the Pedant, Lucentio, Bianca, Petruchio, Therefore, a health to all that shot and miss'd.
Katharina, Hortensio, and Widow. Tranio,
Biondello, Grumio, and others, attending.

Luc. At last, though long, our jarring notes

agree:

And time it is, when raging war is done,
To smile at 'scapes and perils overblown.-
My fair Bianca, bid my father welcome,
While I with self-same kindness welcome thine :--
Brother Petruchio, -sister Katharina,-
And thou, Hortensio, with thy loving widow,-
Feast with the best, and welcome to my house;
My banquet1 is to close our stomachs up,
After our great good cheer: Pray you, sit down;
For now we sit to chat, as well as eat.

[They sit at table.

Pet. Nothing but sit and sit, and eat and eat!
Bap. Padua affords this kindness, son Petruchio.
Pet. Padua affords nothing but what is kind.

Hor. For both our sakes, I would that word

Tra. O, sir, Lucentio slipp'd me like his grey

hound,

Which runs himself, and catches for his master.
Pet. A good swift simile, but something currish.
Tra. 'Tis well, sir, that you hunted for yourself;

'Tis thought, your deer does hold you at a bay.
Bap. O ho, Petruchio, Tranio hits you now.
Luc. I thank thee for that gird, good Tranio.
Hor. Confess, confess, hath he not hit you here?

Pet. 'A has a little gall'd me, I confess;
And as the jest did glance away from me,
"Tis ten to one it maim'd you two outright.
Bap. Now, in good sadness, son Petruchio,
I think thou has the veriest shrew of all.

Pet. Well, I say-no: and therefore, for assu

Mistress, how mean you that? Hor. Who shall begin?

Wid. Thus I conceive by him.

Pet. Conceives by me! How likes Hortensio

that?

Hor. My widow says, thus she conceives her

tale.

Pet. To her, Kate!

Hor. To her, widow!

Luc.

Content.

A match; 'tis done.

That will I. Go,

Biondello, bid your mistress come to me.

Bion. I go.

[Exit. Bap. Son, I will be your half, Bianca comes. Luc. I'll have no halves; I'll bear it all myself.

Sir, my mistress sends you word,

That she is busy, and she cannot come.
Pet. How! she is 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. Pet. I hope, better.

Hor. Sirrah, Biondello, go, and entreat my

wife

'To come to me forthwith.
Pet.

Exit Biondello.

O, ho! entreat her!

Pet. A hundred marks, my Kate does put her Nay, then she must needs come.

down.

Hor. That's my office.

Pet. Spoke like an officer:-Ha, to thee, lad.

[Drinks to Hortensio. Bap. How likes Gremio these quick-witted folks? Gre. Believe me, sir, they butt together well. Bian. Head, and butt? a hasty-witted body Would say, your head and butt were head and horn. Vin. Ay, mistress bride, hath that awaken'd you? Bian. Ay, but not frighted me; therefore I'll sleep again.

(1) A banquet was a refection consisting of fruit, cakes, &c.

She will not come.
Pet. The fouler fortune mine, and there an end.
Enter Katharina.

Bap. Now, by my holidame, here comes Katha-
rina!
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,

[Exit Grumio. Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance: commits his body
To painful labour, both by sea and land;
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
While thou liest warm at home, secure and safe;
And craves no other tribute at thy hands,
But love, fair looks, and true obedience;-
Too little payment for so great a debt.
Such duty as the subject owes the prince,
Even such, a woman oweth to her husband:
And, when she's froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And, not obedient to his honest will,
What is she, but a foul contending rebel,
And graceless traitor to her loving lord?
I am asham'd, that women are so simple
To offer war, where they should kneel for peace;
Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway,
When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.
Why are our bodies soft, and weak, and smooth,
Unapt to toil and trouble in the world;
But that our soft conditions, and our hearts,
Should well agree with our external parts?
Come, come, you froward and unable worms!
My mind hath been as big as one of yours,
My heart as great; my reason, haply, more,
To bandy word for word, and frown for frown:
But now, I see our lances are but straws;
Our strength as weak, our weakness past com-

Swinge me them soundly forth unto their husbands:
Away, I say, and bring them hither straight.

[Exit Katharina.
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 Petruchio!
The wager thou hast won; and I will add
Unto their losses twenty thousand crowns;
Another dowry to another daughter,
For she is chang'd, as she had never been.

Pet. Nay, I will win my wager better yet;
And show more sign of her obedience,
Her new-built virtue and obedience.

Re-enter Katharina, with Bianca, and Widow.
See, where she comes; and brings your froward
wives
As prisoners to her womanly persuasion.-
Katharine, that cap of yours becomes you not;
Off with that bauble, throw it under foot.
[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?
Luc. I would, your duty were as foolish too:
The wisdom of your duty, fair Bianca,
Hath cost me a hundred crowns since supper-time.
Bian. The more fool you, for laying on my
duty.
Pet. Katharine, I charge thee, tell these head-
strong women

What duty they do owe their lords and husbands.
Wid. Come, come, you're mocking; we will
have no telling.

Pet. Come on, I say; and first begin with her.
Wid. She shall not.

Pet. I say, she shall; and first begin with her.
Kath. Fie, fie! unknit that threat'ning unkind
brow;

And dart not scornful glances from those eyes,
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor:
It blots thy beauty, as frosts bite the meads;
Confounds thy fame, as whirlwinds shake fair buds;
And in no sense is meet, or amiable.
A woman mov'd, is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
And, while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip, or touch one drop of it.
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,

(1) Gentle temper.

pare,

That seeming to be most, which we least are.
Then vail your stomachs, for it is no boot;
And place your hands below your husband's foot:
In token of which duty, if he please,
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.

Luc. But a harsh hearing, when women are froward.

Pet. Come, Kate, we'll to bed:We three are married, but you two are sped. 'Twas I won the wager, though you hit the white; [To Lucentio. And, being a winner, God give you good night! [Exeunt Petruchio and Kath. Hor. Now go thy ways, thou hast tam'd a curst

shrew.

Luc. 'Tis a wonder, by your leave, she will be
tam'd so.
[Ezeunt.

Of this play the two plots are so well united, that they can hardly be called two, without injury to the art with which they are interwoven. The attention is entertained with all the variety of a double plot, yet is not distracted by unconnected incidents.

The part between Katharine and Petruchio is eminently sprightly and diverting. At the marriage of Bianca, the arrival of the real father, perhaps, produces more perplexity than pleasure. The whole play is very popular and diverting.

JOHNSON.

(2) Abate your spirits.

ACT I.

Clown, his son.

Servant to the old shepheru.
Autolycus, a rogue.

Time, as Chorus.

Hermione, queen to Leontes.

Perdita, daughter to Leontes and Hermione.
Paulina, wife to Antigonus.

Emili a lady,

Twoher ladies, attending the queen.

Dopsa, Shepherdesses.

Lords, ladies, and attendants; satyrs for a dance, shepherds, shepherdesses, guards, &c.

Scene, sometimes in Sicilia, sometimes in Bohemia.

[malice, or matter, to alter it. You have an unspeakable comfort of your young prince Mamillius;

SCENE I.-Sicilia. An Antechamber in Leon-it is a gentleman of the greatest promise, that ever tes' palace. Enter Camillo and Archidamus.

Archidamus.

IF you shall chance, Camillo, to visit Bohemia, on the like occasion whereon my services are now on foot, you shall see, as I have said, great difference betwixt our Bohemia and your Sicilia.

Cam. I think, this coming summer, the king of Sicilia means to pay Bohemia the visitation which ne justly owes him.

Arch. Wherein our entertainment shall shame

us, we will be justified in our loves: for, indeed, Cam. 'Beseech you,

Arch. Verily, I speak it in the freedom of my knowledge: we cannot with such magnificencein so rare-I know not what to say. --We will give you sleepy drinks; that your senses, unintelligent of our insufficience, may, though they cannot praise us, as little accuse us.

came into my note.

Cam. I very well agree with you in the hopes of him: it is a gallant child; one that, indeed, phyfresh: sies the subjectes makes old hearts they that life, to see him a man.

Arch. Would they else be content to die? Cam. Yes; if there were no other excuse why they should desire to live.

Arch. If the king had no son, they would desire to live on crutches till he had one.

[Exeunt. SCENE II.--The same. A room of state in the palace. Enter Leontes, Polixenes, Hermione, Mamillius, Camillo, and attendants.

Pol. Nine changes of the wat'ry star have been
The shepherd's note, since we have left our throne
Without a burden: time as long again

Would be fill'd up, my brother, with our thanks :
And yet we should, for perpetuity,

Cam. You pay a great deal too dear, for what's Go hence in debt: And therefore, like a cipher, given freely.

Arch. Believe me, I speak as my understanding instructs me, and as mine honesty puts it to utter

ance.

Yet standing in rich place, I multiply,
With one we-thank-you, many thousands more
That go before it.
Leon.

Stay your thanks awhile;

Cam. Sicilia cannot show himself over-kind to And pay them when you part.

Bohemia. They were trained together in their Pol.

Sir, that's to-morrow.

childhoods; and there rooted betwixt them then I am question'd by my fears, of what may chance, such an affection, which cannot choose but branch Or breed upon our absence: That may blow now. Since their more mature dignities, and royal No sneaping winds at home, to make us say, necessities, made separation of their society, their This is put forth too truly! Besides, I have stay'd

encounters, though not personal, have been royally To tire your royalty. :

attornied with interchange of gifts, letters, loving

Leon. embassies; that they have seemed to be together, Than you can put us to't. though absent; shook hands, as over a vast; and embraced, as it were, from the ends of opposed winds. The heavens continue their loves!

Arch. I think, there is not in the world either

(1) Nobly supplied by substitution of embassies. (2) Wide waste of country.

Pol.

Leon. One seven-night

Pol.

We are tougher, brother,

No longer stay. longer.

Very sooth, to-morrow.

Leon. We'll part the time between's then: and in that

(3) Affords a cordial to the state. (4) Nipping,