Margaret
Give us the swords; we have bucklers of our own.
Benedick
If you use them, Margaret, you must put in the pikes with a vice; and they are dangerous weapons for maids.
Margaret
Well, I will call Beatrice to you, who I think hath legs.
Benedick
And therefore will come.
Exit Margaret
[Sings] The god of love,
That sits above,
And knows me, and knows me,
How pitiful I deserve,—
I mean in singing; but in loving, Leander the good swimmer, Troilus the first employer of panders, and a whole bookful of these quondam carpet-mangers, whose names yet run smoothly in the even road of a blank verse, why, they were never so truly turned over and over as my poor self in love. Marry, I cannot show it in rhyme; I have tried: I can find out no rhyme to ‘lady’ but ‘baby,’ an innocent rhyme; for ‘scorn,’ ‘horn,’ a hard rhyme; for, ‘school,’ ‘fool,’ a babbling rhyme; very ominous endings: no, I was not born under a rhyming planet, nor I cannot woo in festival terms.
Enter Beatrice
Sweet Beatrice, wouldst thou come when I called thee?
Beatrice
Yea, signior, and depart when you bid me.
Benedick
O, stay but till then!
Beatrice
‘Then’ is spoken; fare you well now: and yet, ere I go, let me go with that I came; which is, with knowing what hath passed between you and Claudio.
Benedick
Only foul words; and thereupon I will kiss thee.
Beatrice
Foul words is but foul wind, and foul wind is but foul breath, and foul breath is noisome; therefore I will depart unkissed.
Benedick
Thou hast frighted the word out of his right sense, so forcible is thy wit. But I must tell thee plainly, Claudio undergoes my challenge; and either I must shortly hear from him, or I will subscribe him a coward. And, I pray thee now, tell me for which of my bad parts didst thou first fall in love with me?
Beatrice
For them all together; which maintained so politic a state of evil that they will not admit any good part to intermingle with them. But for which of my good parts did you first suffer love for me?
Benedick
Suffer love! a good epithet! I do suffer love indeed, for I love thee against my will.
Beatrice
In spite of your heart, I think; alas, poor heart! If you spite it for my sake, I will spite it for yours; for I will never love that which my friend hates.
Benedick
Thou and I are too wise to woo peaceably.
Beatrice
It appears not in this confession: there’s not one wise man among twenty that will praise himself.
Benedick
An old, an old instance, Beatrice, that lived in the lime of good neighbours. If a man do not erect in this age his own tomb ere he dies, he shall live no longer in monument than the bell rings and the widow weeps.
Beatrice
And how long is that, think you?
Benedick
Question: why, an hour in clamour and a quarter in rheum: therefore is it most expedient for the wise, if Don Worm, his conscience, find no impediment to the contrary, to be the trumpet of his own virtues, as I am to myself. So much for praising myself, who, I myself will bear witness, is praiseworthy: and now tell me, how doth your cousin?
Beatrice
Very ill.
Benedick
And how do you?
Beatrice
Very ill too.
Benedick
Serve God, love me and mend. There will I leave you too, for here comes one in haste.
Enter Ursula
Ursula
Madam, you must come to your uncle. Yonder’s old coil at home: it is proved my Lady Hero hath been falsely accused, the prince and Claudio mightily abused; and Don John is the author of all, who is fed and gone. Will you come presently?
Beatrice
Will you go hear this news, signior?
Benedick
I will live in thy heart, die in thy lap, and be buried in thy eyes; and moreover I will go with thee to thy uncle’s.
Exeunt
SCENE III. A CHURCH.
Enter Don Pedro, Claudio, and three or four with tapers
Claudio
Is this the monument of Leonato?
Lord
It is, my lord.
Claudio
[Reading out of a scroll]
Done to death by slanderous tongues
Was the Hero that here lies:
Death, in guerdon of her wrongs,
Gives her fame which never dies.
So the life that died with shame
Lives in death with glorious fame.
Hang thou there upon the tomb,
Praising her when I am dumb.
Now, music, sound, and sing your solemn hymn.
[Sings] Pardon, goddess of the night,
Those that slew thy virgin knight;
For the which, with songs of woe,
Round about her tomb they go.
Midnight, assist our moan;
Help us to sigh and groan,
Heavily, heavily:
Graves, yawn and yield your dead,
Till death be uttered,
Heavily, heavily.
Claudio
Now, unto thy bones good night!
Yearly will I do this rite.
Don Pedro
Good morrow, masters; put your torches out:
The wolves have prey’d; and look, the gentle day,
Before the wheels of Phoebus, round about
Dapples the drowsy east with spots of grey.
Thanks to you all, and leave us: fare you well.
Claudio
Good morrow, masters: each his several way.
Don Pedro
Come, let us hence, and put on other weeds;
And then to Leonato’s we will go.
Claudio
And Hymen now with luckier issue speed’s
Than this for whom we render’d up this woe.
Exeunt
SCENE IV. A ROOM IN LEONATO’S HOUSE.
Enter Leonato, Antonio, Benedick, Beatrice, Margaret, Ursula, Friar Francis, and Hero
Friar Francis
Did I not tell you she was innocent?
Leonato
So are the prince and Claudio, who accused her
Upon the error that you heard debated:
But Margaret was in some fault for this,
Although against her will, as it appears
In the true course of all the question.
Antonio
Well, I am glad that all things sort so well.
Benedick
And so am I, being else by faith enforced
To call young Claudio to a reckoning for it.
Leonato
Well, daughter, and you gentle-women all,
Withdraw into a chamber by yourselves,
And when I send for you, come hither mask’d.
Exeunt Ladies
The prince and Claudio promised by this hour
To visit me. You know your office, brother:
You must be father to your brother’s daughter
And give her to young Claudio.
Antonio
Which I will do with confirm’d countenance.
Benedick
Friar, I must entreat your pains, I think.
Friar Francis
To do what, signior?
Benedick
To bind me, or undo me; one of them.
Signior Leonato, truth it is, good signior,
Your niece regards me with an eye of favour.
Leonato
That eye my daughter lent her: ’tis most true.
Benedick
And I do with an eye of love requite her.
Leonato
The sight w
hereof I think you had from me,
From Claudio and the prince: but what’s your will?
Benedick
Your answer, sir, is enigmatical:
But, for my will, my will is your good will
May stand with ours, this day to be conjoin’d
In the state of honourable marriage:
In which, good friar, I shall desire your help.
Leonato
My heart is with your liking.
Friar Francis
And my help.
Here comes the prince and Claudio.
Enter Don Pedro and Claudio, and two or three others
Don Pedro
Good morrow to this fair assembly.
Leonato
Good morrow, prince; good morrow, Claudio:
We here attend you. Are you yet determined
To-day to marry with my brother’s daughter?
Claudio
I’ll hold my mind, were she an Ethiope.
Leonato
Call her forth, brother; here’s the friar ready.
Exit Antonio
Don Pedro
Good morrow, Benedick. Why, what’s the matter,
That you have such a February face,
So full of frost, of storm and cloudiness?
Claudio
I think he thinks upon the savage bull.
Tush, fear not, man; we’ll tip thy horns with gold
And all Europa shall rejoice at thee,
As once Europa did at lusty Jove,
When he would play the noble beast in love.
Benedick
Bull Jove, sir, had an amiable low;
And some such strange bull leap’d your father’s cow,
And got a calf in that same noble feat
Much like to you, for you have just his bleat.
Claudio
For this I owe you: here comes other reckonings.
Re-enter Antonio, with the Ladies masked
Which is the lady I must seize upon?
Antonio
This same is she, and I do give you her.
Claudio
Why, then she’s mine. Sweet, let me see your face.
Leonato
No, that you shall not, till you take her hand
Before this friar and swear to marry her.
Claudio
Give me your hand: before this holy friar,
I am your husband, if you like of me.
Hero
And when I lived, I was your other wife:
Unmasking
And when you loved, you were my other husband.
Claudio
Another Hero!
Hero
Nothing certainer:
One Hero died defiled, but I do live,
And surely as I live, I am a maid.
Don Pedro
The former Hero! Hero that is dead!
Leonato
She died, my lord, but whiles her slander lived.
Friar Francis
All this amazement can I qualify:
When after that the holy rites are ended,
I’ll tell you largely of fair Hero’s death:
Meantime let wonder seem familiar,
And to the chapel let us presently.
Benedick
Soft and fair, friar. Which is Beatrice?
Beatrice
[Unmasking] I answer to that name. What is your will?
Benedick
Do not you love me?
Beatrice
Why, no; no more than reason.
Benedick
Why, then your uncle and the prince and Claudio
Have been deceived; they swore you did.
Beatrice
Do not you love me?
Benedick
Troth, no; no more than reason.
Beatrice
Why, then my cousin Margaret and Ursula
Are much deceived; for they did swear you did.
Benedick
They swore that you were almost sick for me.
Beatrice
They swore that you were well-nigh dead for me.
Benedick
’Tis no such matter. Then you do not love me?
Beatrice
No, truly, but in friendly recompense.
Leonato
Come, cousin, I am sure you love the gentleman.
Claudio
And I’ll be sworn upon’t that he loves her;
For here’s a paper written in his hand,
A halting sonnet of his own pure brain,
Fashion’d to Beatrice.
Hero
And here’s another
Writ in my cousin’s hand, stolen from her pocket,
Containing her affection unto Benedick.
Benedick
A miracle! here’s our own hands against our hearts. Come, I will have thee; but, by this light, I take thee for pity.
Beatrice
I would not deny you; but, by this good day, I yield upon great persuasion; and partly to save your life, for I was told you were in a consumption.
Benedick
Peace! I will stop your mouth.
Kissing her
Don Pedro
How dost thou, Benedick, the married man?
Benedick
I’ll tell thee what, prince; a college of wit-crackers cannot flout me out of my humour. Dost thou think I care for a satire or an epigram? No: if a man will be beaten with brains, a’ shall wear nothing handsome about him. In brief, since I do purpose to marry, I will think nothing to any purpose that the world can say against it; and therefore never flout at me for what I have said against it; for man is a giddy thing, and this is my conclusion. For thy part, Claudio, I did think to have beaten thee, but in that thou art like to be my kinsman, live unbruised and love my cousin.
Claudio
I had well hoped thou wouldst have denied Beatrice, that I might have cudgelled thee out of thy single life, to make thee a double-dealer; which, out of question, thou wilt be, if my cousin do not look exceedingly narrowly to thee.
Benedick
Come, come, we are friends: let’s have a dance ere we are married, that we may lighten our own hearts and our wives’ heels.
Leonato
We’ll have dancing afterward.
Benedick
First, of my word; therefore play, music. Prince, thou art sad; get thee a wife, get thee a wife: there is no staff more reverend than one tipped with horn.
Enter a Messenger
Messenger
My lord, your brother John is ta’en in flight,
And brought with armed men back to Messina.
Benedick
Think not on him till to-morrow:
I’ll devise thee brave punishments for him.
Strike up, pipers.
Dance
Exeunt
The Taming of the Shrew
TABLE OF CONTENTS
CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY
PERSONS IN THE INDUCTION
PERSONS OF THE PLAY
INDUCTION
SCENE I. BEFORE AN ALEHOUSE ON A HEATH.
SCENE II. A BEDCHAMBER IN THE LORD’S HOUSE.
ACT I
SCENE I. PADUA. A PUBLIC PLACE.
SCENE II. PADUA. BEFORE HORTENSIO’S HOUSE.
ACT II
SCENE I. PADUA. A ROOM IN BAPTISTA’S HOUSE.
ACT III
SCENE I. PADUA. BAPTISTA’S HOUSE.
SCENE II. PADUA. BEFORE BAPTISTA’S HOUSE.
ACT IV
SCENE I. PETRUCHIO’S COUNTRY HOUSE.
SCENE II. PADUA. BEFORE BAPTISTA’S HOUSE.
SCENE III. A ROOM IN PETRUCHIO’S HOUSE.
SCENE IV. PADUA. BEFORE BAPTISTA’S HOUSE.
SCENE V. A PUBLIC ROAD.
ACT V
SCENE I. PADUA. BEFORE LUCENTIO’S HOUSE.
SCENE II. PADUA. LUCENTIO’S HOUSE.
CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY
PERSONS IN THE INDUCTION<
br />
A Lord,
Christopher Sly, a tinker.
Hostess,
Page,
Players, Huntsmen, and Servants.
PERSONS OF THE PLAY
Baptista, a rich gentleman of Padua, father of Bianca and Katherina.
Vincentio, an old gentleman of Pisa.
Lucentio, son to Vincentio, in love with Bianca.
Petruchio, a gentleman of Verona, a suitor to Katharina.
Gremio and Hortensio, suitors to Bianca.
Tranio and Biondello, servants to Lucentio.
Grumio, Curtis, Nathaniel, Nicholas, Joseph, Philip and Peter, servants to Petruchio.
A Pedant,
Katharina the shrew,
Bianca,
A Widow,
Tailor, Haberdasher, and Servants attending on Baptista and Petruchio.
Scene: Padua, and Petruchio's country house.
INDUCTION
SCENE I. BEFORE AN ALEHOUSE ON A HEATH.
Enter Hostess and Sly
Sly
I’ll pheeze you, in faith.
Hostess
A pair of stocks, you rogue!
Sly
Ye are a baggage: the Slys are no rogues; look in the chronicles; we came in with Richard Conqueror. Therefore paucas pallabris; let the world slide: sessa!
Hostess
You will not pay for the glasses you have burst?
Sly
No, not a denier. Go by, Jeronimy: go to thy cold bed, and warm thee.
Hostess
I know my remedy; I must go fetch the third — borough.
Exit
Sly
Third, or fourth, or fifth borough, I’ll answer him by law: I’ll not budge an inch, boy: let him come, and kindly.
Falls asleep
Horns winded. Enter a Lord from hunting, with his train
Lord
Huntsman, I charge thee, tender well my hounds:
Brach Merriman, the poor cur is emboss’d;
And couple Clowder with the deep — mouth’d brach.
Saw’st thou not, boy, how Silver made it good
At the hedge-corner, in the coldest fault?
I would not lose the dog for twenty pound.
First Huntsman
Why, Belman is as good as he, my lord;
He cried upon it at the merest loss
And twice to-day pick’d out the dullest scent:
Trust me, I take him for the better dog.
Lord
Thou art a fool: if Echo were as fleet,
I would esteem him worth a dozen such.
But sup them well and look unto them all:
To-morrow I intend to hunt again.
First Huntsman
I will, my lord.
Lord
Complete Plays, The Page 322