Padua. Before BAPTISTA’S House. | |
| |
Enter TRANIO, and the Pedant dressed like VINCENTIO. | |
| Tra. Sir, this is the house: please it you that I call? | |
| Ped. Ay, what else? and, but I be deceived, | 4 |
| Signior Baptista may remember me, | |
| Near twenty years ago, in Genoa, | |
| Where we were lodgers at the Pegasus. | |
| Tra. ’Tis well; and hold your own, in any case, | 8 |
| With such austerity as ’longeth to a father. | |
| Ped. I warrant you. But, sir, here comes your boy; | |
| ’Twere good he were school’d. | |
| |
Enter BIONDELLO. | 12 |
| Tra. Fear you not him. Sirrah Biondello, | |
| Now do your duty throughly, I advise you: | |
| Imagine ’twere the right Vincentio. | |
| Bion. Tut! fear not me. | 16 |
| Tra. But hast thou done thy errand to Baptista? | |
| Bion. I told him that your father was at Venice, | |
| And that you look’d for him this day in Padua. | |
| Tra. Thou’rt a tall fellow: hold thee that to drink. | 20 |
| Here comes Baptista. Set your countenance, sir. | |
| |
Enter BAPTISTA and LUCENTIO. | |
| Signior Baptista, you are happily met. | |
| [To the Pedant.] Sir, this is the gentleman I told you of: | 24 |
| I pray you, stand good father to me now, | |
| Give me Bianca for my patrimony. | |
| Ped. Soft, son! | |
| Sir, by your leave: having come to Padua | 28 |
| 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, | 32 |
| 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 | 36 |
| 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, | 40 |
| Signior Baptista, of whom I hear so well. | |
| Bap. 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 | 44 |
| 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 | 48 |
| And pass my daughter a sufficient dower, | |
| The match is made, and all is done: | |
| Your son shall have my daughter with consent. | |
| Tra. I thank you, sir. Where, then, do you know best | 52 |
| We be affied and such assurance ta’en | |
| As shall with either part’s agreement stand? | |
| Bap. Not in my house, Lucentio; for, you know, | |
| Pitchers have ears, and I have many servants. | 56 |
| Besides, old Gremio is hearkening still, | |
| And happily we might be interrupted. | |
| Tra. Then at my lodging an it like you: | |
| There doth my father lie, and there this night | 60 |
| We’ll pass 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, | 64 |
| You’re like to have a thin and slender pittance. | |
| Bap. It likes me well. Cambio, hie you home, | |
| And bid Bianca make her ready straight; | |
| And, if you will, tell what hath happened: | 68 |
| Lucentio’s father is arriv’d in Padua, | |
| And how she’s like to be Lucentio’s wife. | |
| Luc. I pray the gods she may with all my heart! | |
| Tra. Dally not with the gods, but get thee gone. | 72 |
| Signior Baptista, shall I lead the way? | |
| Welcome! one mess is like to be your cheer. | |
| Come, sir; we will better it in Pisa. | |
| Bap. I follow you. [Exeunt TRANIO, Pedant, and BAPTISTA. | 76 |
| Bion. Cambio! | |
| Luc. What sayst thou, Biondello? | |
| Bion. You saw my master wink and laugh upon you? | |
| Luc. Biondello, what of that? | 80 |
| Bion. Faith, nothing; but he has left me here behind to expound the meaning or moral of his signs and tokens. | |
| Luc. I pray thee, moralize them. | |
| Bion. Then thus. Baptista is safe, talking with the deceiving father of a deceitful son. | |
| Luc. And what of him? | 84 |
| Bion. His daughter is to be brought by you to the supper. | |
| Luc. And then? | |
| Bion. The old priest at Saint Luke’s church is at your command at all hours. | |
| Luc. And what of all this? | 88 |
| Bion. I cannot tell, expect they are busied about a counterfeit assurance: take you assurance of her, cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum. To the church! take the priest, clerk, and some sufficient honest witnesses. | |
| If this be not that you look for, I have no more to say, | |
| But bid Bianca farewell for ever and a day. [Going. | |
| Luc. Hearest thou, Biondello? | 92 |
| Bion. 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. | |
| Luc. 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: | 96 |
| It shall go hard if Cambio go without her. [Exit. | |