Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
Act 3 - Scene 1
Padua. BAPTISTA’S house
Lucentio : Fiddler, forbear; you grow too forward, sir.
[p]Have you so soon
forgot the entertainment
[p]Her sister Katherine welcome'd you
withal?
Hortensio : But, wrangling pedant, this is
[p]The patroness of heavenly
harmony.
[p]Then give me leave to have prerogative;
[p]And when in
music we have spent an hour,
[p]Your lecture shall have leisure for as
much.
Lucentio : Preposterous ass, that never read so far
[p]To know the cause why
music was ordain'd!
[p]Was it not to refresh the mind of man
[p]After
his studies or his usual pain?
[p]Then give me leave to read
philosophy,
[p]And while I pause serve in your harmony.
Hortensio : Sirrah, I will not bear these braves of thine.
Bianca : Why, gentlemen, you do me double wrong
[p]To strive for that which
resteth in my choice.
[p]I am no breeching scholar in the
schools,
[p]I'll not be tied to hours nor 'pointed times,
[p]But learn
my lessons as I please myself.
[p]And to cut off all strife: here sit
we down;
[p]Take you your instrument, play you the whiles!
[p]His
lecture will be done ere you have tun'd.
Hortensio : You'll leave his lecture when I am in tune?
Lucentio : That will be never- tune your instrument.
Bianca : Where left we last?
Lucentio : Here, madam:
[p]'Hic ibat Simois, hic est Sigeia tellus,
[p]Hic
steterat Priami regia celsa senis.'
Bianca : Construe them.
Lucentio : 'Hic ibat' as I told you before- 'Simois' I am Lucentio-
[p]'hic est'
son unto Vincentio of Pisa- 'Sigeia tellus' disguised
[p]thus to get
your love- 'Hic steterat' and that Lucentio that
[p]comes a-wooing-
'Priami' is my man Tranio- 'regia' bearing my
[p]port- 'celsa senis'
that we might beguile the old pantaloon.
Hortensio : Madam, my instrument's in tune.
Bianca : Let's hear. O fie! the treble jars.
Lucentio : Spit in the hole, man, and tune again.
Bianca : Now let me see if I can construe it: 'Hic ibat Simois' I
[p]know you
not- 'hic est Sigeia tellus' I trust you not- 'Hic
[p]steterat Priami'
take heed he hear us not- 'regia' presume not-
[p]'celsa senis'
despair not.
Hortensio : Madam, 'tis now in tune.
Lucentio : All but the bass.
Hortensio : The bass is right; 'tis the base knave that jars.
[p][Aside] How
fiery and forward our pedant is!
[p]Now, for my life, the knave doth
court my love.
[p]Pedascule, I'll watch you better yet.
Bianca : In time I may believe, yet I mistrust.
Lucentio : Mistrust it not- for sure, AEacides
[p]Was Ajax, call'd so from his
grandfather.
Bianca : I must believe my master; else, I promise you,
[p]I should be arguing
still upon that doubt;
[p]But let it rest. Now, Licio, to you.
[p]Good
master, take it not unkindly, pray,
[p]That I have been thus pleasant
with you both.
Hortensio : [To LUCENTIO] You may go walk and give me leave
[p] awhile;
[p]My
lessons make no music in three Parts.
Lucentio : Are you so formal, sir? Well, I must wait,
[p][Aside] And watch
withal; for, but I be deceiv'd,
[p]Our fine musician groweth amorous.
Hortensio : Madam, before you touch the instrument
[p]To learn the order of my
fingering,
[p]I must begin with rudiments of art,
[p]To teach you
gamut in a briefer sort,
[p]More pleasant, pithy, and
effectual,
[p]Than hath been taught by any of my trade;
[p]And there
it is in writing fairly drawn.
Bianca : Why, I am past my gamut long ago.
Hortensio : Yet read the gamut of Hortensio.
Bianca : [Reads]
[p] '"Gamut" I am, the ground of all accord-
[p] "A
re" to plead Hortensio's passion-
[p] "B mi" Bianca, take him for
thy lord-
[p] "C fa ut" that loves with all affection-
[p] "D
sol re" one clef, two notes have I-
[p] "E la mi" show pity or I
die.'
[p]Call you this gamut? Tut, I like it not!
[p]Old fashions
please me best; I am not so nice
[p]To change true rules for odd
inventions.
Servant : Mistress, your father prays you leave your books
[p]And help to dress
your sister's chamber up.
[p]You know to-morrow is the wedding-day.
Bianca : Farewell, sweet masters, both; I must be gone.
Lucentio : Faith, mistress, then I have no cause to stay.
Hortensio : But I have cause to pry into this pedant;
[p]Methinks he looks as
though he were in love.
[p]Yet if thy thoughts, Bianca, be so
humble
[p]To cast thy wand'ring eyes on every stale-
[p]Seize thee
that list. If once I find thee ranging,
[p]Hortensio will be quit with
thee by changing. Exit
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