Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
Act 4 - Scene 4
Padua. Before BAPTISTA’S house
Tranio : Sir, this is the house; please it you that I call?
Pedant : Ay, what else? And, but I be deceived,
[p]Signior Baptista may
remember me
[p]Near twenty years ago in Genoa,
[p]Where we were
lodgers at the Pegasus.
Tranio : 'Tis well; and hold your own, in any case,
[p]With such austerity as
longeth to a father.
Pedant : I warrant you. But, sir, here comes your boy;
[p]'Twere good he were
school'd.
Tranio : Fear you not him. Sirrah Biondello,
[p]Now do your duty throughly, I
advise you.
[p]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,
[p]And that you look'd for
him this day in Padua.
Tranio : Th'art a tall fellow; hold thee that to drink.
[p]Here comes Baptista.
Set your countenance, sir.
[p][Enter BAPTISTA, and LUCENTIO as
CAMBIO]
[p]Signior Baptista, you are happily met.
[p][To To the
PEDANT] Sir, this is the gentleman I told you of;
[p]I pray you stand
good father to me now;
[p]Give me Bianca for my patrimony.
Pedant : Soft, son!
[p]Sir, by your leave: having come to Padua
[p]To gather in
some debts, my son Lucentio
[p]Made me acquainted with a weighty
cause
[p]Of love between your daughter and himself;
[p]And- for the
good report I hear of you,
[p]And for the love he beareth to your
daughter,
[p]And she to him- to stay him not too long,
[p]I am
content, in a good father's care,
[p]To have him match'd; and, if you
please to like
[p]No worse than I, upon some agreement
[p]Me shall you
find ready and willing
[p]With one consent to have her so
bestow'd;
[p]For curious I cannot be with you,
[p]Signior Baptista, of
whom I hear so well.
Baptista Minola : Sir, pardon me in what I have to say.
[p]Your plainness and your
shortness please me well.
[p]Right true it is your son Lucentio
here
[p]Doth love my daughter, and she loveth him,
[p]Or both
dissemble deeply their affections;
[p]And therefore, if you say no
more than this,
[p]That like a father you will deal with him,
[p]And
pass my daughter a sufficient dower,
[p]The match is made, and all is
done-
[p]Your son shall have my daughter with consent.
Tranio : I thank you, sir. Where then do you know best
[p]We be affied, and
such assurance ta'en
[p]As shall with either part's agreement stand?
Baptista Minola : Not in my house, Lucentio, for you know
[p]Pitchers have ears, and I
have many servants;
[p]Besides, old Gremio is heark'ning still,
[p]And
happily we might be interrupted.
Tranio : Then at my lodging, an it like you.
[p]There doth my father lie; and
there this night
[p]We'll pass the business privately and
well.
[p]Send for your daughter by your servant here;
[p]My boy shall
fetch the scrivener presently.
[p]The worst is this, that at so
slender warning
[p]You are like to have a thin and slender pittance.
Baptista Minola : It likes me well. Cambio, hie you home,
[p]And bid Bianca make her
ready straight;
[p]And, if you will, tell what hath
happened-
[p]Lucentio's father is arriv'd in Padua,
[p]And how she's
like to be Lucentio's wife. Exit LUCENTIO
Biondello : I pray the gods she may, with all my heart.
Tranio : Dally not with the gods, but get thee gone.
[p][Exit
BIONDELLO]
[p]Signior Baptista, shall I lead the way?
[p]Welcome! One
mess is like to be your cheer;
[p]Come, sir; we will better it in
Pisa.
Baptista Minola : I follow you. Exeunt
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
[p]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
[p]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
[p]at all
hours.
Lucentio : And what of all this?
Biondello : I cannot tell, except they are busied about a
[p]counterfeit
assurance. Take your assurance of her, cum privilegio
[p]ad
imprimendum solum; to th' church take the priest, clerk, and
[p]some
sufficient honest witnesses.
[p]If this be not that you look for, I
have more to say,
[p]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
[p]as she went
to the garden for parsley to stuff a rabbit; and so
[p]may you, sir;
and so adieu, sir. My master hath appointed me to
[p]go to Saint
Luke's to bid the priest be ready to come against you
[p]come with
your appendix.
Lucentio : I may and will, if she be so contented.
[p]She will be pleas'd; then
wherefore should I doubt?
[p]Hap what hap may, I'll roundly go about
her;
[p]It shall go hard if Cambio go without her. Exit
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Next: Act 4 - Scene 5
