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Home > Taming of the Shrew > ACT III - SCENE I. Padua. BAPTISTA'S house.

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ACT III - SCENE I. Padua. BAPTISTA'S house.
Enter LUCENTIO, HORTENSIO, and BIANCA

LUCENTIO
1    Fiddler, forbear; you grow too forward, sir:
2    Have you so soon forgot the entertainment
3    Her sister Katharina welcomed you withal?
HORTENSIO
4    But, wrangling pedant, this is
5    The patroness of heavenly harmony:
6    Then give me leave to have prerogative;
7    And when in music we have spent an hour,
8    Your lecture shall have leisure for as much.
LUCENTIO
9    Preposterous ass, that never read so far
10   To know the cause why music was ordain'd!
11   Was it not to refresh the mind of man
12   After his studies or his usual pain?
13   Then give me leave to read philosophy,
14   And while I pause, serve in your harmony.
HORTENSIO
15   Sirrah, I will not bear these braves of thine.
BIANCA
16   Why, gentlemen, you do me double wrong,
17   To strive for that which resteth in my choice:
18   I am no breeching scholar in the schools;
19   I'll not be tied to hours nor 'pointed times,
20   But learn my lessons as I please myself.
21   And, to cut off all strife, here sit we down:
22   Take you your instrument, play you the whiles;
23   His lecture will be done ere you have tuned.
HORTENSIO
24   You'll leave his lecture when I am in tune?
LUCENTIO
25   That will be never: tune your instrument.
BIANCA
26   Where left we last?
LUCENTIO
27   Here, madam:
28   'Hic ibat Simois; hic est Sigeia tellus;
29   Hic steterat Priami regia celsa senis.'
BIANCA
30   Construe them.
LUCENTIO
31   'Hic ibat,' as I told you before, 'Simois,' I am
32   Lucentio, 'hic est,' son unto Vincentio of Pisa,
33   'Sigeia tellus,' disguised thus to get your love;
34   'Hic steterat,' and that Lucentio that comes
35   a-wooing, 'Priami,' is my man Tranio, 'regia,'
36   bearing my port, 'celsa senis,' that we might
37   beguile the old pantaloon.
HORTENSIO
38   Madam, my instrument's in tune.
BIANCA
39   Let's hear. O fie! the treble jars.
LUCENTIO
40   Spit in the hole, man, and tune again.
BIANCA
41   Now let me see if I can construe it: 'Hic ibat
42   Simois,' I know you not, 'hic est Sigeia tellus,' I
43   trust you not; 'Hic steterat Priami,' take heed
44   he hear us not, 'regia,' presume not, 'celsa senis,'
45   despair not.
HORTENSIO
46   Madam, 'tis now in tune.
LUCENTIO
47   All but the base.
HORTENSIO
48   The base is right; 'tis the base knave that jars.
Aside
49   How fiery and forward our pedant is!
50   Now, for my life, the knave doth court my love:
51   Pedascule, I'll watch you better yet.
BIANCA
52   In time I may believe, yet I mistrust.
LUCENTIO
53   Mistrust it not: for, sure, AEacides
54   Was Ajax, call'd so from his grandfather.
BIANCA
55   I must believe my master; else, I promise you,
56   I should be arguing still upon that doubt:
57   But let it rest. Now, Licio, to you:
58   Good masters, take it not unkindly, pray,
59   That I have been thus pleasant with you both.
HORTENSIO
60   You may go walk, and give me leave a while:
61   My lessons make no music in three parts.
LUCENTIO
62   Are you so formal, sir? well, I must wait,
Aside
63   And watch withal; for, but I be deceived,
64   Our fine musician groweth amorous.
HORTENSIO
65   Madam, before you touch the instrument,
66   To learn the order of my fingering,
67   I must begin with rudiments of art;
68   To teach you gamut in a briefer sort,
69   More pleasant, pithy and effectual,
70   Than hath been taught by any of my trade:
71   And there it is in writing, fairly drawn.
BIANCA
72   Why, I am past my gamut long ago.
HORTENSIO
73   Yet read the gamut of Hortensio.
BIANCA
Reads
74    ''Gamut' I am, the ground of all accord,
75   'A re,' to Plead Hortensio's passion;
76   'B mi,' Bianca, take him for thy lord,
77   'C fa ut,' that loves with all affection:
78   'D sol re,' one clef, two notes have I:
79   'E la mi,' show pity, or I die.'
80   Call you this gamut? tut, I like it not:
81   Old fashions please me best; I am not so nice,
82   To change true rules for old inventions.
Enter a Servant

Servant
83   Mistress, your father prays you leave your books
84   And help to dress your sister's chamber up:
85   You know to-morrow is the wedding-day.
BIANCA
86   Farewell, sweet masters both; I must be gone.
Exeunt BIANCA and Servant

LUCENTIO
87   Faith, mistress, then I have no cause to stay.
Exit

HORTENSIO
88   But I have cause to pry into this pedant:
89   Methinks he looks as though he were in love:
90   Yet if thy thoughts, Bianca, be so humble
91   To cast thy wandering eyes on every stale,
92   Seize thee that list: if once I find thee ranging,
93   Hortensio will be quit with thee by changing.
Exit

< (Previous) ACT II, SCENE IACT III, II (Next) >
Scene Index
  • INDUCTION
  • SCENE I
  • SCENE II


  • ACT I
  • SCENE I
  • SCENE II


  • ACT II
  • SCENE I


  • ACT III
  • SCENE I
  • SCENE II


  • ACT IV
  • SCENE I
  • SCENE II
  • SCENE III
  • SCENE IV
  • SCENE V


  • ACT V
  • SCENE I
  • SCENE II

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