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The Taming of the Shrew: Act 4, Scene 4

           Enter TRANIO [as Lucentio], and the
           PEDANT dress'd like Vincentio.

      TRANIO
  1   Sir, this is the house: please it you that I call?

      Pedant
  2   Ay, what else? and but I be deceived
  3   Signior Baptista may remember me,
  4   Near twenty years ago, in Genoa,
  5   Where we were lodgers at the Pegasus.

      TRANIO
  6   'Tis well; and hold your own, in any case,
  7   With such austerity as 'longeth to a father.

           Enter BIONDELLO.

      Pedant
  8   I warrant you. But, sir, here comes your boy;
  9   'Twere good he were school'd.

      TRANIO
 10   Fear you not him. Sirrah Biondello,
 11   Now do your duty throughly, I advise you:
 12   Imagine 'twere the right Vincentio.

      BIONDELLO
 13   Tut, fear not me.

      TRANIO
 14   But hast thou done thy errand to Baptista?

      BIONDELLO
 15   I told him that your father was at Venice,
 16   And that you look'd for him this day in Padua.

      TRANIO
 17   Thou'rt a tall fellow: hold thee that to drink.
 18   Here comes Baptista: set your countenance, sir.

           Enter BAPTISTA and
           LUCENTIO [as Cambio].

 19   Signior Baptista, you are happily met.

           [To the Pedant.]

 20   Sir, this is the gentleman I told you of:
 21   I pray you stand good father to me now,
 22   Give me Bianca for my patrimony.

      Pedant
 23   Soft son!
 24   Sir, by your leave: having come to Padua
 25   To gather in some debts, my son Lucentio
 26   Made me acquainted with a weighty cause
 27   Of love between your daughter and himself:
 28   And, for the good report I hear of you
 29   And for the love he beareth to your daughter
 30   And she to him, to stay him not too long,
 31   I am content, in a good father's care,
 32   To have him match'd; and if you please to like
 33   No worse than I, upon some agreement
 34   Me shall you find ready and willing
 35   With one consent to have her so bestow'd;
 36   For curious I cannot be with you,
 37   Signior Baptista, of whom I hear so well.

      BAPTISTA
 38   Sir, pardon me in what I have to say:
 39   Your plainness and your shortness please me well.
 40   Right true it is, your son Lucentio here
 41   Doth love my daughter and she loveth him,
 42   Or both dissemble deeply their affections:
 43   And therefore, if you say no more than this,
 44   That like a father you will deal with him
 45   And pass my daughter a sufficient dower,
 46   The match is made, and all is done:
 47   Your son shall have my daughter with consent.

      TRANIO
 48   I thank you, sir. Where then do you know best
 49   We be affied and such assurance ta'en
 50   As shall with either part's agreement stand?

      BAPTISTA
 51   Not in my house, Lucentio; for, you know,
 52   Pitchers have ears, and I have many servants:
 53   Besides, old Gremio is heark'ning still;
 54   And happily we might be interrupted.

      TRANIO
 55   Then at my lodging, an it like you:
 56   There doth my father lie; and there, this night,
 57   We'll pass the business privately and well.
 58   Send for your daughter by your servant here:
 59   My boy shall fetch the scrivener presently.
 60   The worst is this, that, at so slender warning,
 61   You are like to have a thin and slender pittance.

      BAPTISTA
 62   It likes me well. Cambio, hie you home,
 63   And bid Bianca make her ready straight;
 64   And, if you will, tell what hath happened,
 65   Lucentio's father is arrived in Padua,
 66   And how she's like to be Lucentio's wife.

           [Exit Lucentio.]

      BIONDELLO
 67   I pray the gods she may with all my heart!

      TRANIO
 68   Dally not with the gods, but get thee gone.

           [Exit Biondello.]

           Enter PETER, [a servant, who whispers
           to Tranio].

 69   Signior Baptista, shall I lead the way?
 70   Welcome! one mess is like to be your cheer:
 71   Come, sir; we will better it in Pisa.

      BAPTISTA
 72   I follow you.

           Exeunt [Tranio, Pedant, Baptista,
           and Peter].

           Enter LUCENTIO [as Cambio]
           and BIONDELLO.

      BIONDELLO
 73   Cambio!

      LUCENTIO
 74   What sayest thou, Biondello?

      BIONDELLO
 75   You saw my master wink and laugh upon
 76   you?

      LUCENTIO
 77   Biondello, what of that?

      BIONDELLO
 78   Faith, nothing; but h'as left me here behind, to
 79   expound the meaning or moral of his signs and
 80   tokens.

      LUCENTIO
 81   I pray thee, moralize them.

      BIONDELLO
 82   Then thus. Baptista is safe, talking with the
 83   deceiving father of a deceitful son.

      LUCENTIO
 84   And what of him?

      BIONDELLO
 85   His daughter is to be brought by you to
 86   the supper.

      LUCENTIO
 87   And then?

      BIONDELLO
 88   The old priest of Saint Luke's church is at your
 89   command at all hours.

      LUCENTIO
 90   And what of all this?

      BIONDELLO
 91   I cannot tell; expect they are busied about a
 92   counterfeit assurance: take you assurance of her,
 93   "cum privilegio ad imprimendum solum"; to the
 94   church; take the priest, clerk, and some sufficient
 95   honest witnesses: If this be not that you look for,
 96   I have no more to say, But bid Bianca farewell for
 97   ever and a day.

      LUCENTIO
 98   Hearest thou, Biondello?

      BIONDELLO
 99   I cannot tarry: I knew a wench married in an
100   afternoon as she went to the garden for parsley to
101   stuff a rabbit; and so may you, sir: and so, adieu,
102   sir. My master hath appointed me to go to Saint
103   Luke's, to bid the priest be ready to come against
104   you come with your appendix.

           Exit.

      LUCENTIO
105   I may, and will, if she be so contented:
106   She will be pleased; then wherefore should I doubt?
107   Hap what hap may, I'll roundly go about her:
108   It shall go hard if Cambio go without her.

           Exit.

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