Pet. Sir, sir, the first's for me; let her go by. Gre. Yea, leave that labor to great Hercules; And let it be more than Alcides' twelve. Pet. Sir, understand you this of me, in sooth;The youngest daughter, whom you hearken for, Her father keeps from all access of suitors, And will not promise her to any man, Until the elder sister first be wed. The younger then is free, and not before. Tra. If it be so, sir, that you are the man For our access,—whose hap shall be to have her, Hor. Sir, you say well, and well do you conceive; And since you do profess to be a suitor, You must, as we do, gratify this gentleman, To whom we all rest generally beholden. Tra. Sir, I shall not be slack: in sign whereof, Please ye we may contrive this afternoon, 1 And quaff carouses to our mistress' health; Strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends. gone. Fellows, let's be Hor. The motion's good indeed, and be it so ;— Petruchio, I shall be your ben venuto. [Exeunt. 1 To contrive is to wear out, to pass away, from contrivi, the preterit of contero, one of the disused Latinisms. 2 Fellows means companions, and not fellow-servants, as Malone supposed. ACT II. SCENE I. The same. A Room in Baptista's House. Enter KATHARINA and BIANCA. Bian. Good sister, wrong me not, nor wrong your self, To make a bondmaid and a slave of me; Kath. Of all thy suitors, here I charge thee, tell Kath. Minion, thou liest. Is't not Hortensio ? Bian. Is it for him you do envy me so? Kath. If that be jest, then all the rest was so. Enter BAPTISTA. [Strikes her. Bap. Why, how now, dame! whence grows this insolence ? Bianca, stand aside;-poor girl! she weeps.- 1 Love. |