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All Site ContentTaming of the ShrewAct 4Scene 1
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“It was the friar of orders grey, as he forth walked on his way”
Cultural Allusion
Act 4,
Scene 1
Lines 119-125

An explanation of Petruchio’s song in Act 4, Scene 1 of myShakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew.

Petruchio

[Singing] Where is the life that late I led?    
Where are those — Sit down, Kate, and welcome.
[Humming] Soud, soud, soud, soud!
[Re-enter Servants with supper]
Why, when, I say! — Nay, good sweet Kate, be merry —    
Off with my boots, you rogues! You villains, when!    
[Singing] It was the friar of orders grey,
As he forth walked on his way —

These are the opening lines to another ballad— a bawdy one about a priest seducing a nun.