blessing: truth will come to light; murder cannot be hid long, a man's son may; but, in the end, truth will out. Gob. Pray you, sir, stand up: I am sure, you are not Launcelot, my boy. Laun. Pray you, let's have no more fooling about it, but give me your blessing: I am Launcelot, your boy that was, your son that is, your child that shall be. Gob. I cannot think you are my son. Laun. I know not what I shall think of that: but I am Launcelot, the Jew's man; and, I am sure, Margery, your wife, is my mother. Gob. Her name is Margery, indeed: I'll be sworn, if thou be Launcelot, thou art mine own flesh and blood. Lord! worshipp'd might he be! what a beard hast thou got! thou hast got more hair on thy chin, than Dobbin my phill-horse has on his tail. Laun. It should seem, then, that Dobbin's tail grows backward: I am sure he had more hair of his tail than I have of my face, when I last saw him. Gob. Lord! how art thou chang'd! How dost thou and thy master agree? I have brought him a present. How agree you now? Laun. Well, well; but, for mine own part, as I have set up my rest' to run away, so I will not rest till I have run some ground. My master's a very That is, shaft-horse, or horse that goes in the shafts. Phili is usually printed thill; the editors probably not knowing that phill or fill was a common form of thill. In our boyhood we knew shafts by no name but fills. H. That is, determined. In Romeo and Juliet, Act iv. sc. 5, Shakespeare has again quibbled upon rest. "The County Paris hath set up his rest, that you shall rest but little." Jew: Give him a present! give him a halter: I am famish'd in his service; you may tell every finger I have with my ribs. Father, I am glad you are come: give me your present to one master Bassanio, who, indeed, gives rare new liveries: If I serve not him, I will run as far as God has any ground. -O, rare fortune! here comes the man:- to him, father; for I am a Jew, if I serve the Jew any longer. Enter BASSANIO, with LEONARDO, and other Followers. Bass. You may do so; - but let it be so hasted, that supper be ready at the farthest by five of the clock: See these letters delivered, put the liveries to making, and desire Gratiano to come anon to my lodging. [Exit a Servant. Laun. To him, father. Gob. God bless your worship! Bass. Gramercy! Would'st thou aught with me? Gob. Here's my son, sir, a poor boy, Laun. Not a poor boy, sir, but the rich Jew's man, that would, sir, as my father shall specify. Gob. He hath a great infection, sir, as one would say, to serve — Laun. Indeed, the short and the long is, I serve the Jew, and I have a desire, — as my father shall specify. Gob. His master and he (saving your worship's reverence) are scarce cater-cousins. Laun. To be brief, the very truth is, that the Jew having done me wrong, doth cause me,-as To understand the appropriateness of these words, we must remember that in Venice it was not easy to find ground enough ty run upon. H. my father, being I hope an old man, shall frutify unto you. Gob. I have here a dish of doves, that I would bestow upon your worship; and my suit is, Laun. In very brief, the suit is impertinent to myself, as your worship shall know by this honest old man; and, though I say it, though old man, yet. poor man, my father. Bass. One speak for both: What would you! Laun. Serve you, sir. Gob. This is the very defect of the matter, sir. Bass. I know thee well; thou hast obtain'd thy suit : Shylock, thy master, spoke with me this day, Laun. The old proverb is very well parted be tween my master Shylock and you, sir: you have the grace of God, sir, and he hath enough. Bass. Thou speak'st it well: Go, father, with thy son. Take leave of thy old master, and inquire There has been no little speculation among the later critics, whether Shakespeare ever visited Italy. Mr. Ch. A. Brown argues strongly that he did, and refers to this passage among others in proof of it. His argument runs thus: "Where did he obtain his numerous graphic touches of national manners? where did he learn of an old villager's coming into the city with a dish of doves' as a present to his son's master? A present thus given, and in our days too, and of doves, is not uncommon in Italy. I myself have partaken there, with due relish, in memory of poor old Gobbo, of a dish of doves, presented by the father of a servant." To the same purpose this ingenious writer quotes other passages, as inferring such a knowledge of the country as could hardly have been gained from books. Of course it does not follow but that the Poet may have gained it by conversing with other travellers; and it is well known that Kemp, a fellow-actor, visited l'aly. H My lodging out.-[To his followers.] Give him a livery More guarded 10 than his fellows': see it done. Laun. Father, in: - I cannot get a service, no; -I have ne'er a tongue in my head. - Well; [Looking on his palm.] if any man in Italy have a fairer table!" which doth offer to swear upon a book, I shall have good fortune. Go to; here's a simple line of life! here's a small trifle of wives : Alas! fifteen wives is nothing; eleven widows, and nine maids, is a simple coming-in for one man: and then, to 'scape drowning thrice; and to be in peril of my life with the edge of a feather-bed: - here are simple 'scapes! 12 Well, if fortune be a woman, she's a good wench for this gear.' - Father, come; I'll take my leave of the Jew in the twinkling of [Exeunt LAUNCELOT and old GOBBO. an eye. 13 10 That is, ornamented. Guards were trimmings, facings, or other ornaments, such as gold and silver lace. Mr. Tyrwhitt thus explains this passage: "Launcelot, applauding himself for his success with Bassanio, and looking into the palm of his hand, which by fortune-tellers is called the table, breaks out into the following reflection :—“ Well, if any man in Italy have a fairer table! which doth offer to swear upon a book, I shall have good fortune'- that is, a table which doth not only promise but offer to swear upon a book that I shall have good fortune. He omits the conclusion of the sentence." : 12 Launcelot was an adept in the art of chiromancy, which in his time had its learned professors and practitioners no less than astrology. Relics of this superstition have floated down to our day well do we remember to have seen people trying to study out their fortune from the palms of their hands. Launcelot Gobbo, however, was more highly favoured than they in 1558 was put forth a book by John Indagine, entitled "Briefe introductions, both natural, pleasaunte, and also delectable, unto the Art of Chiromancy, or manuel divination, and Physiognomy: with circumstances upon the faces of the Signes." "A simple line of life" written in the palm was cause of exultation to wiser ones than young Gobbo. His huge complacency, as he spells out his fortune, is in laugha ble keeping with his general skill at finding causes to think well of himself. 13 See Act i. sc. 1, note 5. H Bass. I pray thee, good Leonardo, think on this These things being bought, and orderly bestow'd, Return in haste, for I do feast to-night My best-esteem'd acquaintance: hie thee; go. Leon. My best endeavours shall be done herein. Enter GRATIANO. Gra. Where is your master? Leon. Yonder, sir, he walks. Bass. Gratiano! Gra. I have a suit to you. [Exit LEONAR You have obtain❜d it Gra. You must not deny me: I must go with you to Belmont. Bass. Why, then, you must: But hear thee Gratiano; Thou art too wild, too rude, and bold of voice; Parts, that become thee happily enough, And in such eyes as ours appear not faults; But where thou art not known, why, there they show Something too liberal:- Pray thee, take pain Thy skipping spirit; lest, through thy wild beha viour, I be misconster'd 14 in the place I go to, And lose my hopes. Gra. Signior Bassanio, hear me If I do not put on a sober habit, Talk with respect, and swear but now and then, Wear prayer-books in my pocket, look demurely; 14 So in all the old copies; generally but unwarrantably altered to misconstrued in modern editions. See Twelfth Night, Act iii sc. 1, note 5. |