1 Of wondrous virtues: sometimes 41 from her eyes Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth; Anto. Thou know'st that all my fortunes are at sea; To raise a present sum: therefore go forth; [Exeunt. 41 Sometimes and sometime were used indifferently, and often, as here, in the sense of formerly or former. 42 Nothing undervalued is not at all inferior in value. So, later in this play, we have "ten times undervalued to tried gold." And nothing as a strong negative is very frequent. 43 The language is awkward: "as one of them," we should say. 44 Commodity is merchandise, any thing that might be pledged as security for a loan. 45 Presently is immediately or forthwith. A common usage. SCENE II.-Belmont. A Room in PORTIA'S House. Enter PORTIA and NERISSA. Portia. By my troth,' Nerissa, my little body is a-weary of this great world. Neris. You would be, sweet madam, if your miseries were in the same abundance as your good fortunes are: and yet, for aught I see, they are as sick that surfeit with too much, as they that starve with nothing. It is no small happiness, therefore, to be seated in the mean: superfluity comes sooner by white hairs, but competency lives longer. Portia. Good sentences,3 and well pronounced. Portia. If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces. It is a good divine that follows his own instructions: I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching. The brain may devise laws for the blood; but a hot temper leaps o'er a cold decree: such a hare is madness the youth, to skip o'er the meshes of good-counsel the cripple. But this reasoning 5 is not in the fashion to choose me a husband. O me, the word choose! I may neither choose whom I would, nor refuse whom I dislike; so is the will of 1 Troth is merely an old form of truth. 2 Superfluity, that is, one who is rich and fares sumptuously, sooner acquires white hairs, or grows old. See page 79, note 2. 3 Sentences for maxims, or axiomatic sayings; like Milton's "brief, sententious precepts." 4 Blood here means the same as temper, a little after; and both are put for passion or impulse generally. 5 Reasoning for talk or conversation. The Poet repeatedly has reason, both as noun and verb, in the same sense. a living daughter curb'd by the will of a dead father. Is it not hard, Nerissa, that I cannot choose one, nor refuse none? Neris. Your father was ever virtuous; and holy7 men at their death have good inspirations: therefore, the lottery that he hath devised in these three chests of gold, silver, and lead whereof who chooses his meaning chooses you will no doubt never be chosen by any rightly, but one who shall rightly love. But what warmth is there in your affection towards any of these princely suitors that are already come? Portia. I pray thee over-name them, and, as thou namest them, I will describe them; and, according to my description, level at my affection. Neris. First, there is the Neapolitan Prince. Portia. Ay, that's a colt 9 indeed, for he doth nothing but talk of his horse; and he makes it a great appropriation 10 to his own good parts, that he can shoe him himself. Neris. Then is there the County Palatine. Portia. He doth nothing but frown; as who should say, -If you will not have me, choose. He hears merry tales, and _smiles not: I fear he will prove the weeping philosopher 6 The second will stands for what we call "will and testament." 11 7 The sense of holy, here, is explained by the words virtuous and good; upright and true. Often so. 8 Level at is guess or infer. The Poet uses aim in the same sense. 9 An equivoque on colt, which was used for a wild, dashing, skittish youngster. The Neapolitans were much noted for horsemanship. - 10 Appropriation is used rather oddly here, — in the sense, apparently, of addition. The word does not occur again in Shakespeare. 11 This was Heraclitus of Ephesus, who became a complete recluse, and retreated to the mountains, where he lived on pot-herbs. He was called "the weeping philosopher" because he mourned over the follies of mankind, just as Democritus was called "the laughing philosopher" because he laughed at them. Perhaps Portia has in mind the precept, "Rejoice with those that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep." when he grows old, being so full of unmannerly sadness in his youth. I had rather be married to a death's-head with a bone in his mouth than to either of these. God defend me from these two! man. Neris. How say you by12 the French lord, Monsieur le Bon? Portia. God made him, and therefore let him pass for a In truth, I know it is a sin to be a mocker: but he! why, he hath a horse better than the Neapolitan's ; a better bad habit of frowning than the Count Palatine: he is every man in no man: if a throstle sing, he falls straight a-capering; he will fence 13 with his own shadow. If I should marry him, I should marry twenty husbands. If he would 14 despise me, I would forgive him; for, if he love me to madness, I shall never requite him. Neris. What say you then to 15 Falconbridge, the young baron of England? Portia. You know I say nothing to him; for he understands not me, nor I him: he hath neither Latin, French, nor Italian; and you will come into the court and swear that I have a poor penny-worth in the English. 16 He is a proper 17 12 "What say you of, or in reference to?" By and of were often used indiscriminately. So in ii. 8, of this play: “That many may be meant by the fool multitude." 13 To fence is to manage the sword; to practise the art of defence, as it is called. Skill in handling the sword was formerly an indispensable accomplishment of a gentleman. 14 Would for should; the two being often used indiscriminately. So a little after: "You should refuse to perform." 15 Here to is used like by in note 12. In the next speech, Portia plays upon the word, using it in the ordinary sense. 16 "You will testify that I know very little of English." 17 Proper is handsome or fine-looking. Commonly so in the Poet's time. In Hebrews, xi. 23, the parents of Moses are said to have hidden him, "because they saw he was a proper child." man's picture; but, alas, who can converse with a dumbshow ? 18 How oddly he is suited! I think he bought his doublet in Italy, his round hose in France, his bonnet in Germany, 19 and his behaviour everywhere. Neris. What think you of the Scottish lord, his neighbour? Portia. That he hath a neighbourly charity in him; for he borrowed a box of the ear of the Englishman, and swore he would pay him again when he was able: I think the Frenchman became his surety, and seal'd under for another.20 Neris. How like you the young German, the Duke of Saxony's nephew? Portia. Very vilely in the morning when he is sober, and most vilely in the afternoon when he is drunk: when he is best, he is a little worse than a man; and when he is worst, he is little better than a beast. An21 the worst fall that ever fell, I hope I shall make shift to go without him. Neris. If he should offer to choose, and choose the right casket, you should refuse to perform your father's will, if you should refuse to accept him. Portia. Therefore, for fear of the worst, I pray thee, set a deep glass of Rhenish wine on the contrary casket; 22 for, if 18 A dumb-show is an action or character exhibited to the eye only; something like what we call a tableau. 19 Doublet was the name of a man's outside upper garment. - Hose was used for trousers or stockings, or both in one. - Bonnet and hat were used indifferently for a man's head-dress. 20 To seal was to subscribe; as Antonio afterwards says, "I'll seal to such a bond." The principal sealed to a bond, his surety sealed under. The meaning therefore is, that the Frenchman became surety for another box of the ear, to be given in repayment of the first. 21 An is an old equivalent for if. So used continually in Shakespeare's time. And so in the common phrase, “without any ifs or ans." 22 The wrong casket. So in King John, iv. 2: "Standing on slippers, which his nimble haste had falsely thrust upon contrary feet." |