Bass. Dear sir, of force I must attempt you
further;

Take some remembrance of us, as a tribute,
Not as a fee: grant me two things, I pray you,
Not to deny me, and to pardon me.

Por. You press me far, and therefore I will yield.
Give me your gloves, I'll wear them for your sake;
And, for your love, I'll take this ring from you:-
Do not draw back your hand; I'll take no more;
And you in love shall not deny me this.

Bass. This ring, good sir,-alas, it is a trifle; I will not shame myself to give you this.

Por. I will have nothing else but only this; And now, methinks, I have a mind to it.

[value. Bass. There's more depends on this than on the The dearest ring in Venice will I give you, And find it out by proclamation;

Only for this, I pray you pardon me.

Por. I see, sir, you are liberal in offers;

You taught me first to beg; and now, methinks,
You teach me how a beggar should be answer'd.
Bass. Good sir, this ring was given me by my wife;
And, when she put it on, she made me vow,
That I should neither sell, nor give, nor lose it.
Por. That 'scuse serves many men to save their
gifts.

An if your wife be not a mad woman,
And know how well I have deserv'd this ring,
She would not hold out enemy for ever,
For giving it to me. Well, peace be with you!
[Exeunt Portia and Nerissa.
Ant. My lord Bassanio, let him have the ring;
Let his deservings, and my love withal,
Be valued 'gainst your wife's commandment.
Bass. Go, Gratiano, run and overtake him,
Give him the ring; and bring him, if thou can'st,
Luto Antonio's house :-away, make haste.

[Exit Gratiano.

Come, you and I will thither presently; And in the morning early will we both Fly toward Belmont: Come, Antonio.

Gra. Fair sir, you are well overtaken: My lord Bassanio, upon more advice,

Hath sent you here this ring; and doth entreat Your company at dinner.

Por.

That cannot be :
This ring I do accept most thankfully,
And so, I pray you, tell him: furthermore,
I pray you show my youth old Shylock's house.
Gra. That will I do.

Ner.
Sir, I would speak with you.
I'll see if I can get my husband's ring, (To Portia.)
Which I did make him swear to keep for ever.
Por. Thou may'st, I warrant; we shall have
old swearing,

That they did give the rings away to men;
Bet we'll outface them, and outswear them too.
Away, make haste; thou know'st where I will tarry.
Ner. Come, good sir, will you show me to this
[Exeunt.

house?

ACT V.

SCENE I-Belmont. Avenue to Portia's House. Enter LORENZO and JESSICA.

Lor. The moon shines bright:-In such a night as this,

When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees,
And they did make no noise; in such a night,
Troilus, methinks, mounted the Trojan walls,

Who comes with her? Steph. None, but a holy hermit, and her maid. I pray you, is my master yet return'd? [him.Lor. He is not, nor we have not heard from But go we in, I pray thee, Jessica,

And ceremoniously let us prepare

Some welcome for the mistress of the house.

Laun. Sola! did you see master Lorenzo, and

mistress Lorenzo? sola, sola!

Lor. Leave hollaing, man; here.

Laun. Sola! where? where?

Lor. Here.

Laun. Tell him, there's a post come from my master, with his horn full of good news; my master will be here ere morning.

(Exit

Lor. Sweet soul, let's in, and there expect their coming.

And yet no matter:-Why should we go in?
My friend Stephano, signify, I pray you,
Within the house, your mistress is at hand;
And bring your music forth into the air.

(Exit Stephano
How sweet the moon-light sleeps upon this bank!
Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears; soft stillness, and the night,
Become the touches of sweet harmony.
Sit, Jessica: look, how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold;
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st,
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-ey'd cherubim :
Such harmony is in immortal souls;
But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.—
Enter Musicians.

Come, ho, and wake Diana with a hymn:
With sweetest touches pierce your mistress' ear
And draw her home with music.

Lor. The reason is, your spirits are attentive: For do but note a wild and wanton herd,

Or race of youthful and unhandled colts,

(him;

To whom I am so infinitely bound.
Por. You should in all sense be much bound
For, as I hear, he was much bound for you.
Ant. No more than I am well acquitted of.
Por. Sir, you are very welcome to our house:
Therefore I scant this breathing courtesy.

Which is the hot condition of their blood;

If they but hear perchance a trumpet sound,
Or any air of music touch their ears,

You shall perceive them make a mutual stand,
Their savage eyes turn'd to a modest gaze,

By the sweet power of music: therefore, the poet Did feign, that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods;

Since nought so stockish, hard and full of rage,
But music for the time doth change his nature:
The man that hath no music in himself,

Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus :
Let no such man be trusted.-Mark the music.

Enter PORTIA and NERISSA, at a distance.
Por. That light, we see, is burning in my hall.
How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

Ner. When the moon shone, we did not see the candle.

Por. So doth the greater glory dim the less:
A substitute shines brightly as a king,
Until a king be by; and then his state
Empties itself, as doth an inland brook
Into the main of waters. Music! hark!

Ner. It is your music, madam, of the house.
Por. Nothing is good, I see, without respect;
Methinks, it sounds much sweeter than by day.

Ner. Silence bestows that virtue on it, madam. Por. The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark, When neither is attended; and, I think, The nightingale, if she should sing by day, When every goose is cackling, would be thought No better a musician than the wren. How many things by season season'd are To their right praise, and true perfection!Peace, hoa! the moon sleeps with Endymion, And would not be awak'd! (Music ceases.) Lor. That is the voice, Or I am much deceiv'd, of Portia. [cuckoo, Por. He knows me, as the blind man knows the By the bad voice. Lor.

Dear lady, welcome home.

Por. We have been praying for our husbands' welfare,

Which speed, we hope, the better for our words.
Are they return'd?

Lor.

Go in, Nerissa,

Madam, they are not yet;
But there is come a messenger before,
To signify their coming.
Por.
Give order to my servants, that they take
No note at all of our being absent hence;
Nor you, Lorenzo;-Jessica, nor you.

(A tucket sounds.)
Lor. Your husband is at hand, I hear his trumpet:
We are no tell-tales, madam; fear you not.
Por. This night, methinks, is but the day-light sick,
It looks a little paler; 'tis a day,
Such as the day is when the sun is hid.
Enter BASSANIO, ANTONIO, GRATIANO, and their
Followers.

Bass. We should hold day with the Antipodes, If you would walk in absence of the sun.

Por. Let me give light, but let me not be light; For a light wife doth make a heavy husband, And never be Bassanio so for me;

But God sort all!-You are welcome home, my lord.

[friend.

Bass. I thank you, madam: give welcome to my This is the man, this is Antonio,

(Gratiano and Nerissa seem to talk apart Gra. By yonder moon, I swear, you do me wrong In faith, I gave it to the judge's clerk: Would he were gelt that had it, for my part, Since you do take it, love, so much at heart.

Por. A quarrel, ho, already? what's the matter Gra. About a hoop of gold, a paltry ring That she did give me; whose posy was, For all the world, like cutler's poetry Upon a knife, Love me, and leave me not.

Ner. What talk you of the posy, or the value? You swore to me when I did give it you, That you would wear it till your hour of death; And that it should lie with you in your grave: Though not for me, yet for your vehement oaths, You should have been respective, and have kept Gave it a judge's clerk !-but well I know, The clerk will ne'er wear hair on his face, that had t Gra. He will, an if he live to be a man. Ner. Ay, if a woman live to be a man. Gra. Now, by this hand, I gave it to a youth,A kind of boy; a little scrubbed boy, No higher than thyself, the judge's clerk; A prating boy, that begg'd it as a fee; I could not for my heart deny it him.

Por. You were to blame, I must be plain with To part so slightly with your wife's first gift; A thing stuck on with oaths upon your finger, And riveted so with faith unto your flesh. I gave my love a ring, and made him swear Never to part with it; and here he stands; I dare be sworn for him, he would not leave it, Nor pluck it from his finger, for the wealth That the world masters. Now, in faith, Gratians, You give your wife too unkind a cause of grief; An 'twere to me, I should be mad at it.

Bass. Why, I were best to cut my left hand of And swear I lost the ring defending it.

(Aside Gra. My lord Bassanio gave his ring away Unto the judge that begg'd it, and, indeed, Deserv'd it too; and then the boy, his clerk, That took some pains in writing, he begg'd mine: And neither man, nor master, would take aught But the two rings.

Por.
What ring gave you, my lord?
Not that, I hope, which you receiv'd of me.
Bass. If I could add a lie unto a fault,

I would deny it; but you see, my finger
Hath not the ring upon it; it is gone.

Por. Even so void is your false heart of truth.
By heaven, I will ne'er come in your bed
Until I see the ring.

Ner. Till I again see mine.

Bass.

Nor I in yours,

Sweet Portia,

If you did know to whom I gave the ring,
If you did know for whom I gave the ring,
And would conceive for what I gave the ring,
And how unwillingly I left the ring,
When naught would be accepted but the ring,
You would abate the strength of your displeasure.
Por. If you had known the virtue of the ring,
Or half her worthiness that gave the ring,
Or your own honour to contain the ring,
You would not then have parted with the ring.
What man is there so much unreasonable,
If you had pleas'd to have defended it
With any terms of zeal, wanted the modesty
То urge the thing held as a ceremony?
Nerissa teaches me what to believe;
I'll die for't but some woman had the ring.
Bass. No, by mine honour, madam, by my soul,
No woman had it, but a civil doctor,

Which did refuse three thousand ducats of me,
And begg'd the ring; the which I did deny him,
And suffer'd him to go displeas'd away;
Even he that had held up the very life

Ner. And pardon me, my gentle Gratiano; For that same scrubbed boy, the doctor's clerk, In lieu of this, last night did lie with me.

I was enforc'd to send it after him;

I was beset with shame and courtesy ;

My honour would not let ingratitude

So much besmear it: Pardon me, good lady;
For, by these blessed candles of the night,

Had you been there, I think, you would have begg'd
The ring of me to give the worthy doctor.

Por. Let not that doctor e'er come near my house: Since he hath got the jewel that I lov'd,

And that which you did swear to keep for me,
I will become as liberal as you;

I'll not deny him any thing I have,

No, not my body, nor my husband's bed:

Know him I shall, I am well sure of it:

Lie not a night from home; watch me like Argus:
If you do not, if I be left alone,

Now, by mine honour, which is yet mine own,
I'll have that doctor for my bedfellow.

Ner. And I his clerk; therefore be well advis'd,
How you do leave me to mine own protection.
Gra. Well, do you so: let not me take him then;
For, if I do, I'll mar the young clerk's pen.

Ant. I am the unhappy subject of these quarrels. Por. Sir, grieve not you; you are welcome, notwithstanding.

Bass. Portia, forgive me this enforced wrong; And, in the hearing of these many friends, I swear to thee, even by thine own fair eyes, Wherein I see myself,

Por.

Mark you but that! In both my eyes he doubly sees himself: In each eye one-swear by your double self, And there's an oath of credit.

What! are we cuckolds, ere we have deserv'd it?
Por. Speak not so grossly.-You are all amaz'd:
Here is a letter, read it at your leisure;
It comes from Padua, from Bellario:
There you shall find, that Portia was the doctor
Nerissa there, her clerk: Lorenzo here
Shall witness, I set forth as soon as you,
And but even now return'd; I have not yet
Enter'd my house.-Antonio, you are welcome;
And I have better news in store for you,
Than you expect: unseal this letter soon;
There you shall find, three of your argosies
Are richly come to harbour suddenly:
You shall not know by what strange accident
I chanced on this letter.

I am dumb.

Ant.
Bass. Were you the doctor, and I knew you not?
Gra. Were you the clerk, that is to make me
cuckold?

Ner. Ay; but the clerk that never means to do it, Unless he live until he be a man.

Bass. Sweet doctor, you shall be my bedfellow; When I am absent, then lie with my wife.

Ant. Sweet lady, you have given me life and living;

For here I read for certain, that my ships
Are safely come to road.

Por.

How now, Lorenzo? My clerk hath some good comforts too for you. Ner. Ay, and I'll give them him without a fee.There do I give to you, and Jessica,

From the rich Jew, a special deed of gift,
After his death, of all he dies possess'd of.
Lor. Fair ladies, you drop manna in the way
Of starved people.

Por.

It is almost morning,
And yet, I am sure, you are not satisfied
Of these events at full: let us go in ;
And charge us there upon inter'gatories,
And we will answer all things faithfully.

Gra. Let it be so: the first inter'gatory
That my Nerissa shall be sworn on, is,
Whether till the next night she had rather stay;
Or go to bed now, being two hours to day:
But were the day come, I should wish it dark,
That I were couching with the doctor's clerk.
Well, while I live, I'll fear no other thing
So sore, as keeping safe Nerissa's ring.

[Exeunt.

P. 215 Persons represented. In the old editions quarto, for J. Roberts, 1600, and in the old folio, 1623, there is no enumeration of the persons. It was first made by Mr. Rowe. JOHNSON.

Salanio. It is not easy to determine the orthography of this name. In the old editions the owner of it is called-Salanio, Salino, and Solanio. STEEVENS.

Salerio. This character I have restored to the Persone Dramatis. The name appears in the first folio: the description is taken from the quarto. STEEVENS.

ACT I.

SCENE I

Id. c. 1, 1. 12. argosies-] A name given in our author's time to ships of great burthen, probably galleons, such as the Spaniards now use in their West India trade. JOHNSON.

In Ricaut's Maxims of Turkish Policy, ch. xiv. it is said, "Those vast carracs called argosies, which are so much famed for the vastness of their burthen and bulk, were corruptly so denominated from Ragosies," i. e. ships of Ragusa, a city and territory on the gulf of Venice, tributary to the Porte; but the word may have derived its origin from the famous ship Argo.

Id. 1. 13. The Venetians, who may well be said to live on the sea. DOUCE. Mr. Malone reads "on the flood."

Id. 1. 21. Pluching the grass, &c.] By holding up the grass, or any light body that will bend by a gentle blast, the direction of the wind is found.

Id 1. 31.

Andrew--] The name of the ship. Id L. 32. Vailing her high top-] i. e. lowering. P. 216, c. 1, L. 28. "The same." MALONE. Id. 1. 33. -a more swelling port, &c.] Port, in the present instance, comprehends the idea of expensive equipage, and external pomp of appearance. Id. l. 69. prest unto it :] Prest may not here signify impress'd, as into military service, but ready. Pret, Fr.

SCENE II.

Id. c. 2, 1 62. is there the county Palatine.] County and count in old language were synonymous.

P. 217, c. 1, . 9. a proper man's picture, Proper is handsome Id. l. 19. 1 think, the Frenchman became his surety] Alluding to the constant assistance, or rather promises of assistance, that the French gave the Scots in their quarrels with the Eng lish. The alliance is here humorously sati rized. WARBURTON.

Id. l. 49. "I wish them," &c. MALONE. Id. l. 50. the condition-] i. e. the temper qualities.

SCENE III.

Id. c. 2, 1. 29. the habitation which your prophet, the Nazarite, conjured the devil into] Perhaps there is no character through all Shakspeare, drawn with more spirit, and just discrimination, than Shylock's. His language, allusions, and ideas, are every where so appropriate to a Jew, that Shylock might be exhibited for an exemplar of that peculiar people. HENLEY.

Id. l. 62. the ripe wants of my friend.] Ripe wants are wants come to the height, wants that can have no longer delay.

Id. 1. 63. possess'd,] i. e. acquainted, informed.

P. 218, c. 1, 7. 2. -the eanlings-] Lambs just dropt from ean, eniti.

Id. 1. 8. of kind, i. e. of nature.
Id. l. 13. "This thrift."
"MALONE.
Id. l. 32. my usances:] Use and usance are

both words anciently employed for usury,
both in its favourable and unfavourable sense.
But Mr. Riston says, that use and usance
mean nothing more than interest; and the
former word is still used by country people in
the same sense.

Id. 1. 40. Shylock,] Our author, as Dr. Farmer informs me, took the name of his Jew from an old pamphlet entitled: Caleb Shillocke, his Prophesie: or the Jewes Prediction. London, printed for T. P. (Thomas Pavyer.) No date STEEVENS.

Id.

1. 59. A breed for barren metal of his friend?] A breed, that is interest money bred from the principal. By the epithet barren, the author would instruct us in the argument on which the advocates against usury went, which is this; that money is a barren thing, and cannot, like corn and cattle, multiply itself. And to set off the absurdity of this kind of usury, he put breed and barren in opposition. WAK

BURTON.