Could turn fo much the conftitution With an unquiet foul. You fhall have gold Of any conftant man. What, worfe and worfe?-To pay the petty debt twenty times over : With leave, BaTanio; I am half yourself, Baff. O fweet Portia, Here are a few of the unpleasant'st words, When it is paid, bring your true friend along : For you fhall hence upon your wedding-day : Baff. [reads.] "Sweet Bafianio, my thips have "all mitcarry'd, my creditors grow cruel, my "eftate is very low, my bond to the Jew is for"feit; and fince, in paying it, it is impoffible I "fhould live, all debts are cleared between you you" and me, if I might but fee you at my death: "notwithstanding, use your pleasure: if your love "do not perfuade you to come, let not my letter." P. O love, difpatch all bufinefs, and be gone. Baj. Since I have your good leave to go away, I will make hafte: but, 'till I come again, I freely told you, all the wealth I had Have all his ventures fail'd? What, not one hit? Sale. Not one, my lord. Befides, it fhould appear, that if he had [fwear, Jef. When I was with him, I have heard him Por. Is it your dear friend, that is thus in trouble Por. What fum owes he the Jew ? Pay him fix thoufand, and deface the bond; 1 i. e. fo foolish. Shy. I'll have my bond; speak not againft my Shy. I'll have my bond; I will not hear thee (peak: Sal. It is the most impenetrable cur, Anth. Let him alone; I'll follow him no more with bootlefs prayers. I oft deliver'd from his forfeitures Many that have at times made moan to me, Sala. I am fure, the duke Will never grant this forfeiture to hold. Auth. The duke cannot deny the courfe of law, Lor. Madam, although I speak it in your prefence, You have a noble and a true conceit Of god-like amity; which appears most strongly Po. I never did repent for doing good, Until her hutband and my lord's return: And there we will abide. I do defire you, Not to deny this imposition; The which my love, and fome necessity, Now lays upon you. Lor. Madam, with all my heart; I fhall obey you in all fair commands. Por. My people do already know my mind, And will acknowledge you and Jellica In place of lord Baflinio and myself. So fare you well, till we fhall meet again. Lor. Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you! Jef. I with your ladyfhip all heart's content. Po. I thank you for your with, and am well pleas'd To with it back on you: fare you well, Jerfica.[Exeunt Jellica and Larensa. Now, Balthazar, As I have ever found thee honest, true, [thee, In fpeed to Padua ; fee thou render this Por. Come on, Neriffa; I have work in hand, That you yet know not of: we'll fee our hufbands Before they think of us. Ner. Shall they fee us? Por. They fhall, Neriffa; but in fuch a habit, Ner. Why, thall we turn to men? If thou wert near a lewd interpreter ? V. Enter Launcelot, and Jellica. Loun. Yes, truly:-for, look you, the fins of the father are to be laid upon the children; therefore, I promife you, I fear you. I was always plain with you, and fo now I ipeak my agitation of the matter: Therefore be of good cheer; for, truly, I think, you are damn'd. There is but one hope in it that can do you any good; and that is but a kind of a bastard hope neither. Jef. And what hope is that, I pray thee? Laun. Marry, you may partly hope that your father got you not, that you are not the Jew's daughter. Jef. That were a kind of baflard hope, indeed; fo the fins of my mother thall be vifited Jupon me. Laun. Truly then I fear you are damn'd both by father and mother: thus when I thun Scylla, your father, I fall into Charybdis, your mother, well, you are gone both ways. For the fenfe of the word do in this place, fee note 4, p. 77. Jef. I fhall be faved by my husband; he hath thou fhew the whole wealth of thy wit in an in made me a Chriftian. Laun. Truly, the more to blame he: we were Chriftians enough before; e'en as many as could weil live one by another: This making of Chriftians will raife the price of hogs; if we grow all to be pork-eaters, we shall not shortly have a rasher on the coals for money. Enter Lorenzo. Jef. I'll tell my husband, Launcelot, what you fay; here he comes. Lor. I fhall grow jealous of you fhortly, Launcelot, if you thus get my wife into corners. Jef. Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo; Launcelot and I are out: he tells me flatly, there is no mercy for me in heaven, because I am a Jew's daughter; and he fays, you are no good member of the commonweakh; for in converting Jews to Chriftians, you raife the price of pork. ftant? I pray thee, understand a plain man in his plain meaning: go to thy fellows; bid them cover the table, ferve in the meat, and we will come in to dinner.. Laun. For the table, fir, it fhall be ferv'd in ; Lor. O dear difcretion, how his words are fuited! Lor. I fhall anfwer that better to the common-For, having fuch a bleffing in his lady, Lor. How every fool can play upon the word! I think the best grace of wit will fhortly turn into filence; and difcourfe grow commendable in none ly but parrots-Go in, firrah; bid them prepare for dinner. Laun. That is done, fir; they have all ftomachs. Ler. Goodly lord, what a wit-inapper are you! then bid them prepare dinner. Laun. That is done too, fir; only, cover is the word. Lor. Will you cover then, fir? Laun. Not fo, fir, neither; I know my duty. And, if on earth he do not mean it, it Lor. Even fuch a husband Jef. Nay, but afk my opinion too of that. Lor. No, pray thee, let it ferve for table-talk; Jef. Well, I'll fet you forth. [Exeunt, A CT IV. To fuffer, with a quietness of spirit, Duke. Go one, and call the Jew into the court. Duke. Make room, and let him ftand before our Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too,' Envy in this place means hatred or malice. 2 Where for whereas. Glar Glancing an eye of pity on his loffes, " From bratly bofoms, and rough hearts of flint, We all expect a gentle antwer, Jew. > I would not draw them, I would have my bond. Duke. How halt thou hope for mercy, rend'ring [wrong? none a Shy. What judgment fhall I dread, doing no [pofe; Because you bought them :-Shall I fay to you, Shy. I have poffefs'd your grace of what And by our holy Sabboth have 1 fworn, To have the due and forfeit of my bond: " If you deny it, let the danger light Upon your charter, and your city's freedom. You'll afk me, why I rather chafe to have A weight of carrion flesh, than to receive Three thousand ducats: I'll not anfwer that: But, fav, it is my humour; Is it answer'd ? What if my houfe be troubled with a rat, And I be pleas'd to give ten thousand ducats To have it ban'd? What, are you anfwer'd yet? Some men there are, love not a gaping pig ; Some, that are mad, if they behold a cat ; And others, when the bag-pipes fings i' the nofe, Cannot contain their urine; For affections, Maiters of paffion, fway it to the mood Of what it likes, or leaths: Now for your anfwer: As there is no firm reafon to be render'd, thee twice? Shy. What, would'st thou have a ferpent fting [Jew: Anth. I pray you, think you question 2 with the You may as well go ftand upon the beach, And hid the main flood 'bate his usual height; You may as well ufe question with the wolf, Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb; You may as well forbid the mountain pines To wag their high tops, and to make no noife, When they are fretted with the guits of heaven; You may as well do any thing moft hard, As feek to toften that (than which what's harder? His Jewish heart :---Therefore I do hefeech you, Make no more offers, ufe no farther means, But, with all brief and plain conveniency, Let me have pigment, and the Jew his will, Baff. For thy three thousand ducats here is fix. Shy. If every ducat in fix thousand ducats Were in fix parts, and every part a ducat, There is no force in the decrees of Venice: Whom I have fent for to determine this, Sala. My lord, here ftays without Duke. Bring us the letters; Call the messenger. Balf. Good cheer, Anthonio! What, man? courage yet! The Jew fhall have my flesh, blood, bones, and all, Ere thou shalt lofe for me one drop of blood. Anth. I am a tainted wether of the flock, Meeteft for death; the weakest kind of fruit Drops earliest to the ground, and fo let me : You cannot better be employ'd, Baffanio, Than to live rtill, and write mine epitaph. Enter Neriffa, dress'd like a lawyer's clerk. Duke. Came you from Padua, from Bellario? Ner. From both, my lord: Bellario greets your Gra. Not on thy foal, but on thy foul, harth Thou mak`it dy kaife keen: but no metal can, No, not the hangmaa's ax, bear half the keennefs Of thy fharp envy 3. Can no prayers pierce thee? Sy. No, none that thon haft wit enough to make. Ga. O be thou damn'd, mexorable dog ! And for thy life let julțire be accus'd. Thou almoft mak'it me waver in my faith, To hold opinion with Pythagoras, That fouls of animals infute themfelves Into the trunks of men: thy currith spirit Govern'd a wolf, who hang'd for human laughter, Even from the gallows did his fell foul fleet, An, whilft thou lay 'it in thy unhallow'd dam, Infus'd itfelf in thee; for thy defires Are wolfish, bloody, starv'd and ravenous. (bond, Shy. Till thou can't rail the feal from off my Thou but offend'it thy lungs to speak so loud : Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall To cureless ruin.--I and here for law. ! Perhaps we should read a felling or Swollen bagpipe. 2 To queftion is to converfe. 3 i. e. hatred. Date. Duke. This letter from Bellario doth commend Ner. He attendeth here hard by, To know your answer, whether you'll admit him. Go give him courteous conduct to this place.- It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, And earthly power doth then fhew likeft God's, "Your grace shall understand, that, at the re"ceipt of your letter, I am very fick : but at the in"ftant that your meffenger came, in loving vifita❝tion was with me a young doctor of Rome, his "name is Balthazar: 1 acquainted him with the "caufe in controverfy between the Jew and An"thonio the merchant: we turn'd o'er many "books together: he is furnish'd with my opi-Yea, twice the fum: if that will not fuffice, "nion; which, bettered with his own learning, I will be bound to pay it ten times o'er, "(the greatnefs whereof I cannot enough com-On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart. If this will not fuffice, it must appear "mend) comes with him, at my importunity, to "fill up your grace's requeft in my ftead. I be- That malice bears down truth 2. And I befeech you "feech you, let his lack of years he no impedi-Wreft once the law to your authority: "ment to let him lack a reverend eftimation; To do a great right, do a little wrong; " for I never knew fo young a body with fo old And curb this cruel devil of his will. "an head. I leave him to your gracious accept❝ance, whofe trial fhall better publifh his com"mendation." Enter Portia, drefs'd like a doctor of Laws. Duke. You hear the learn'd Bellario, what he writes; And here, I take it, is the doctor come.--- Duke. You are welcome: take your place. Por. I am informed thoroughly of the cause. Por. Is your name Shylock? Shy. Shylock is my name. [nice Por. It muft not be; there is no power in Ve Shy. A Daniel come to judgment! yea, a Da niel! O wife young judge, how do I honour thee! Shy. An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven; Por. Why, this bond is forfeit ; A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off Por. Of a ftrange nature is the fuit you follow ; Take thrice thy money; bid me tear the bond. Cannot impugn I you, as you do proceed.— Yet in fuch rule, that the Venetian law You ftand within his danger, do you not? [To Anth. Anth. Ay, fo he fays. Por. Do you confefs the bond? Anth. I do. Por. Then muft the Jew be merciful. Shy. On what compulsion muft I? tell me that. Shy. When it is paid according to the tenour.- You know the law, your expofition Anth. Moft heartily I do befeech the court Por. Why then, thus it is. You must prepare your bofom for his knife. Shy. 'Tis very true: wife and upright judge! 1 i. e. oppofe you. 2 Meaning, that malice oppreffes honesty. Shy. |