a

I'll not be made a soft and dull-ey'd fool,
To shake the head, relent, and sigh and yield
To christian interceffors. Follow not ;
I'll have no speaking; I will have my bond.

[Exit Shylock.
Sola. It is the most impenetrable cur,
That ever kept with men.

Ant. Let him alone,
I'll follow him no more with bootless pray’rs ::
He seeks my life ; his reason well I know;
I oft deliver'd from his forfeitures
Many, that have at times made moan to me;
Therefore he hates me.

Sola. I am sure, the Duke
Will never grant this forfeiture to hold.

Ant. The Duke cannot deny the course of law ; (20)
For the commodity that strangers have
With us in Venice, if it be deny'd,
Will much impeach the justice of the state ;
Since that the trade and profit of the city
Confifteth of all nations. Therefore go,
These griefs and losses have so bated me,
That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh
To morrow to my bloody creditor.
Well, goaler, on ; pray God, Basanio come
To see me pay his debt, and then I care not! (Exeunt.

SCENE changes to BELMONT.
Enter Portia, Nerissa, Lorenzo, Jessica, and Balthazar.
Lor. Adam, although I speak it in your presence,

You have a noble and a true conceit
Of God-like amity; which appears most strongly
In bearing thus the absence of your lord.
But if you knew to whom you shew this honour,
How true a gentleman you send relief to,
How dear a lover of

my
lord
your husband,

; I know, you would be prouder of the work, Than customary bounty can enforce you.

Por. I never did repent of doing good,
And shall not now; for in companions
That do converse and waste the time together,
Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love,
There must be needs a like proportion
Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit ;
Which makes me think, that this Anthonio,
Being the bosom-lover of my lord,
Must needs be like my lord. If it be fo,
How little is the cost I have bestowed,
In purchasing the semblance of my soul
From out the state of hellish cruelty ?
This comes too near the praising of my self; (21)
Therefore, no more of it: hear other things. -
Lorenzo, I commit into

your

hands
The husbandry and manage of my house,
Until my lord's return. For mine own part,
I have tow'rd heaven breath'd a secret vow,
To live in prayer and contemplation,

(21) This comes too near the praising of my self;

Therefore no more of it: here other things,

Lorenzo, I commit &c.] Thus has this Paffage been writ and pointed, but absurdly, thro' all the Editions. Portia finding the Reflections she had made came too near Self-praise, begins to chide herself for it :

: says, She'll say no more of that Sort; but call a new Subject. The Regulation I have made in the Text was likewise prescrib'd by Dr. Thirlby.

Only

E4

a

Only attended by Nerisa here,
Untill her husband and my lord's return.
There is a monastery two miles off,
And there we will abide. I do desire you,

I
Not to deny this imposition :
The which my love and some necessity
Now lays upon you.

Lor. Madam, with all my heart;
I shall obey you in all fair commands.

Por. My people do already know my mind;
And will acknowledge you and Jessica
In place of lord Bassanio and my self.
So fare you well, 'till we shall meet again.

Lor. Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you!
Jef. I wish your ladyship all heart's content.

Por. I thank you for your wish, and am well pleas'd
To wish it back on you: fare you well, Jesica.

.

[Exeunt Jer. and Lor.
Now, Balthazar,
As I have ever found thee honest, true,
So let me find thee ftill: take this same letter,
And use thou all th' endeavour of a man,
In speed to Padua ; see thou render this (22)
Into my cousin's hand, Doctor Bellario ;
And look what notes and garments he doth give thee,
Bring them, I pray thee, with imagin'd speed
Unto the Traject, to the common ferry,
Which trades to Venice: waste no time in words,
But get thee gone ; I shall be there before thee.

I
Bal. Madam, I go with all convenient speed. [Exit.

I
Por. Come on, Nerisa ; I have work in hand,
That you yet know not of: we'll see our husbands
Before they think of us.

(22) In speed to Mantua ;] Thus all the old Copies; and thus all the
Modern Editors implicitly after them. But 'tis evident to any diligent
Reader, that We must restore, as I have done, In Speed to Padua :
For it was there, and not at Mantua, Bellario liv’d. So afterwards;
A Melenger, with Letters from the Doctor, New come from Padua-
And again, Came you from Padua, from Bellario? - And again, It comes
from Padua, from Bellario. — Belides, Padua, not Mantua, is the Place
of Education for the Civil Law in Italy.

Ner.

a

a

I have in my

Ner. Shall they see us ?

Por. They shall, Nerisa; but in such a habit,
That they shall think we are accomplished
With what we lack. I'll hold thee any wager,
When we are both apparell'd like young men,
I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two,
And wear my dagger with the braver grace;
And speak between the change of man and boy,
With a reed voice ; and turn two mincing steps
Into a manly stride; and speak of frays,
Like a fine bragging youth; and tell quaint lies,
How honourable ladies sought my love,
Which I denying, they fell fick and dy'd,
I could not do with all: then I'll repent,
And with, for all that, that I had not kill'd them.
And twenty of these puny lies I'll tell ;
That men shall swear, I've discontinued school
Above a twelve-month.

mind
A thousand raw tricks of these bragging jacks,
Which I will practise.

Ner. Shall we turn to men ?

Por. Fie, what a question's that,
If thou wert near a lewd interpreter!
But come, I'll tell thee all my whole device

.
When I am in my coach, which stays for us
At the park-gate; and therefore hafte away,
For we must measure twenty miles to day. [Exeunt.

Enter Launcelot and Jessica. Laun. Yes, truly: for, look you, the sins of the father are to be laid upon the children; therefore, I pro

2 mise you,

I fear you. I was always plain with you; and so now I speak 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 bastardhope neither. Fej. 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. Fes. That were a kind of bastard hope, indeed ; la the sins of my mother should be visited upon me,

ş

Launa

Laun. Truly, then, I fear, you are damn'd both by father and mother; thus when you lhun Scylla, (23) your father, you fall into Charybdis, your mother: well, you are gone both ways.

Jes. I Thall be saved by my husband; he hath made me a christian.

Laun. Truly, the more to blame he; we were christians enough before, e'en as many as could well live one by another : this making of christians will raise the price of hogs; if we grow all to be pork-eaters, we shall not shortly have a rasher on the coals for mony.

Enter Lorenzo. Jef: I'll tell my husband, Launcelot, what you say: here he comes.

Lor. I shall grow jealous of you shortly, Launcelot, if you thus get my wife into corners.

Fef. Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo; LaunceTot and I are out ; he tells me flatly, there is no mercy for me in heav'n, because I am a Jew's daughter: and he says, you are no good member of the common-wealth; for, in converting Jews to christians, you raise the price of pork.

Lor. I shall answer that better to the commonwealth, than you can the gecting up of the negro's belly: the Moor is with child by you, Launcelot.

Laun. It is much, that the Moor should be more than