Por. To offend, and judge, are distinct offices, And of oppofed natures. Ar. What is here? Seven times tried that judgement is, With one fool's head I came to woo, [Exeunt Arragon and train. Por. Thus hath the candle fing'd the moth. O thefe deliberate fools! when they do choose, A Enter a Servant. Serv. Where is my lady? Por. Here; what would my lord ? Serv. Madam, there is alighted at your gate From whom he bringeth fenfible regreets; 3 I know. Waffen, German. STEEVENS. 6 Το Perhaps the poet had forgotten that he who miffed Portia was never to marry any woman. JOHNSON.. 5 Would not this fpeech to the fervant be more proper in the mouth of Nerija? TYRWHITT. -regreets ;] i, e. falutations. STERVENS, To wit, befides commends, and courteous breath, Por. No more, I pray thee; I am half afeard, [Exeunt. ACT III. SCENE I. Venice. A Street. Enter SALANIO and SALARINO. Salan, Now, what news on the Rialto? Salar. Why, yet it lives there uncheck'd, that Antonio hath a fhip of rich lading wreck'd on the narrow feas; the Goodwins, I think they call the place; a very dangerous flat, and fatal, where the carcafes of many a tall fhip lie buried, as they fay, if my goffip report be an honeft woman of her word. Salan. I would fhe were as lying a goffip in that, as ever knapp'd ginger, or made her neighbours believe the wept for the death of a third husband :-But it is true,-without any flips of prolixity, or croffing the plain high-way of talk, -that the good Antonio, the honeft Antonio- -O that I had a title good enough to keep his name company!— Salar. Come, the full ftop. Salan. Ha,-what fay'st thou?-Why the end is, he hath loft a fhip. Salar. I would it might prove the end of his loffes! S 6 To knap is to break ho.t. STEVENS. Salan. Salan. Let me fay amen betimes, left the devil cross my prayer; for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew.— 8 Enter SHYLOCK. How now, Shylock? what news among the merchants? Shy. You knew, none fo well, none fo well as you, of daughter's flight. my Salan. That's certain; I, for my part, knew the tailor that made the wings the flew withal. Salan. And Shylock, for his own part, knew the bird was fledg'd; and then it is the complexion of them all to leave the dam. Shy. She is damn'd for it. Salar. That's certain, if the devil may be her judge. Salan. Out upon it, old carrion! rebels it at thefe years? Salar. There is more difference between thy flesh and hers, than between jet and ivory; more between your bloods, than there is between red wine and rhenifh :-But tell us, do you hear, whether Antonio have had any lofs at sea or no? Shy. There I have another bad match: a bankrupt, a prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on the Rialto;-a beggar, 8 i. e. the prayer or with, which you have just now uttered, and which I devoutly join in by faying amen to it. Mr. Theobald and Dr. Warburton unneceffarily, I think, read-tby prayer. MALONE. The people pray as well as the priest, though the latter only pronounces the words, which the people make their own by faying Amen to them. It is, after this, needlefs to add, that the Devil (in the shape of a Jew) could not cross Salarino's prayer, which, as far as it was fingly his, was already ended. HEATH. 9 This is fpoke of Antonio. But why a prodigal? his friend Baffanio indeed had been too liberal; and with this name the Jew honours him when he is going to fup with him: -I'll go in bate to feed upon The prodigal Chriftian But Antonio was a plain, referved, parfimonious merchant; be affured herefore we fhould read-a bankrupt FOR a prodigal, i. e. he is become bankrupt by fupplying the extravagancies of his friend Baffanio. WARBURTON. There is no need of alteration. There could be, in Shylock's opinion, no prodigality more culpable than fuch liberality as that by which a man expofes himself to ruin for his friend. JOHNSON, beggar, that used to come fo fmug upon the mart;-let him look to his bond: he was wont to call me ufurer ;-let him look to his bond:-he was wont to lend money for a Chriftain courtesy ;-let him look to his bond. Salar. Why, I am fure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his flesh; What's that good for? Shy. To bait fifh withal: if it will feed nothing elfe, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and hindered me of half a million; laughed at my loffes, mocked at my gains, fcorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and what's his reafon? I am a Jew: Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimenfions, fenfes, affections, paffions? fed with the fame food, hurt with the fame weapons, fubject to the fame diseases, healed by the fame means, warmed and cooled by the fame winter and fummer, as a Christian is? if you prick us, do we not bleed? 2 if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, fhall we not revenge? if we are like you in the reft, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Chriftian, what is his humility? revenge: If a Chriftian wrong a Jew, what fhould his fufferance be by Chriftian example? why, revenge. The villainy, you teach me, I will execute; and it fhall go hard, but I will better the inftruction. Enter a Servant. Serv. Gentlemen, my mafter Antonio is at his house, and defires to speak with you both. Salar. We have been up and down to seek him. Enter TUBAL. Salan. Here comes another of the tribe; a third cannot be matched, unless the devil himself turn Jew. [Exeunt SALAN. SALAR. and Servant. Shy. His lending money without intereft, "for a chriftian courtesy,” was likewife a reafon for the Jew to call Antonio prodigal. EDWARDS. 2 Are not Jews made of the fame materials as Chriftians, fays Shylock; thus in Plutarch's life of Cæfar, p. 140. 4to. v. iv: "Cæfar does not confider his fubjects are mortal, and bleed when they are pricked," 66 δε ἀπὸ τῶν τραυματων λογίζεται Καίσαρ ετι θνητῶν μὲν αρκει. S. W. าร Shy. How now, Tubal, what news from Genoa? haft thou found my daughter? Tub. I often came where I did hear of her, but cannot find her. Shy. Why there, there, there, there! a diamond gone, coft me two thousand ducats in Frankfort! The curfe never fell upon our nation till now; I never felt it till now:two thousand ducats in that; and other precious, precious jewels. I would, my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear! 'would fhe were hears'd at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin! No news of them ?-Why, so : and I know not what's spent in the fearch: Why, thou lofs upon lofs! the thief gone with fo much, and so much to find the thief; and no fatisfaction, no revenge: nor no ill luck ftirring, but what lights o' my fhoulders; no fighs, but o' my breathing; no tears, but o' my fhedding. Tub. Yes, other men have ill luck too; Antonio, as I heard in Genoa,— Shy. What, what, what? ill luck, ill luck? Tub.-hath an argofy caft away, coming from Tripolis. Shy. I thank God, I thank God:-Is it true? is it true? Tub. I fpoke with fome of the failors that escaped the wreck. Shy. I thank thee, good Tubal;-Good news, good news: ha ha!-Where? in Genoa? Tub. Your daughter fpent in Genoa, as I heard, one night, fourfcore ducats. Shy. Thou ftick'ft a dagger in me: -I fhall never fee my gold again: Fourfcore ducats at a fitting! fourscore ducats! Tub. There came divers of Antonio's creditors in my company to Venice, that fwear he cannot choose but break. Shy. I am very glad of it: I'll plague him; I'll torture him; I am glad of it. Tub. One of them fhowed me a ring, that he had of your daughter for a monkey. Shy. Out upon her! Thou tortureft me, Tubal: it was my turquoife; I had it of Leah, when I was a bache lor: |