you

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 not-

withstanding.
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 but that!
In both my eyes he doubly sees himself:
In each eye, one:

-wear by your double self,
And there's an oath of credit.
Bass,

Nay, but hear me:
Pardon this fault, and by my soul I swear,
I never more will break an oath with thee.

Ant. I once did lend my body for his wealth 63; Which, but for him that had your husband's ring,

[To Portia. Had quite miscarried; I dare be bound again, My soul upon the forfeit, that your lord Will never more break faith advisedly. Por. Then

you shall be his surety: Give him this; And bid him keep it better than the other.

Ant. Here, lord Bassanio; swear to keep this ring. Bass. By heaven, it is the same I gave the doctor!

Por. I had it of him: pardon me, Bassanio: For by this ring the doctor lay with me.

Ner. And pardon me, my gentle Gratiano;

you

For that same scrubbed boy, the doctor's clerk,
In lieu of this, last night did lie with me.

Gra. Why, this is like the mending of highways
In summer, where the ways are fair enough:
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 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.
Ant.

I am dumb.
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.

Buss. 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 intergatories,
And we will answer all things faithfully.

Gra. Let it be so: The first intergatory, That 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.

my

ANNOTATIONS

U PON

MERCHANT OF VENICE.

Argosie,) a ship from Argo. Pope.

Whether it be derived from Argo I am in doubt. It was a name given in our author's time to ships of great burden, probably galleons, such as the Spaniards now use in their West India trade.

JOHNSON. An Argosie meant originally a ship from Ragusa, a city and territory on the gulph of Venice, tributary to the Porte.

STEEVENS, ? Plucking 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.

This way I used in shooting. Betwixt the markes was an open place, there I take a fethere, or a lytle grasse, and so learned how the wind stood. Ascham.

JOHNSON. 3 Vailing her high top lower than her rils.] In Bullokar's English Expository, 1616, to vail, is thus explained: “ It means to put off the hat, to strike sail, to give sign of submission.” So in Stephen