Bass. This is no answer, thou unfeeling

man,

To excuse the current of thy cruelty.

Shy. I am not bound to please thee with my

answers.

Bass. Do all men kill the thing they do not

love?

Shy.

swelling or swollen bag-pipe, which, that we should, I have not the least doubt. SIR JOHN HAWKINS.

A passage in Turbervile's Epitaphes, v. 13. supports the emendation proposed by Sir John Hawkins: "First came the rustick forth

"With pipe and puffed bag."

This instance was pointed out to me by Dr. Farmer. As the aversion was not caused by the outward appearance of the bag-pipe, but merely by the sound arising from its inflation, I have placed the conjectural reading swollen in the text. STEEVENS.

There can be little doubt but swoll'n bag-pipe is the true reading :- -I consider it as one of those amendments which carry conviction the moment they are suggested; and it is to be observed, that it is not by the sight of the bag-pipe that the persons alluded to are affected, but by the sound, which can only be produced when the bag is swollen. J. M. MASON.

It is not unusual to see the large skin or bladder of a bag-pipe covered with flannel; and it is possible that Shakspeare only used the word as a descriptive epithet. RITSON.

Perhaps Shakspeare calls the bagpipe woollen, from the bag being generally covered with woollen cloth. I have seen one at Alnwick, belonging to one of the pipers in the Percy family, covered with black velvet, and guarded with silver fringe. R. G. ROBINSON.

Shy. Hates any man the thing he wo kill?

Bass. Every offence is not a hate at Shy. What, would'st thou have a sting thee twice?

Anth. I pray you, think you questio

the Jew:9

go stand upon

the bea

You may as well
And bid the main flood bate his usual h
You may as well use question with the
Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the
You may as well forbid the mountain pi
To wag their high tops, and to ma
noise,

When they are fretted with the gu heaven;

8 Every offence is not a hate at first.] reply seems to be somewhat foreign to the q of Shylock: Besides Bassanio appears to forg the Jew's charge against Anthonio, in their fi terview after the opening of the play, implie he had repeatedly affronted him,

Signior Anthonio, many a time and oft, "On the Rialto you have rated me," & 9 -you question, &c.] To question is: So, in Measure for Measure:

verse.

66

-in the loss of question-" i. e. conve that leads to nothing. To reason had ancien same meaning. STEEVENS.

I

-and to make no noise,] The Editor, for the purpose of obviating an inac observable in the expression, alters this to

make a noise," &c. E.

You may as well do any thing most hard. As seek to soften that (than which what's harder?)

His Jewish heart:-Therefore, I do beseech

you,

Make no more offers, use no farther means, But, with all brief and plain conveniency, Let me have judgment, and the Jew his will. Bass. For thy three thousand ducats here are six.

Shy. If every ducat in six thousand ducats Were in six parts, and every part a ducat, I would not draw them, I would have my bond.

Duke. How shalt thou hope for mercy, rend'ring none ?

Shy. What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong?

You have among you many a purchas'd slave,2

Which, like your asses, and your dogs, and

mules,

You use in abject and in slavish part,

2

Because

-many a purchas'd slave,] This argument, considered as used to the particular persons, seems conclusive. I see not how Venetians or Englishmen, while they practise the purchase and sale of slaves, can much enforce or demand the law of doing to others as we would that they should do to us.

JOHNSON.

Because you bought them:-Shall I say to

you,

Let them be free, marry them to your heirs? Why sweat they under burdens? let their beds Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates Be season'd with such viands?

answer,

you will

The slaves are ours:-So do I answer you:
The pound of flesh, which I demand of him,
Is dearly bought, is mine, and I will have it:
If you deny me, fie upon your law!

There is no force in the decrees of Venice:
I stand for judgment; answer; shall I have it?
Duke. Upon my power, I may dismiss this

The doctor and the court are here somewhat unskilfully brought together. That the duke would, on such an occasion, consult a doctor of great reputation, is not unlikely; but how should this be foreknown by Portia? JOHNSON.

I do not see any necessity for supposing that this was foreknown by Portia. She consults Bellario as an eminent lawyer, and her relation. If the Duke had not consulted him, the only difference would have been, that she would have come into court, as an advocate perhaps, instead of a judge. TYRWHITT.

This, however, does not serve to account for the circumstance of Portia being in possession of Bel

lario's

Whom I have sent for to determine this,

Come here to-day.

Salar.

My lord, here stays without A messenger with letters from the doctor, New come from Padua.

Duke. Bring us the letters; Call the messenger.

Bass. Good cheer, Anthonio! What, man? courage yet!

The Jew shall have my flesh, blood, bones,

and all,

Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood.

:

Anth. I am a tainted wether of the flock, Meetest for death; the weakest kind of fruit Drops earliest to the ground, and so let me You cannot better be employ'd, Bassanio, Than to live still, and write mine epitaph. Enter Nerissa, dressed like a lawyer's clerk. Duke. Came you from Padua, from Bellario?

Ner.

lario's letters in answer to the duke; I think it will be necessary to suppose that having herself written to consult him in respect to the case of the bond, he had in his answer informed her of his having been before applied to by the duke for his advice and opinion upon the same subject, and that his letters to the duke in answer, being not yet sent away, had been delivered to Portia's messenger, to be by her conveyed to the duke, as a person immediately deputed from him. E.

VOL. 1.