SCENE V. The same. Before SHYLOCK's House. Enter SHYLOCK and LAUNCELOT. Shy. Well, thou shalt see; thy eyes shall be thy judge, The difference of old Shylock and Bassanio:- Laun. Why, Jessica! Shy. Who bids thee call? I do not bid thee call. Laun. Your worship was wont to tell me, I could do nothing without bidding. Enter JESSICA. Jes. Call you? What is your will? There are my keys.—But wherefore should I go? Laun. I beseech you, sir, go: my young master doth expect your reproach. Shy. So do I his. Laun. And they have conspired together:-[ wil. not say you shall see a mask; but if you do, then it was not for nothing that my nose fell a-bleeding on Black-Monday' last, at six o'clock Easter-Monday. The origin of the name is thus explained y Stowe, the chronicler: "In the 34th of Edward III., [1360,1 i'the morning, falling out that year on Ash-Wednesday was four year in the afternoon. Shy. What are there masques? Hear you me, Jessica : Lock up my doors; and when you hear the drum, Clamber not you up to the casements then, My sober house. I By Jacob's staff, I swear, I have no mind of feasting forth to-night; But I will go. Go you before me, sirrah : Say, I will come. Laun. I will go before, sir. - Mistress, look out at window for all this; There will come a Christian by, Will be worth a Jewess' eye.3 [Exit LAUN. Shy. What says that fool of Hagar's offspring? ha! the 14th of April, and the morrow after Easter-day, King Edward with his host, lay before the city of Paris: which day was full dark of mist and hail, and so bitter cold, that many men died on their horses' backs with the cold. Wherefore unto this day it hath been called Black-Monday." - Bleeding at the nose was anciently considered ominous. H. 2 One of the quartos and the folio have squealing: the other quarto has squeaking, which, though neither so appropriate nor so well authorized, has been generally retained in modern editions. There has been some dispute whether wry-neck'd fife mean the instrument or the musician. Boswell cited a passage from Barnabe Rich's Aphorisms, 1618, which appears to settle the matter: "A fife is a wry-neckt musician, for he always looks away from his instrument." H. The worth of a Jew's eye was the price with which the Jews used to buy themselves off from mutilation. The expression became proverbial, and was kept up long after its original meaning was lost. The quibble in this case is one of the best that Launcelot gets off H. Jes. His words were, farewell, mistress; nothing else. 4 Shy. The patch is kind enough; but a huge feeder, Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day More than the wild cat: drones hive not with me; Therefore I part with him; and part with him To one that I would have him help to waste His borrow'd purse. Well, Jessica, go in: Perhaps, I will return immediately. Do, as I bid you; shut doors after you : Fast bind, fast find; A proverb never stale in thrifty mind. I have a father, you a daughter lost. [Exit. Jes. Farewell; and if my fortune be not crost, [Exit. SCENE VI. The same. Enter GRATIANO and SALARINO, masqued. Gra. This is the pent-house, under which Lorenzo Desir'd us to make stand. His hour is almost past. Sal. Sal. O! ten times faster Venus' pigeons' fly Gra. That ever holds: Who riseth from a feast, With that keen appetite that he sits down? Where is the horse that doth untread again 4 That is, fool, or simpleton. See A Midsummer-Night's Dream, Act iii. sc. 2, note 2. Johnson thought that lovers, who are sometimes called turtles or doves in poetry, were meant by Venus's pigeons. The allusion, however, seems to be to the doves by which Venus's chariot is drawn. His tedious measures, with the unbated fire That he did pace them first? All things that are, The scarfed bark puts from her native bay, With over-weather'd ribs, and ragged sails, Enter LORENZO. Sal. Here comes Lorenzo:- more of this hereafter. Lor. Sweet friends, your patience for my long abode; Not I, but my affairs have made you wait : When you shall please to play the thieves for wives, Enter JESSICA above, in boy's clothes. Jes. Who are you? Tell me for more certainty, Albeit I'll swear that I do know your tongue. Lor. Lorenzo, and thy love. Jes. Lorenzo, certain; and my love, indeed, For whom love 1 so much? And now who knows, But you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours ? Lor. Heaven, and thy thoughts, are witness that thou art. Jes. Here, catch this casket: it is worth the pains. I am glad 'tis night, you do not look on me, For if they could, Cupid himself would blush Lor. Descend, for you must be my torch-bearer Jes. What! must I hold a candle to my shames ? They in themselves, good sooth, are too too light Why, 'tis an office of discovery, love; And I should be obscur'd. Lor. So are you, sweet, Even in the lovely garnish of a boy. But come at once; For the close night doth play the run-away, Jes. I will make fast the doors, and gild myself 2 For she is wise, if I can judge of her; Enter JESSICA, below. What, art thou come ? On, gentlemen; away! Our masquing mates by this time for us stay. [Exit, with JESSICA and SALARINO. Enter ANTONIO. Ant. Who's there? Gra. Signior Antonio? Ant. Fie, fie, Gratiano! where are all the rest? "Tis nine o'clock; our friends all stay for you: "A jest arising from the ambiguity of Gentile, which signifies both a heathen and one well born. |