For that same scrubbed boy, the doctor's clerk, Gra. Why, this is like the mending of highways It comes from Padua, from Bellario: There you shall find, that Portia was the doctor; You shall not know by what strange accident 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. Bass. 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, Lor. Fair ladies, you drop manna in the way Of starved people. Por. Gra. Let it be so: The first intergatory, [Exeunt. Of the Merchant of Venice the style is even and easy, with few peculiarities of diction, or anomalies of construction. The comic part raises laughter, and the serious fixes expectation. The probability of either one or the other story cannot be maintained. The union of two actions in one event is in this drama eminently happy. Dryden was much pleased with his own address in connecting the two plots of his Spanish Friar, which yet, I believe, the critic will find excelled by this play. JOHNSON. Duke, living in exile. Frederick, brother to the Duke, and usurper of his dominions. Amiens, Jaques, lords attending upon the Duke in his banishment. Le Beau, a courtier attending upon Frederick. } shepherds. Sylvius, William, a country fellow, in love with Audrey. A person representing Hymen. Rosalind, daughter to the banished Duke. Celia, daughter to Frederick. Phebe, a shepherdess. Audrey, a country wench. Lords belonging to the two Dukes; pages, foresters, and other attendants. The Scene lies, first, near Oliver's house; after. wards, partly in the usurper's court, and partly in the forest of Arden. |