THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. ACT I. SCENE I-VENICE.(A) SAINT MARK'S PLACE.(B) ANTONIO, SALARINO, and SALANIO come forward. And such a want-wit sadness makes of me, Salar. Your mind is tossing on the ocean; That curt'sy to them, do them reverence, Sal. Believe me, Sir, had I such venture forth, The better part of my affections would Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still Plucking the grass,3 to know where sits the wind; 1 This procession is copied from a print in the British Museum, by Josse Amman, who died in 1591. argosies] A name given, in our author's time, to ships of great burthen. The name is supposed by some to be derived from the classical ship, Argo, as a vessel eminently famous. Plucking the grass,] By holding up the grass, or any light body that will bend by a gentle blast, the direction of the wind is found. Peering in maps, for ports, and piers, and roads; Salar. 5 Shall I have the thought To think on this? and shall I lack the thought Is sad to think upon his merchandize. Ant. Believe me, no: I thank my fortune for it, Therefore my merchandize makes me not sad. Ant. Fie, fie! Salar. Not in love, neither? Then let us say you are sad, Because you are not merry: an 'twere as easy For you to laugh and leap, and say you are merry, Because you are not sad. Sal. Here comes Bassanio, your most noble kinsman, Gratiano, and Lorenzo: Fare you well; We leave you now with better company. Salar. I would have staid till I had made you merry, If worthier friends had not prevented me. Ant. Your worth is very dear in my regard. I take it your own business calls on you, And you embrace the occasion to depart. my wealthy Andrew] The name of the ship. Vailing her high-top] To vail is " to lower," or "let fall.” Enter BASSANIO, LORENZO, and GRATIANO. Salar. Good morrow, my good lords. Bas. Good signiors, both, when shall we laugh? Say, when? You grow exceeding strange: Must it be so? Salar. We'll make our leisures to attend on yours. [Exeunt SALARINO and SALANIO. Lor. My lord Bassanio, since you have found Antonio, We two will leave you; but at dinner-time I pray you have in mind where we must meet. Gra. You look not well, Signor Antonio; Ant. I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano; With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come; Why should a man, whose blood is warm within, Sleep when he wakes? and creep into the jaundice 7 Do cream and mantle like a standing pond: 6 Let me play the fool :] Alluding to the common comparison of human life to a stage-play. So that he desires his may be the fool's or buffoon's part, which was a constant character in the old farces; from whence came the phrase, to play the fool. WARBURTON. 7 whose visages do cream] The poet here alludes to the manner in which the film extends itself over milk in scalding; and he had the same appearance in his eye when writing a foregoing line: "With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come.' HENLEY. 8 - a wilful stillness entertain,] Id est, an obstinate silence. With purpose to be dress'd in an opinion For saying nothing; when I am very sure, 10 If they should speak, 'twould almost damn those ears1o Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools. But fish not with this melancholy bait, For this fool gudgeon, this opinion. Come, good Lorenzo :-Fare ye well, a while; Lor. Well, we will leave you, then, till dinner-time: 12 Gra. Well, keep me company but two years more, Ant. Is that any thing now? let no dog bark!] This seems to be a proverbial expression. 10 'twould almost damn those ears] The author's meaning is this:-That some people are thought wise whilst they keep silence; who, when they open their mouths, are such stupid praters, that the hearers cannot help calling them fools, and so incur the judgment denounced in the Gospel.-THEOBALD. 11 I'll end my exhortation after dinner.] The humour of this consists in its being an allusion to the practice of the Puritan preachers of those times, who being generally very long and tedious, were often forced to put off that part of their sermon called the exhortation, till after dinner.-WARBURTON. 12 - for this gear.] A colloquial expression, meaning for this matter. 13 In a neat's tongue dried,] Neat, horned cattle of the Ox species. than any man in all Venice. His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff; you shall seek all day ere you find them; and when you have them they are not worth the search. Ant. Well; tell me now, what lady is the same To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage, That you to-day promis'd to tell me of? Bas. 'Tis not unknown to you, Antonio, How much I have disabled mine estate, By something showing a more swelling port 14 Than my faint means would grant continuance. To you, Antonio, I owe the most in money and in love; To unburthen all my plots and purposes, How to get clear of all the debts I owe. Ant. I pray you, good Bassanio, let me know it; And, if it stand, as you yourself still do, Within the eye of honour, be assur'd My purse, my person, my extremest means, Bas. In my school-days, when I had lost one shaft The self-same way, with more advised watch Which you did shoot the first, I do not doubt, Or bring your latter hazard back again, And thankfully rest debtor for the first. Ant. You know me well; and herein spend but time, To wind about my love with circumstance; Then do but say to me what I should do, 14 a more swelling port] Port, in the present instance, comprehends the idea of expensive equipage, and external pomp of appearance. |