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It may be doubted whether he quite strictly adhered to the requisite condition, when he demanded that games of chance, hitherto forbidden throughout the capital, might be played in the space between the columns: perhaps with a reservation to himself of any profits accruing from them. His request was granted, and the disgraceful monopoly became established; but afterward, in order to render the spot infamous, and to deter the population from frequenting it, it was made the scene of capital executions; and the bodies of countless malefactors were thus gibbeted under the very windows of the palace of the chief magistrate. A winged lion in bronze, the emblem of St. Mark, was raised on the summit of one of these columns; and the other was crowned with a statue of St. Theodore, a yet earlier patron of the city, armed with a lance and shield, and trampling on a serpent. A blunder, made by the statuary in this group, has given occasion for a sarcastic comment from Amelot de la Houssaye. The saint is sculptured with the shield in his right hand, the lance in his left; a clear proof, says the French writer, of the unacquaintance of the Venetians with the use of arms; and symbolical that their great council never undertakes a war of its own accord, nor for any other object than to obtain a good and secure peace. The satirist has unintentionally given the republic the highest praise which could flow from his pen. Happy, indeed, would it have been for mankind, if Governments had never been actuated by any other policy. De la Houssaye informs us also that the Venetians exchanged the patronage of St. Theodore for that of St. Mark, from like pacific motives; because the first was a soldier and resembled St. George, the tutelary idol of Genoa.-Sketches of Venetian History.

ACT IV.

SCENE I-VENICE. A COURT OF JUSTICE.(4)

The DUKE, (B) the MAGNIFICOES' ANTONIO, BASSANIO, GRATIANO, SALARINO, SALANIO, and others.

Duke. What is Antonio here?

Ant. Ready, so please your grace.

Duke. I am sorry for thee: thou art come to answer A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch,

Uncapable of pity, void and empty

From any dram of mercy.

Ant

I have heard

Your grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify

His rigorous course; but since he stands obdurate,
And that no lawful means can carry me

Out of his envy's reach,2 I do oppose
My patience to his fury; and am arm'd
To suffer, with a quietness of spirit,
The very tyranny and rage of his.

Duke. Go one, and call the Jew into the court.
Grand Capt. He's ready at the door: he comes, my lord.

Enter SHYLOCK.

Duke. Make room, and let him stand before our face. Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so, too,

2

1 Magnificoes,] Coryat calls the nobles of Venice Clarissimoes. envy's reach,] Envy, in this place, means hatred or malice.

That thou but lead'st this fashion of thy malice
To the last hour of act and then, 'tis thought
Thou'lt show thy mercy and remorse,3 more strange
Than is thy strange apparent cruelty:*

And where thou now exact'st the penalty,
(Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh),
Thou wilt not only lose the forfeiture,

But touch'd with human gentleness and love,
Forgive a moiety of the principal;
Glancing an eye of pity on his losses,
That have of late so huddled on his back,
Enough to press a royal merchant down, (c)

And pluck commiseration of his state

From brassy bosoms, and rough hearts of flint,

From stubborn Turks and Tartars, never train'd
To offices of tender courtesy.

We all expect a gentle answer, Jew.

Shy. I have possess'd your grace of what I purpose ;And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn,

To have the due and forfeit of my bond:

If you deny it, let the danger light
Upon your charter, and your city's freedom.
You'll ask me, why I rather choose to have
A weight of carrion flesh, than to receive
Three thousand ducats: I'll not answer that:
But, say, it is my humour: Is it answer'd?
What if my house be troubled with a rat,
And I be pleas'd to give ten thousand ducats
To have it ban'd? What, are you answer'd yet?

3 remorse,] Id est, pity.

5

6

apparent cruelty:] That is, seeming cruelty; not real.
where thou now] where for whereas.

I'll not answer that;

But, say, it is my humour ;] The Jew being asked a question which the law does not require him to answer, stands upon his right, and refuses; but afterwards gratifies his own malignity by such answers as he knows will aggravate the pain of the enquirer. I will not answer, says he, as to a legal or serious question,but, since you want an answer, will this serve you?-JOHNSON.

Some men there are love not a gaping pig;7

Some, that are mad if they behold a cat ;
Now for your answer.

As there is no firm reason to be render'd
Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;
Why he a harmless necessary cat;

So can I give no reason, nor I will not,
More than a lodg'd hate, and a certain loathing,
I bear Antonio, that I follow thus

A losing suit against him. Are you answer'd?
Bas. This is no answer, thou unfeeling man,

To excuse the current of thy cruelty.

Shy. I am not bound to please thee with my answer.
Bas. Do all men kill the things they do not love?
Shy. Hates any man the thing he would not kill?
Bas. Every offence is not a hate at first.

Shy. What, would'st thou have a serpent sting thee twice?
Ant. I pray you, think you question with the Jew.

You may as well go stand upon the beach,

And bid the main flood bate his usual height;
You may as well use question with the wolf,
Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb;
You may as well forbid the mountain pines
To wag their high tops, and to make no noise,
When they are fretted with the gusts of heaven;
You may as well do anything 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 further means,

7 — a gaping pig ;] By a gaping pig, Shakespeare, I believe, meant a pig prepared for the table; for in that state is the epithet, gaping, most applicable to this animal. So, in Fletcher's Elder Brother

"And they stand gaping like a roasted pig."

A passage in one of Nashe's pamphlets (which perhaps furnished our author with his instance), may serve to confirm the observation: "The causes conducting unto wrath are as diverse as the actions of a man's life. Some will take on like a madman, if they see a pig come to the table. Sotericus, the surgeon, was eholerick at the sight of sturgeon," &c. Pierce Pennylesse his Sup plication to the Devil, 1592.-MALONE.

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question with the Jew.] To question is to converse.

But, with all brief and plain conveniency,
Let me have judgment, and the Jew his will.
Bas. 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,
Which, like your asses, and your dogs, and mules,
You use in abject and in slavish parts,

Because you bought them :- -Shall I say to you,
Let them be free, marry them to your heirs?
Why sweat they under burthens? let their beds
Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates
Be season'd with such viands? You will answer,

The slaves are ours :-So do I answer you.
The pound of flesh, which I demand of him,
Is dearly bought; 'tis 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 court,
Unless Bellario, a learned doctor,

Whom I have sent for to determine this,

Come here to day.

Grand Capt. My lord, here stays without

A messenger, with letters from the doctor,

New come from Padua."

Duke. Bring us the letters:-Call the messenger. Bas. Good cheer, Antonio! What, man! courage yet! The Jew shall have my flesh, blood, bones, and all, Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood.

Ant. 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?

Padua is the place of education for the civil law in Italy.

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