Senators of Venice, Officers, Jailer, Sercants, and other Attendants.

SCENE, partly at Venice, and partly at Belmont, the Seat of Portia.

ACT

Is sad to think upon his merchandize.
20 Anth. Believe me, no: I thank my fortune for
My ventures are not in one bottom tru trusted,
Nor to one place: nor is my whole estate
Upon the fortune of this present year:
Therefore my merchandize makes me not sad.

25 Sala. Why then you are in love?
Anth. Fie, fie!

* The name of the ship.

Because you are not merry: and 'twere as easy
For you, to laugh, and leap, and say, you are merry,

Because you arenotsad. Now, by two-headed Janus, 5 I'll tell thee more of this another time:

Sala. Not in love neither? Then let's say, you are sad,

(That therefore only are reputed wise,
For saying nothing; who, I am very sure, [ears,
If they should speak, would almost damn those
Which, hearing them, would call their brothers
[fools2.

Nature hath fram'd strange fellows in her time:

But fish not with this melancholy bait,

And laugh, like parrots, at a bag-piper;

For this fool's gudgeon, this opinion.-
Come, good Lorenzo; -Fare ye well, awhile;
I'll end iny exhortation after dinner.

[time.

I must be one of these same dumb wise men,
For Gratiano never lets me speak.

Some that will evermore peep through their eyes,

And other of such vinegar aspect,

That they Il not shew their teeth in way of smile, 10 Lor. Well, we will leave you then till dinnerThough Nesto: swear the jest be laughable.

Enter Bassanio, Lorenzo, and Gratiano.
Sal. Here comes Bassanio, your most noble
Gratiano, and Lorenzo: fare you well; [kinsman,
We leave you now with better company.

Sala. I would have staid till Ihad made youmerry,
If worthier friends had not prevented me.
Anth. Your worth is very dear in my regard.
I take it, your own business calls on you,
And you embrace the occasion to depart.
Sal. Good morrow, my good lords.
Bass. Good signiors both, when shall we laugh?
say, when?

more,

Gra. Well, keep me company but two years [tongue. 15 Thou shalt not know the sound of thine own Anth. Fare well; I'll grow a talker for this gear. [mendable Gra. Thanks, i'faith; for silence is only comIn a neat's tongue dry'd, and a maid not vendible. [Exeunt Gra. and Lor.

20

Anth. Is that any thing now? Bass. Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice: His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels

You grow exceeding strange; Must it be so?
Sal We'll make our leisures to attend on yours. 25 of chaff; you shall seek all day ere you find them;
[Exeunt Sal. and Sala.
Lor. My lord Bassanio, since you have found
Anthonio,

We two will leave you; but at dinner-time,
I pray you, have in mind where we must meet. 30 That you to-day promis'd to tell me of?

and when you have them, they are not worth the search.

Anth. Well; tell me now, what lady is the same, To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage,

Bass. I will not fail you.

Gra. You look not well, signior Anthonio;

You have too much respect upon the world:

They lose it, that do buy it with much care.
Belie e me, you are marvellously changed.

Bass. 'Tis not unknown to you, Anthonio,
How much I have disabled mine estate,
By something shewing a more swelling port
Than my faint means would grant continuance:

Anth. Ihold theworld but as the world, Gratiano,

A stage, where every man must play a part,

And mine a sad one.

Gra. Let me play the fool':
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come; 40 I owe the most, in money, and in love;

35 Nor do I now make moan to be abridg'd
From such a noble rate; but my chief care
Is, to come fairly off from the great debts,
Wherein my time, something too prodigal,
Hath left me gag'd: To you, Anthonio,

And let my liver rather heat with wine,
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans.

Why should a man, whose blood is warm within,
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster?

And from your love I have a warranty
To unburthen all my plots, and purposes,
How to get clear of all the debts I owe.

45 And,

Steep when he wakes? and creep into the jaundice
By being peevish? I tell thee what, Anthonio, -
I love thee, and it is my love that speaks ;-
There are a sort of men whose visages
Do cream and mantle, like a standing pond;
And do a wilful stillness entertain,
With purpose to be drest in an opinion
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit;
As who should say, "I am Sir Oracle,
"And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!"
O, my Anthonio, I do know of these,

Anth. I pray you, good Bassanio, let me know it;
if it stand, as you yourself still do,
Within the eye of honour, be assur'd,
My purse, my person, my extremest means,
Lye all unlock'd to your occasions.

[shaft,

Bass. In my school-days, when I had lost one 50I shot his fellow of the self-same flight

The self-same way, with more advised watch,
To find the other forth; and by advent'ring both,
I oft found both: I urge this childhood proof,
Because what follows is pure innocence.

1551 owe you much; and, like a wilful youth,

1 This alludes 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. 2 Our author's meaning is, 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 tools, and so incur the judgment denounced in the gospel. The humour of this cousists 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.

That

That which I owe is lost: but if you please
To shoot another arrow that self way
Which you did shoot the first, I do not doubt,
As I will watch the aim, or to find both,
Or bring your latter hazard back again,
And thankfully rest debtor for the first. [time,
Anth. You know me well: and herein spend but
To wind about my love with circumstance;
And, out of doubt, you do me now more wrong,
In making question of my uttermost,
Than if you had made waste of all I have:
Then do but say to me what I should do,
That in your knowledge my by me be done,
And am I prest' unto it: therefore speak.

Bass. In Belmont is a lady richly left,
And she is fair, and, fairer than that word,
Of wondrous virtues: sometimes from ner eyes
I did receive fair speechless messages:
Her name is Portia; nothing undervalu'd
To Cato's daughter, Brutus' Portia.
Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth;
For the four winds blow in from every coast
Renowned suitors: and her sunny locks
Hang on her temples like a golden fleece;
Which makes her seat of Belmont,
And many Jasons come in quest of her.
O my Anthonio, had I but the means
To hold a rival place with one of them,
I have a mind presages me such thrift,
That I should questionless be fortunate.

Colchos'
[strand,

Anth. Thou know'st, that all my fortunes are
Nor have I money, nor commodity,
[at sea;
To raise a present sum: therefore go forth,
Try what iny credit can in Venice do;
That shall be rack'd, even to the uttermost,
To furnish thee to Belmont, to fair Portia.
Go, presently enquire, and so will I,
Where money is; and I no question make,
To have it of my trust, or for my sake. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.

A Room in Portia's House in Belmont.

Enter Portia and Nerissa.

blood; but a hot temper leaps o'er a cold decree: such a hare is madness the youth, to skip o'er the meshes of good counsel the cripple. But this reasoning is not in the fashion to chuse me a husband: 5-0 me, the word chuse! I may neither chuse whom I would, nor refuse whom I dislike; so is the will of a living daughter curb'd by the will of a dead father:-Is it not hard, Nerissa, that I cannot chuse one, nor refuse none?

10 Ner. Your father was ever virtuous; and holy men, at their death, have good inspirations; therefore, the lottery, that he hath devised in these three chests, of gold, silver, and lead, (whereof who chuses his meaning, chuses you) 15 will, no doubt, never be chosen by any rightly, but one who you shall rightly love. But what warmth is there in your affection towards any of these princely suitors that are already come?

Por. I pray thee, over-name them; and, as thou 20 nam'st them, I will describe them; and, according to my description, level at my affection. Ver. First, there is the Neapolitan prince. Por. Ay, that's a colt3, indeed, for he doth nothing but talk of his horse; and he makes it a 25 great appropriation to his own good parts, that The can shoe him himself: I am much afraid my lady his mother played false with a smith.

Ner. Then, there is the County Palatine.

Por. He doth nothing but frown; as, who 30 should say, An if you will not have me, chuse: he hears merry tales and smiles not: I fear he will prove the weeping philosopher when he grows old, being so full of unmannerly sadness in his youth. I had rather be married to a death's35 head with a bone in his mouth, than to either of these. God defend me from these two!

Ner. How say you by the French lord, Monsieur Le Bon?

Por. God made him, and therefore let him pass 40 for a man. In truth, I know it is a sin to be a mocker; But, he! why, he hath a horse better than the Neapolitan's; a better bad habit of frowning than the Count Palatine: he is every man in no man: if a throstle sing, he falls strait a-capering; he will fence with his own shadow: if I should marry him, I should marry twenty husbands: If he would despise me, I would forgive him; for if he love me to madness, I shall never requite him.

Por. By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is a-45 weary of this great world.

Ner. You would be, sweet madam, if your miseries were in the same abundance as your good fortunes are: And yet, for aught I see, they are as sick, that surfeit with too much, as they that starve 50 the young baron of England?

with nothing: It is no mean happiness therefore, to be seated in the mean; superfluity comes sooner

by white hairs, but competency lives longer.

Ner. They would be better, if well follow'd. 35 ny-worth in the English. He is a proper man's

Ner. What say you then to Faulconbridge,

Por. Good sentences, and well pronounc'd.

Por. You know I say nothing to him; for he understands not me, nor I him: he hath neither Latin, French, nor Italian; and you will come into the court and swear, that I have a poor pene

Por. If to do, were as easy as to know what

were good to do, chapels had been churches, and
poor men's cottages, princes' palaces. It is a good
divine, that follows his own instructions. I can
easier teach twenty what were good to be done, 60 our every-where.

picture; But, alas! who can converse with a dumb show? How oddly he is suited! I think, he bought his doublet in Italy, his round hose in France, his bonnet in Germany, and his behavi

than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching. The brain may devise laws for the

Ner. What think you of the Scottish lord, his neighbour?.

• That is, ready to do it. Sometimes here means formerly. i. e, a thoughtless, giddy, gay youngster.

Por.

Por. That he hath a neighbourly charity in him; for he borrow'd a box of the ear of the Englishman, and swore he would pay him again, when he was able: I think, the Frenchman became his surety, and seal'd under for another.

Ner. How like you the young German, the duke of Saxony's nephew?

Por. Very vilely in the morning, when he is sober; and most vilely in the afternoon, when he

is drunk: when he is best, he is a little worse than 10 Shy. Anthonio is a good man.

a man; and when he is worst, he is little better than a beast: an the worst fall that ever fell, I hope, I shall make shift to go without him.

Bass. Have you heard any imputation to the

contrary?

Ner. If he should offer to chuse, and chuse the

Shy. Ho, no, no, no, no;-my meaning, in saying he is a good man, is, to have you understand

right casket, you should refuse to perform your 15 me, that he e is sufficient: yet his means are in sup

father's will, if you should refuse to accept him.

Por. Therefore, for fear of the worst, I pray thee, set a deep glass of Rhenish wine on the contrary casket; for, if the devil be within, and

position: he hath an argosy bound to Tripolis, another tothe Indies; I understand moreover upon the Rialto, he hath a third at Mexico, a fourth for England, and other ventures he hath, squander'dabroad:

that temptation without, I know he will chuse it. 20 But ships are but boards, sailors but men: there

I will do any thing, Nerissa, ere I will be marry'd to a spunge.

Ner. You need notfear, lady, the having any of these lords; they have acquainted me with their determination: which is, indeed, to return to their 25 ducats;-I think, I may take his bond. home, and to trouble you with no more suit: unless you may be won by some other sort than your father's imposition, depending on the caskets.

Por. If I live to be as old as Sybilla, I will die

as chaste as Diana, unless I be obtained by the 30 Shy. Yes, to smell pork; to eat of the habita

manner of my father's will: I am glad this parcel of wooers are so very reasonable; for there is not one among them but I dote on his very absence, and I pray God grant them a fair departure.

Ner. Do you not remember, lady, in your fa-35 ther's time, a Venetian, a scholar, and a soldier, that came hither in company of the marquis of Montserrat?

Por. Yes, yes, it was Bassanio; as I think, so he was call'd.

Ner. True, madam; he, of all the men that ever my foolish eyes look'd upon, was the best deserving a fair lady.

Por. I remember him well; and I remember him worthy of thy praise.-How now! what news?

Enter a Servant.

Ser. The four strangers seek for you, madam, to take their leave: and there is a fore-runner come from the fifth, the prince of Morocco; who brings

Bass. This is signior Anthonio.

Shy. [Aside.] How like a fawning publican he

40 I hate him for he is a Christian:

[looks!

But more, for that, in low simplicity,
He lends out money gratis, and brings down
The rate of usance here with us in Venice.

If I can catch him once upon the hip',
45 I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.
He hates our sacred nation; and he rails,
Even there where merchants most do congregate,
On me, my bargains, and my well-won thrift,
Which he calls interest: Cursed be my tribe,

word, the prince, his master, will be here to-night. 50 If I forgive him!

Bass. Be assur'd, you may.
Shy. I will be assur'd, I may; and, that I may
I will bethink me: May I speak with Anthonio?
Bass. If it please you to dine with us.

be land-rats, and water-rats, water-thieves, and land-thieves; I mean, pirates; and then, there is the peril of waters, winds, and rocks: The man is, notwithstanding, sufficient:-three thousand [be assur'd,

tion which your prophet the Nazarite conjured the devil into: I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following: but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you. What news on the Rialto?Who is he comes here?

Enter Anthonio.

vil, I had rather he should shrive me than wive 55 Of full three thousand ducats: What of that?

Shy. When Jacob graz'd his uncle Laban's
This Jacob from our holy Abraham was [sheep,
(As his wise mother wrought in his behalf)
The third possessor: ay, he was the third,

10

You, that did void your rheum upon my beard,
And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur
Over your threshold; monies is your suit.
What should I say to you? Should I not say,
"Hath a dog money? Is it possible

"A cur can lend three thousand ducats ?" or
Shall I bend low, and in a bondınan's key,
With 'bated breath, and whispering humbleness,
Say this," Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednes-
"day last;

"You sporn'd me such a day; another time
"You call'd me-dog; and for these courtesies
"I'll lend you thus much monies."

Anth. I am as like to call thee so again,

Anth, And what of him? did he take interest ? 15 Γο spit on thee again, to spurn thee too.
Shy. No, not take interest; not as you would

say,

Directly interest: mark what Jacob did.
When Laban and himself were compromis'd,

If thou wilt lend this money, lend it not
As to thy friends; (for when did friendship take
A breed of barren metal of his friend?)
But lend it rather to thine enemy;

That all the eanlings, which were streak'd, and 20 Who if he break, thou may'st with better face

py'd,

Should fall as Jacob's hire; the ewes, being rank,
In the end of autumn turned to the rams:

And when the work of generation was

Between these woolly breeders in

breeders in the act,

The skilful shepherd peeld me certain wands,

ewes;

And, in the doing of the deed of kind 2,
He stuck them up before the fulsome
Who, then conceiving, did in eaning time

Exact the penalty.

Fall party-colour'd lambs, and those were Jacob's. 30 Go with me to a notary, seal me there

Shy. Why, look you, how you storm!
I would be friends with you, and have your love,
Forget the shames that you have stained me with,

25 Supply your present wants, and take no doit
Of usance for my monies, and you'll not hear me;
This is kind I offer.

Anth. This were kindness.

Shy. This kindness will I show:

This was a way to thrive, and he was blest;

And thrift is blessing, if men steal it not

[for:

Your single bond; and, in a merry sport,
If you repay me not on such a day,

Anth. This was a venture, sir, that Jacob serv'd

A thing not in his power to bring to pass,

But sway'd, and fashion'd, by the hand of heaven. 35 Be nominated for an equal pound

Was this inserted to make interest good?

Or is your gold and silver, ewes and rams?

In such a place, such sum, or sums, as are
Express'd in the condition, let the forfeit

Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken
In what part of your body pleaseth me.

Shy. I cannot tell; I make it breed as fast:

Anth. Content, in faith; I'll seal to such a bond,

But note me, signior.

And say, there is much kindness in the Jew.

The devil can cite scripture for his purpose.

Anth. Mark you this, Bassanio.

An evil soul, producing holy witness,
Is like a villain with a smiling cheek;

A goodly apple rotten at the heart:

O, what a goodly outside falshood hath ! [sum. 45 Of thrice three times the value of the bond. [are;

rate.

Shy. Three thousand ducats,-'tis a good round
Three months from twelve, then let me see the
[you?
Anth. Well, Shylock, shall we be beholden to
Shy. Signior Anthonio, many a time and oft 50 By the exaction of the forfeiture ?

In the Rialto you have rated me

About my monies and my usances *:
Still have I borne it with a patient shrug;
For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe:
You call me-misbeliever, cut-throat dog,
And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine'.
And all for use of that which is mine own.
Well then, it now appears, you need my help :
Go to then: you come to me, and you say,

A pound of man's flesh, taken from a man,
Is not so estimable, profitable neither,

As flesh of muttons, beefs, or goats. I say,
To buy his favour, I extend this friendship:

55 If he will take it, so; if not, adieu;

Yes,

And, for my love, I pray you, wrong me not. Anth. Shylock, will seal unto this bond. Shy. Then meet me forthwith at the notary's; Give him direction for this merry bond, "Shylock, we would have monies;" You say so : 60 And I will go and purse the ducats strait;

i. e. lambs just dropt. i. e. of nature. Meaning, lascivious, obscene. Use and usance were both words formerly employed for usury. A guberdine means a course frock. That is, interest money bred from the principal. To dwell, here seems to mean the same as to continue.

40 Bass. You shall not seal to such a bond for me, I'll rather dwell' in my necessity.

Anth. Why, fear not, man; I will not forfeit it: Within these two months, that's a month before This bond expires, I do expect return

Shy. O father Abraham, what these Christians
Whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect
The thoughts of others! Pray you, tell me this;
If he should break his day, what should I gain

See