(To his followers.

My lodging out:- Give him a livery
More guarded than his fellows': See it done.

Laun. Father, in :-I cannot get a service, no ;-I have ne'er a tongue in my head. - Well; [Looking on his palm.] if any man in Italy have a fairer table which doth offer to swear upon a book. I shall have good fortune: Go to, here's a simple line of life! here's a small trifle of wives: Alas, fifteen wives is nothing; eleven widows, and nine maids, is a simple coming-in for one man: and then to 'scape drowning thrice; and to be in peril of my life with the edge of a feather-bed;"-here are simple 'scapes! Well, if fortune be a woman, she's a good wench for this gear. Father, come; I'll take my leave of the Jew in the twinkling of an eye.

[Exeunt LAUN. and old GoB.

Bass. I pray thee, good Leonardo, think on this; These things being bought, and orderly bestow'd, Return in haste, for I do feast to-night

My best-esteem'd acquaintance; hie thee, go.

Leon. My best endeavours shall be done herein.

Enter GRATIANO.

Gra. You must not deny me; I must go with you to Belmont.

Bass. Why, then you must;-But hear thee, Gratiano

Thou art too wild, too rude, and bold of voice ;

Parts, that become thee happily enough,

And in such eyes as ours appear not faults;

But where thou art not known, why, there they show
Something too liberal; - pray thee, take pain

To allay with some cold drops of modesty

Thy skipping spirit; lest, through thy wild behaviour, I be misconstrued in the place I go to,

And lose my hopes.

Gra. Signior Bassanio, hear me :

If I do not put on a sober habit

[5] Guarded-i, e. more ornamented.

STEEVENS.

6 Table-The chiromantic term for the lines of the hand.

[7] A cant term to signify the danger of marrying.

WARBURTON

WARBURTON.

JOIL

181 Liberal I have already shown to be mean, gross, coarse, licentious.

VOL. I.

40

Talk with respect, and swear but now and then,
Wear prayer-books in my pocket, look demurely;
Nay more, while grace is saying, hood mine eyes
Thus with my hat, and sigh, and say, amen;
Use all th' observance of civility,

Like one well studied in a sad ostent

To please his grandam, never trust me more.
Bass. Well, we shall see your bearing.

Gra. Nay, but I bar to-night; you shall not gage me

By what we do to-night.

Bass. No, that were pity;

I would entreat you rather to put on

Your boldest suit of mirth, for we have friends

That purpose merriment: But fare you well,
I have some business.

Gra. And I must to Lorenzo, and the rest;

But we will visit you at supper-time.

SCENE III.

[Exeunt.

The same. A Room in SHYLOCK'S House. Enter JESSICA and LAUNCELOT.

Jes. I am sorry, thou wilt leave my father so;

Our house is hell, and thou, a merry devil,
Didst rob it of some taste of tediousness:
But fare thee well; there is a ducat for thee.
And, Launcelot, soon at supper shalt thou see
Lorenzo, who is thy new master's guest:
Give him this letter; do it secretly,

And so farewell; I would not have my father
See me talk with thee.

Laun. Adieu!-tears exhibit my tongue.Most beautiful pagan,-most sweet Jew! If a Christian do not play the knave, and get thee, I am much deceived: But, adieu! these foolish drops do somewhat drown my manly spirit; adieu!

Jes. Farewell, good Launcelot.-
Alack, what heinous sin is it in me,
To be asham'd to be my father's child!
But though I am a daughter to his blood,
I am not to his manners: O Lorenzo,
If thou keep promise, I shall end this strife;
Become a Christian, and thy loving wife.

[9] Grave appearance; show of staid and serious behaviour.

[Exit.

[Exit.

JOHNSON.

SCENE IV.

The same. A Street.

Enter GRATIANO, LORENZO, SALA

RINO, and SALANIO.

Lor. Nay, we will slink away in supper-time ;

Disguise us at my lodging, and return
All in an hour.

Gra. We have not made good preparation.

Salar. We have not spoke us yet of torch-bearers. Salan. 'Tis vile, unless it may be quaintly order'd;

And better, in my mind, not undertook.

Lor. 'Tis now but four o-clock; we have two hours To furnish us :

Enter LAUNCELOT, with a letter.

Friend Launcelot, what's the news?

Laun. An it shall please you to break up this, it shall

seem to signify.

Lor. I know the hand: in faith, 'tis a fair hand;

And whiter than the paper it writ on,
Is the fair hand that writ.

Gra. Love-news, in faith.

Laun. By your leave, sir.

Lor. Whither goest thou ?

Laun. Marry, sir, to bid my old master the Jew to sup

to-night with my new master the Christian.

Lor. Hold here, take this :-tell gentle Jessica,

I will not fail her ;-speak it privately; go.-
Gentlemen,

[Exit LAUN.

Will you prepare you for this masque to-night?
I am provided of a torch-bearer.

Salar. Ay, marry, I'll be gone about it straight.
Salan. And so will I.

Lor. Meet me, and Gratiano,

At Gratiano's lodging some hour hence.

Salar. 'Tis good we do so. [Exeunt SAL. and SALA. Gra. Was not that letter from fair Jessica?

Lor. I must needs tell thee all: She hath directed,

How I shall take her from her father's house;
What gold, and jewels, she is furnish'd with;
What page's suit she hath in readiness.
If e'er the Jew her father come to heaven,
It will be for his gentle daughter's sake :
And never dare misfortune cross her foot
Unless she do it under this excuse,-

That she is issue to a faithless Jew.

Come, go with me; peruse this, as thou goest:

Fair Jessica shall be my torch-bearer.

SCENE V.

[Exeunt

The same. Before SHYLOCK's House. Enter SHYLOCK and

LAUNCELOт.

Shy. Well, thou shalt see, thy eyes shall be thy judge, The difference of old Shylock and Bassanio :What, Jessica! - thou shalt not gormandize, As thou hast done with me ;- What, Jessica!And sleep and snore, and rend apparel out ;Why, Jessica, I say!

Laun. Why, Jessica!

Shy. Who bids thee call? I do not bid thee call.
Laun. You worship was wont to tell me, I could do

nothing without bidding.

Enter JESSICA.

(Jes. Call you? What is your will?

Shy. I am bid forth to supper, Jessica ;'
There are my keys:-But wherefore should I go?
I am not bid for love; they flatter me:
But yet I'll go in hate, to feed upon

The prodigal Christian. Jessica, my girl,
Look to my house :-I am right loath to go;
There is some ill a brewing towards my rest,
For I did dream of money-bags to-night.

Laun. I beseech you, sir, go; my young master doth expect your reproach.

Shy. So do I his.

Laun. And they have conspired together,-I will not say, you shall see a masque; but if you do, then it was not for nothing that my nose fell a bleeding on BlackMonday last, at six o'clock i' th' morning, falling out

[1] That bid was used for invitation, may be seen in St. Luke's Gospel, xiv. 24: " none of those which were bidden shall taste of my supper." HARRIS.

[2] Shylock forgets his resolution. In a former scene he declares he will neither eat, drink, nor pray with Christians. Of this circumstance the poet was aware, and meant only to heighten the malignity of the character, by making him depart from his most settled resolve, for the prosecution of his revenge. STEEVENS.

[3] "Black-Monday is Easter-Monday, and was so called on this occasion: in the 34th of Edward III. (1360) 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 the Blacke-Monday." Stowe, p 264-6. GREY

that year on Ash-Wednesday was four year in the after

noon.

Shy. What! art there masques? Hear you me, Jessica: Lock up my doors; and when you hear the drum, And the vile squeaking of the wry-neck'd fife, Clamber not you up to the casements then, Nor thrust your head into the public street, To gaze on Christian fools with varnish'd faces : But stop my house's ears, I mean my casements; Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter My sober house. --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.

[Exit LAUN.

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. Shy. What says that fool of Hagar's offspring, ha? Jes. His words were, Farewell, mistress; nothing else. 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.

Jes. Farewell; and if my fortune be not crost,

[Exit.

I have a father, you a daughter, lost.

SCENE VI.

The same. Enter GRATIANO and SALARINO, masqued.
Gra. This is the pent-house, under which Lorenzo

Desir'd us to make stand.

Salar. His hour is almost past.

Gra. And it is marvel he out-dwells his hour,

For lovers ever run before the clock.

Salar. O, ten times faster Venus' pigeons fly

[4] Lovers have in poetry been called Turtles or Doves, which in lower language may be pigeons. JOHNSON.