lainy, you teach me, I will execute'; and it shall go hard, but I will better the instruction.

Enter a Servant.

Serv. Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at his house, and desires to speak with you both.

Salar. We have been up and down to seek him.

Enter TUBAL.
Salan. Here comes another of the tribe; a third
cannot be matched, unless the devil himself turn
Jew. [Exeunt SALAN. SALAR. and Servant.

Shy. How now, Tubal', what news from Genoa ? hast thou found my daughter ?

Tub. I often came where I did hear of her, but cannot find her.

Shy. Why there, there, there, there! a diamond gone, cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfort ! The curse never fell upon our nation till now; I never felt it till now: -- two thousand ducat's in that; and other precious, precious jewels. — I would, my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear! 'would she were hears'd at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin! No news of them?

- Why, so: --and I know not what's spent in the search: Why, thou loss upon loss! the thief gone with so much, and so much to find the thief; and no satisfaction, no revenge: nor no ill luck stirring, but what lights o' my shoulders ; no sighs, but o'my breathing; no tears, but o' my shedding.

Tub. Yes, other men have ill luck too; Antonio, as I heard in Genoa,

Shy. What, what, what? ill luck, ill luck?
Tub.

hath an argosy cast away, coming from
Tripolis.
Shy. Is it true ? is it true ?

Tub. I spoke with some of the sailors that escaped the wreck.

Shy. I thank thee, good Tubal ;--Good news, good news: ha! ha! - Where? in Genoa ?

Tub. Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I heard, one night, fourscore ducats.

Shy. Thou stick'st a dagger in me: I shall never see my gold again : Fourscore ducats at a sitting! fourscore ducats.

Tub. There came divers of Antonio's creditors in my company to Venice, that swear he cannot choose but break.

Shy. I am very glad of it: I'll plague him; I'll torture him; I am glad of it.

Tub. One of them showed me a ring, that he had of your daughter for a monkey.

Shy. Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: it was my turquoise 4; I had it of Leah, when I was a bachelor: I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkies.

Tub. But Antonio is certainly undone.

Shy. 'Nay, that's true, that's very true: Go, Tubal, fee me an officer, bespeak him a fortnight before: I will have the heart of him, if he forfeit; for were he out of Venice, I can make what merchandize I will: Go, go, Tubal, and meet me at our synagogue; go, good Tubal ; at our syna

[Exeunt.

gogue, Tubal.

4 A precious stone.

SCENE II.

Belmont.

A Room in Portia's House.

Enter BASSANIO, PORTIA, GRATIANO, Nerissa,

and Attendants. The caskets are set out.

Por. I pray you, tarry; pause. a day or two, Before

you

hazard; for, in choosing wrong, I lose your company; therefore, forbear a while : There's something tells me, (but it is not love,) I would not lose you; and you know yourself, Hate counsels not in such a quality : But lest you should not understand me well, (And yet a maiden hath no tongue but thought,) I would detain you here some month or two, Before you venture for me.

I could teach you,
How to choose right, but then I am forsworn;
So will I never be: Beshrew your eyes,
They have o'er-look'd me, and divided me;
One half of me is yours, the other half yours,
Mine own, I would say; but if mine, then

yours,
And so all yours: 0! these naughty times
Put bars between the owners and their rights;
And so, though yours, not yours.

- Prove it so,
Let fortune bear the blame of it, not I.
I speak too long; but 'tis to peizes the time;
To eke it, and to draw it out in length,
To stay you from election.
Bass.

Let me choose;
For, as I am, I live

upon

the rack. Por. Upon the rack, Bassanio ? then confess What treason there is mingled with your

love.

s Delay

Muick,

Bass. None, but that ugly treason of mistrůst,
Which makes me fear the enjoying of my love :
There may as well be amity and life
'Tween snow and fire, as treason and my

love.
Por. Ay, but, I fear, you speak upon the rack,
Where men enforced do speak any thing.

Bass. Promise me life, and I'll confess the truth.
Por. Well then, confess, and live.
Bass.

Confess, and love,
Had been the very sum of my

confession : O happy torment, when

my

torturer Doth teach me answers for deliverance! But let me to my fortune and the caskets.

Por. Away then: I am lock'd in one of them; If you do love me, you will find me out. Nerissa, and the rest, stand all aloof. Let musick sound, while he doth make his choice; Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end, Fading in musick: that the comparison May stand more proper, my eye shall be the stream, And wat'ry death-bed for him: He may win; And what is musick then ? then musick is Even as the flourish when true subjects bow To a new-crowned monarch: such it is, As are those dulcet sounds in break of day, That creep into the dreaming bridegroom's ear, And summon him to marriage. Now he goes, With no less presence, but with much more love, Than young Alcides, when he did redeem The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy To the sea-monster: I stand for sacrifice, The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives, With bleared visages, come forth to view The issue of the exploit. Go, Hercules ! Live thou, I live: With much much more dismay I view the fight, than thou that mak'st the fray.

6

Dignity of mien.

+

Musick, whilst BASSANIO comments on the caskets

to himself

SONG.

1. Tell me, where is fancy? bred,

Or in the heart, or in the head?.

How begot, how nourished?
Reply. 2. It is engender'd in the eyes,

With gazing fed; and fancy dies
In the cradle where it lies :

Let us all ring fancy's knell ;

I'll begin it, — Ding dong, bell. All.

Ding, dong, bell. Bass. - So may the outward shows be least

themselves; The world is still deceiv'd with ornament. In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt, But, being season'd with a gracious voice, Obscures the show of evil ? In religion, What dangerous error, but some sober brow Will bless it, and approve it with a text, Hiding the grossness with fair ornament? There is no vice so simple, but assumes Some mark of virtue on his outward parts. How many cowards, whose hearts are all as false As stairs of sand, wear yet upon their chins The beards of Hercules, and frowning Mars; Who, inward search'd, have livers white as milk? And these assume but valour's countenance, To render them redoubted. Look on beauty, And you shall see 'tis purchas'd by the weight; Which therein works a miracle in nature, Making them lightest that wear most of it i, So are those crisped & snaky golden locks,

8 Curled.

7 Love. VOL. III.