that came hither in company of the Marquis of Montferrat? POR. Yes, yes, it was Bassanio; as I think, so was he called. NER. True, madam; he, of all the men that ever my foolish eyes looked 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. * SERV. The four strangers seek for you, madam, to take their leave: and there is a fore-runner come from a fifth, the prince of Morocco; who brings word, the prince, his master, will be here to-night. POR. If I could bid the fifth welcome with so good heart, as I can bid the other four farewell, I should be glad of his approach: if he have the condition of a saint, and the complexion of a devil, I had rather he should shrive me than wive me. Come, Nerissa.-Sirrah, go before.-Whiles we shut the gate upon one wooer, another knocks at the door. [Exeunt. SCENE III. Venice. A publick Place. Enter BASSANIO and SHYLOCK®. SHY. Three thousand ducats,-well. * First folio omits for. "How now! what news?] Omitted in the first folio. BosWELL. 7-the CONDITION-] i. e. the temper, qualities. So, in Othello: "and then, of so gentle a condition!" MALONE. 8 - Shylock.] Our author, as Dr. Farmer informs me, took the name of his Jew from an old pamphlet, entitled "Caleb SHY. For three months,-well. BASS. For the which, as I told you, Antonio shall be bound. SHY. Antonio shall become bound,-well. BASS. May you stead me? Will you pleasure me? Shall I know your answer? SHY. Three thousand ducats, for three months, and Antonio bound. BASS. Your answer to that. SHY. Antonio is a good man". BASS. Have you heard any imputation to the contrary? SHY. Ho, no, no, no, no ;-my meaning, in saying he is a good man, is to have you understand me, that he is sufficient: yet his means are in supposition: he hath an argosy bound to Tripolis, another to the Indies; I understand moreover upon the Rialto, he hath a third at Mexico, a fourth for England, and other ventures he hath squander'd abroad: But ships are but boards, sailors but men: there 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 ducats ;—I think, I may take his bond. Shillocke his prophecie," or the Jewes Prediction." printed for T. P. [Thomas Pavier,] no date. STEEvens. London, If Shakspeare took the name of Shylock from the pamphlet mentioned by Dr. Farmer, it certainly was not printed by Thomas Pavier; to whom Mr. Steevens has ascribed it; for that prototype of Curl had not commenced a bookseller before 1598. The pamphlet in question, which was not in Dr. Farmer's collection, (nor do I know where it is to be found,) may have been printed for Thomas Purfoot. MALONE. Mr. Bindley had a copy of this pamphlet, the date of which was 1607. Boswell. 9 Antonio is a GOOD man.] So, in Marston's Dutch Courtezan: "There's my bond for your plate-Your bill had been sufficient, y'are a good man!" MALONE. BASS. Be assured you may. SHY. I will be assured, I may; and, that I may be assured, I will bethink me: May I speak with Antonio ? BASS. If it please you to dine with us. SHY. Yes, to smell pork; to eat of the habitation 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 ANTONIO. BASS. This is signior Antonio. SHY. [Aside.] How like a fawning publican he looks! I hate him for he is a christian : But more, for that, in low simplicity, He lends out money gratis, and brings down I the habitation which your prophet, the Nazarite, conjured the devil into:] Perhaps there is no character through all Shakspeare, drawn with more spirit, and just discrimination, than Shylock's. His language, allusions, and ideas, are every where so appropriate to a Jew, that Shylock might be exhibited for an exemplar of that peculiar people. HENLEY. 2 He lends out money gratis, and brings down The rate of usance here with us in Venice.] "It is almost incredyble what gaine the Venetians receive by the usury of the Jewes, both pryvately and in common. For in everye citee the Jewes kepe open shops of usurie, taking gaiges of ordinarie for xv in the hundred by the yere; and if at the yeres ende the gaige be not redeemed, it is forfeite, or at the least dooen away to a great disadvantage by reason whereof the Jewes are out of measure wealthie in those parties." Thomas's Historye of Italye, 1561, 4to. fol. 77. DOUCE. 3 If I can catch him once upon the hip,] This, Dr. Johnson observes, is a phrase taken from the practice of wrestlers; and (he might have added) is an allusion to the angel's thus laying I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. BASS. Shylock, do you hear? SHY. I am debating of my present store; Of full three thousand ducats: What of that? [TO ANTONIO. Your worship was the last man in our mouths. ANT. Shylock, albeit I neither lend nor borrow, By taking, nor by giving of excess, Yet, to supply the ripe wants of my friend, *First folio, well-worne. † Quarto R. although. hold on Jacob when he wrestled with him. See Gen. xxxii. 24, &c. HENLEY. If the reader should refer to the passage alluded to in Genesis, he will find that the angel did not thus lay hold on Jacob. We meet with the phrase again in Othello: "I'll have our Michael Cassio on the hip!" BOSWELL. 4the RIPE WANTS of my friend,] Ripe wants are wants come to the height, wants that can have no longer delay. Perhaps we might read-rife wants, wants that come thick upon him. JOHNSON. Ripe is, I believe, the true reading. So, afterwards: "But stay the very riping of the time." MALONE. Again, in A Midsummer-Night's Dream : "Here is a brief how many sports are ripe." STEEVENS. 5-possess'd,] i. e. acquainted, informed. So, in TwelfthNight: Possess us, possess us, tell us something of him." STEEVENS. How much you would'? SHY. Ay, ay, three thousand ducats. ANT. And for three months. SHY. I had forgot,-three months, you told me So. Well then, your bond; and let me see,-But hear you; Methought, you said, you neither lend nor borrow, Upon advantage. ANT. I do never use it. SHY. When Jacob graz'd his uncle Laban's sheep, This Jacob from our holy Abraham was (As his wise mother wrought in his behalf,) The third possessor; ay, he was the third. ANT. And what of him? did he take interest? SHY. No, not take interest; not, as you would say, Directly interest: mark what Jacob did. When Laban and himself were compromis'd, That all the eanlings' which were streak'd, and pied, Should fall as Jacob's hire; the * ewes, being rank, *First folio and quarto omit the. 6 How much you would?] The first folio reads-how much he would have. Roberts's quarto reads: 7 8 66 — are you resolv'd "How much he would have." BOSWELL. the EANLINGS] Lambs just dropt: from ean, eniti. MUSGRAVE. – of KIND,] i. e. of nature. So, Turberville, in his book of Falconry, 1575, p. 127: "So great is the curtesy of kind, as she ever seeketh to recompense any defect of hers with some other better benefit." |