LOR. Sweet friends, your patience for my long

abode;

Not I, but my affairs have made you wait;
When you shall please to play the thieves for wives,
I'll watch as long for you then.-Approach";
Here dwells my father Jew :-Ho! who's within ?

Enter JESSICA above, in boy's clothes.

JES. Who are you? Tell me, for more certainty, Albeit I'll swear that I do know your tongue.

LOR. Lorenzo, and thy love.

JES. Lorenzo, certain; and my love, indeed; For who love I so much? And now who knows, But you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours?

LOR. Heaven, and thy thoughts, are witness that thou art.

JES. Here, catch this casket; it is worth the pains.

I am glad 'tis night, you do not look on me,
For I am much asham'd of my exchange:
But love is blind, and lovers cannot see
The pretty follies that themselves commit;
For if they could, Cupid himself would blush
To see me thus transformed to a boy.

LOR. Descend, for you must be my torch-bearer. JES. What, must I hold a candle to my shames? They in themselves, good sooth, are too too light. Why, 'tis an office of discovery, love;

And I should be obscur❜d.

LOR.

So are you*, sweet,

Even in the lovely garnish of a boy.

But come at once;

* First folio, you are.

6 I'll watch as long for you then.-Approach ;] Read, with a slight variation from Sir T. Hanmer :

"I'll watch as long for you. Come then, approach."

RITSON.

For the close night doth play the run-away,
And we are staid for at Bassanio's feast.

JES. I will make fast the doors, and gild myself With some more ducats, and be with you straight. [Exit, from above.

GRA. Now, by my hood, a Gentile *, and no Jew'.
LOR. Beshrew me, but I love her heartily:

For she is wise, if I can judge of her ;
And fair she is, if that mine eyes be true;
And true she is, as she hath prov'd herself;

And therefore, like herself, wise, fair, and true,
Shall she be placed in my constant soul.

Enter JESSICA, below.

What, art thou come?-On, gentlemen, away; Our masquing mates by this time for us stay. [Exit with Jessica and Salarino.

Enter ANTONIO.

ANT. Who's there?

GRA. Signior Antonio?

ANT. Fye, fye, Gratiano! where are all the rest? 'Tis nine o'clock; our friends all stay for you:-No masque to-night; the wind is come about,

*First folio, and quarto H. gentle.

Now, by my нOOD, a GENTILE, and no Jew.] A jest arising from the ambiguity of Gentile, which signifies both a Heather, and one well born. JOHNSON.

So, at the conclusion of the first part of Jeronimo, &c. 1605; So, good night kind gentles,

66

"For I hope there's never a Jew among you all."

Again, in Swetnam Arraign'd, 1620:

"Joseph the Jew was a better Gentile far." STEEVENS. Dr. Johnson rightly explains this. There is an old book by one Ellis, entitled: "The Gentile Sinner, or England's brave Gentleman." FARmer.

To understand Gratiano's oath, it should be recollected that he is in a masqued habit, to which it is probable that formerly, as at present, a large cape or hood was affixed. MALone.

Gratiano alludes to the practice of friars, who frequently swore by this part of their habit. STEEVENS.

Bassanio presently will go aboard;

I have sent twenty out to seek for you.

GRA. I am glad on't; I desire no more delight, Than to be under sail, and gone to-night.

SCENE VII.

[Exeunt.

Belmont. A Room in PORTIA'S House.

Flourish of Cornets.

Enter PORTIA, with the

Prince of Morocco, and both their Trains.

POR. Go, draw aside the curtains, and discover The several caskets to this noble prince :

Now make your choice.

MOR. The first, of gold, who this inscription bears;

Who chooseth me, shall gain what many* men desire. The second, silver, which this promise carries ;— Who chooseth me, shall get as much as he deserves. This third, dull lead, with warning all as blunt ;Who chooseth me, must give and hazard all he hath.

How shall I know if I do choose the right?

POR. The one of them contains my picture,

prince;

If you choose that, then I am yours withal.

MOR. Some god direct my judgment! Let me see, I will survey the inscriptions back again :

What says this leaden casket?

Who chooseth me, must give and hazard all he hath.
Must give-For what? for lead? hazard for lead?
This casket threatens: Men, that hazard all,
Do it in hope of fair advantages:

*First folio omits many.

8 - as blunt ;] That is, as gross as the dull metal.

JOHNSON.

A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross;
I'll then nor give, nor hazard, aught for lead.
What says the silver, with her virgin hue?

Who chooseth me, shall get as much as he deserves.
As much as he deserves ?-Pause there, Morocco,
And weigh thy value with an even hand:
If thou be'st rated by thy estimation,
Thou dost deserve enough; and yet enough
May not extend so far as to the lady;
And yet to be afeard of my deserving,
Were but a weak disabling of myself.

As much as I deserve!-Why, that's the lady :
I do in birth deserve her, and in fortunes,
In graces, and in qualities of breeding;
But more than these, in love I do deserve.
What if I stray'd no further, but chose here ?—
Let's see once more this saying grav'd in gold:
Who chooseth me, shall gain what many men desire.
Why, that's the lady; all the world desires her:
From the four corners of the earth they come,
To kiss this shrine, this mortal breathing saint.
The Hyrcanian deserts, and the vasty wilds
Of wide Arabia, are as through-fares now,
For princes to come view fair Portia :
The watry kingdom, whose ambitious head
Spits in the face of heaven, is no bar
To stop the foreign spirits; but they come,
As o'er a brook, to see fair Portia.

One of these three contains her heavenly picture.

Is't like, that lead contains her? 'Twere damna

tion,

To think so base a thought; it were too gross

9

To rib her cerecloth in the obscure grave.

9 TO RIB i. e. inclose, as the ribs inclose the viscera. So, in Cymbeline:

ribb'd and paled in

"With rocks unscaleable, and roaring waters."

STEEVENS.

Or shall I think, in silver she's immur'd,

Being ten times undervalued to try'd gold'?
O sinful thought! Never so rich a gem

Was set in worse than gold. They have in England

A coin, that bears the figure of an angel

*

Stamped in gold; but that's insculp'd upon ';
But here an angel in a golden bed

Lies all within.-Deliver me the key;

Here do I choose, and thrive I as I may !

POR. There, take it, prince, and if my form lie

there,

Then I am yours.

Mor.

[He unlocks the golden casket.

O hell! what have we here?

A carrion death, within whose empty eye
There is a written scroll: I'll read the writing.

All that glisters is not gold,

Often have you heard that told:
Many a man his life hath sold,
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms infold3.

* First folio and quartos, stamp't.

UNDERVALUED to try'd gold?] If compared with try'd p. 17:

gold, so in

2

"Her name is Portia, nothing undervalued

"To Cato's daughter." Boswell.

INSCULP'D upon;] To insculp is to engrave. So, in a comedy called A New Wonder, a Woman Never Vex'd, 1632: in golden text

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"Shall be insculp'd-" STEEVENS.

The meaning is, that the figure of the angel is raised or embossed on the coin, not engraved on it. TUTET.

3 Gilded TOMBS do worms infold.] In all the old editions this line is written thus:

"Gilded timber do worms infold."

From which Mr. Rowe and all the following editors have made: "Gilded wood may worms infold."

A line not bad in itself, but not so applicable to the occasion as that which, I believe, Shakspeare wrote:

"Gilded tombs do worms infold."