Sola. Let good Anthonio look he keep his

day;

Or he shall pay for this.

Sal. Marry, well remember'd.

I reason'd with a Frenchman, yesterday,
Who told me, in the narrow seas, that part
The French and English, there miscarried
A vessel of our country, richly fraught:
I thought upon Anthonio, when he told me,
And wish'd in silence that it were not his.
Sola. You were best tell Anthonio what you
hear

Yet do not suddenly, for it may grieve him.

Sal. A kinder gentleman treads not the earth. I saw Bassanio and Anthonio part:

Bassanio told him he would make some speed
Of his return: he answered, do not so,
Slubber not business for my sake, Bassanio,
But stay the very riping of the time;

And for the Jew's bond, which he hath of me,
Let it not enter in your mind of love;
Be merry, and employ your chiefest thoughts
To courtship, and such fair ostents of love,
As shall conveniently become you there.
And even there, his eye being big with tears,
Turning his face, he put his hand behind him,
And, with affection wond'rous sensible,
He wrung Bassanio's hand, and so they parted.
Sola. I think he only loves the world for him.
I pray thee, let us go and find him out,
And quicken his embraced heaviness
With some delight or other.

Sal. Do we so.

[exeunt

ACT III.

SCENE I-a street in Venice.

enter SALANIO and SOLARINO.

Sola. Now, what news from the Rialto? Sal. Why, yet it lives there uncheck'd, that Anthonio hath a ship of rich laden wrecked on the narrow seas; the Goodwins, I think they call the place; a very dangerous flat, and fatal, where the carcasses of many a tall ship lie buried, as they say, if my gossip, Report, be an honest woman of her word.

Sola. I would she were as lying a gossip in that, as ever knapt ginger, or made her neighbours believe she wept for the death of a third husband. But it is true, without any slips of prolixity, or crossing the plain highway of talk, that the good Anthonio, the honest AnthonioO that I had a title good enough to keep his name company !

Sal. Come, the full stop.

Sola. Why, the end is, he hath lost a ship. Sol. I would it might prove the end of his losses.

Sola. Let me say Amen betimes, lest the devil cross the prayer; for here he comes, in the likeness of a Jew.

enter SHYLOCK.

How now, Shylock, what news among the mer

chants?

Shy. You knew, none so well, none so well as you, of my daughter's flight.

Sal. That's certain; I, for my part, knew the tailor that made the wings she flew withal. Sola. And Shylock, for his own part, knew the bird was fledged; and then it is the complexion of them all to leave the dam.

Shy. She is damned for it!*

Sal. That's certain, if the devil may be her judge.

Shy. My own flesh and blood to rebel !

Sal. Out upon it, old carrion, rebels it at theseyears?

Shy. I say, my daughter is my flesh and blood.

Sola. There is more difference between thy flesh and hers, than between jet and ivory; more between your bloods, than there is between red wine and rhenish. But tell us, do you hear whether Anthonio have had any loss at sea, or no?

a

Shy. There I have another bad match; bankrupt, a prodigal, who dares scarce show his head on the Rialto; a beggar, that used to come so smugg upon the mart-let him look to his bond; he was wont to call me usurer-let him look to his bond; he was wont to lend money for a Christian courtesy-let him look to his bond!

Sal. Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his flesh what's that good for?

Shy. To bait fish withal!-If it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge; he has disgraced me, and hindered me of half a million, laught at my losses, mockt at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies-and what's his reason?-I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes?

hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, heal'd by the same means, warm'd and cool'd by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? if we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be, by christian example? why, revenge. The villany you teach me, I will execute; and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.

Jew.

enter TUBAL.

Sola. Here comes another of the tribe; a third cannot be match'd, unless the devil himself turn [exeunt Sal. and Solar. 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 at Frankfort! the curse never fell upon our nation, till now; I never felt it, till now; two thousand ducats in that—and other precious, precious jewels. I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear! O, 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,

D

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; Anthonio, as I heard in Genoa

Shy. What, what, what? ill-luck, ill-luck? Tub. Hath an argosie cast away coming from Tripolis.

Shy. I thank God, I thank God; 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 Anthonio's creditors in my company to Venice, that swear he cannot choose but break.

Shy. I am glad of it, I'll plague him, I'll torture him I am glad of it.

:

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

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

Tub. But Anthonio is certainly undone.

Shy. Nay, that's true, that's very true; go seek me an officer, bespeak him a fortnight before. I will have the heart of him, if he for