Por. O love! difpatch all bufinefs, and be gone. Baff. Since I have your good leave to go away, I will make hafte; but till I come again, No bed fhall e'er be guilty of my stay;

No reft be interpofer 'twixt us twain.

[Exeunt

SCENE IV. Changes to a fireet in Venice. Enter Shylock, Solarino, Anthonio, and the Gaoler. Shy. Gaoler, look to him: tell not me of mercy. This is the fool that lent out money gratis. Gaoler, look to him.

Ant. Hear me yet, good Shylock.

Shy. I'll have my bond; fpeak not against my bond: I've fworn an oath that I will have my bond. Thou call'dft me dog before thou hadft a cause; But fince I am a dog, beware my fangs: The Duke shall grant me justice. I do wonder, Thou naughty gaoler, that thou art fo fond To come abroad with him at his request. Ant. I pray thee, hear me speak.

Shy. I'll have my bond; I will not hear thee fpeak: I'll have my bond;, and therefore speak no more; I'll not be made a soft and dull-ey'd fool,

To shake the head, relent, and figh, and yield
To Chriftian interceffors. Follow not;

I'll have no fpeaking; I will have my bond.

[Exit Shylock. Sola. It is the most impenetrable cur

That ever kept with men.

Ant. Let him alone,

I'll follow him no more with bootlefs pray'rs :
He feeks my life; his reafon well I know;

I oft deliver'd from his forfeitures

Many, that have at times made moan to me;
Therefore he hates me.

Sola. I am fure the Duke

Will never grant this forfeiture to hold.

Ant. The Duke cannot deny the courfe of law; For the commodity that strangers have With us in Venice, if it be deny'd,

Will much impeach the justice of the state;

Since that the trade and profit.of the city
Confiteth of all nations. Therefore go,
Thefe griefs and loffes have fo 'buted ine,
That I thall hardly, fpare a pound of fleth
To-morrow to my bloody creditor.

Well, gaoler, on; pray God, Baffanio come

To fee me pay his debt, and then I care not! [Exeunt..

SCENE V. Changes to Belmont.

Enter Portia, Nerifft, Lorenzo, Jeffica, and Balthazar.

Lor. Madam, although I speak it in your presence, You have a noble and a true conceit

Of God-like amity; which appears moft ftrongly
In bearing thus the absence of your Lord.
But if you knew to whom you fhew this honour,
How true a gentleman you fend relief to,
How dear a lover of my Lord your husband;
I know you would be prouder of the work,
Than customary bounty can inforce you.

Por. I never did repent of doing good,
And fhall not now; for in companions
That do converfe and waste the time together,
Whofe fouls do bear an equal yoke of love,
There mult needs be a like proportion
Of lineaments of manners, and of spirit;
Which makes me think, that this Anthonio,
Being the boom-lover of my Lord,
Muft needs be like my Lord. If it be fo,
How little is the coft I have bellowed,
In purchasing the semblance of my foul
From out the state of hellish cruelty?
This comes too near the praifing of myself;
Therefore, no more of it: hear other things.
Lorenzo, I commit into your hands

The husbandry and manage of my house,
Until my Lord's return. For mine own part,
I have tow'rd heav'n breath'd a fecret vow,
To live in prayer and contemplation,

Only attended by Neria here,

Until her husband and my Lord's return.
There is a monaftery two miles off,

And

And there we will abide. I do defire you,
Not to deny this inpofition:

The which my love and fome neceffity

Now lays upon you.

Lor. Madam, with all my heart;

I fhall obey you in all fair commands.
Por. My people do already know my mind,
And will acknowledge you and Jeffica
In place of Lord Baffanio and myself.
So fare you well till we fhall meet again.

Lor. Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you! Jef. I with your Ladyfhip all heart's content. Por. I thank you for your with, and am well pleafed To with it back on you: fare you well, Jeffica.

Now, Balthazar,

[Exeunt Jeffica and Lorenzo.

As I have ever found thee honeft, true,

So let me find thee ftill: take this fame letter,
And use thou all th' endeavour of a man,

In fpeed to Padua ; fee thou render this
Into my coufin's hand, Doctor Bellario;

And look what notes and garments he doth give thee,
Bring them, I pray thee, with imagin'd speed
Unto the Traject, to the common ferry

Which trades to Venice: wafte no time in words,
But get thee gone; I fhall be there before thee.

Bal. Madam, I go with all convenient speed. [Exit. Por. Come on, Neriffa; I have work in hand, That you yet know not of: we'll see our husbands, Before they think of us

Ner. Shall they fee us?

Por. They fhall, Neriffa; but in fuch a habit,
That they fhall think we are accomplished
With what we lack. I'll hold thee any wager,
When we are both apparell'd like young men,
I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two,

And wear my dagger with the braver grace;

And peak between the change of man and boy,
With a reed voice; and turn two mincing fteps
Into a manly firide; and fpeak of frays,
Like a fine bragging youth; and tell quaint lyes,
How honourable ladies fought my love,

• Which

• Which I denying, they fell fick, and dy'd;

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I could not do with all: then I'll repent,

• And wish, for all that, that I had not kill'd them.

And twenty of thefe puny lyes I'll tell;

That men fhall fwear I've difcontinued fchool Above a twelvemonth.' I have in my mind A thoufand raw tricks of thefe bragging jacks, Which I will practife.

Ner. Shall we turn to men?

Por. Fie, what a queftion's that,

If thou wert near a lewd interpreter !
But come, I'll tell thee all my whole device
When I am in my coach, which stays for us
At the park-gate; and therefore hafte away,
For we must meafure twenty miles to-day. [Exeunt.

SCENE VI. Enter Launcelot and Jeffica. Laun. Yes, truly: for look you, the fins of the father are to be laid upon the children; therefore I promife you, I fear you. I was always plain with you; and fo now I fpeak my agitation of the matter: therefore be of good cheer; for truly I think you are damn'd: There is but one hope in it that can do you: any good, and that is but a kind of baftard hope neither.

Jef. And what hope is that, I pray thee?

Laun. Marry, you may partly hope that your father got you not, that you are not the Jew's daughter. Jef. That were a kind of baftard hope indeed; fo the fins of my mother fhould be vifited upon me.

Laun. Truly, then, I fear you are damn'd both by father and mother. Thus, when you fhun Scylla your father, you fall into Charybdis your mother: well, you are gone both ways.

Jef. I thall be faved by my husband; he hath made me a Chriftian.

Laun. Truly, the more to blame he. We were Chriftians enough before, e'en as many as could well live one by another. This making of Chriftians will raife the price of hogs; if we grow all to be pork-. eaters, we shall not fhortly have a rafher on the coals for money.

Enter

Enter Lorenzo.

Jef. I'll tell my husband, Launcelot what you fay, here he comes,

Lor. I fhall grow jealous of you fhortly, Launcelot, if you thus get my wife into corners.

Jef. Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo; Launcelot and I are out; he tells me flatly there is no mercy for me in heaven, because I am a Jew's daughter: and he Lays, you are no good member of the commonwealth; for, in converting Jews to Chriftians, you raise the price of pork.

Lor. I fhall anfwer that better to the commonwealth than you can the getting up of the negro's belly: the Moor is with child by you, Launcelot,

Laun. It is much that the Moor thould be more than reafon; but if she be less than an honeft woman, she is indeed more than I took her for.

Lor. How every fool can play upon the world! I think the beft grace of wit will shortly turn into filence, and difcourfe grow commendable in none but parrots.. Go in, firrah, bid them prepare for dinner.

Laun. That is done, Sir; they have all ftomachs. Lor. Good Lord, what a wit-fnapper are you! then bid them prepare dinner.

Laun. That is done too, Sir; only cover is the word. Lor. Will you cover then, Sir?

Laun. Not fo, Sir, neither; I know my duty.

Lor. Yet more quarrelling with occafion! wilt thou fhew the whole wealth of thy wit in an instant? I pray thee understand a plain man in his plain meaning. Go to thy fellows, bid them cover the table, ferve in the meat, and we will come in to dinner.

Laun. For the table, Sir, it fhall be ferv'd in; for the meat, Sir, it fhall be covered; for your coming in to dinner, Sir, why, let it be as humours and conceits fhall govern. [Exit Laun. Lor. O dear difcretion, how his words are fuited! • The fool hath planted in his memory An army of good words; and I do know A many fools that ftand in better place, 'Garnish'd like him, that for a tricksy word

• Defy