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I am fent, with broom, before,
To fweep the duft behind the door.

Enter King and Queen of Fairies, with their Train.
Ob. Through this houfe give glimmering light,
By the dead and drowsy fire:

Every elf, and fairy fprite,

Hop as light as bird from brier;
And this ditty, after me,

Sing and dance it trippingly.
Tit. First, rehearse this fong by rote:
To each word a warbling note,
Hand in hand, with fairy grace,
Will we fing, and bless this place.

SONG and DANCE.

Ob. Now, until the break of day,
Through this house each fairy stray.
To the best bride-bed will we,
Which by us fhall bleffed be;
And the iffue, there create,
Ever fhall be fortunate.
So fhall all the couples three
Ever true in loving be:

And the blots of nature's hand
Shall not in their iffue ftand;
Never mole, hare-lip, nor fcar,
Nor mark prodigious, fuch as are

j. c. portentous.

Despised in nativity,

Shall upon their children be.-
With this field-dew confecrate,
Every fairy take his gate 2;

And each feveral chamber bless,
Through this palace, with fweet peace?
Ever thall it fafely reft,

And the owner of it bleft.

Trip away;
Make no ftay;

Meet me all by break of day.

[Exeunt King, Queen, and Tram
Puck. If we fhadows have offended,
Think but this, (and all is mended)
That you have but flumber'd bere,
While thefe vifions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend;
If you pardon, we will mend.
And, as I'm an honeft Puck,
If we have unearned luck

Now to 'fcape the ferpent's tongue,
We will make amends, ere long:
Elfe the Puck a liar call.

So, good night unto you

all.

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Senators of Venice, Officers, Jailer, Servants, and other Attendants.
SCENE, partly at Venice, and partly at Belmont, the Seat of Portja.

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ACTI.

SCENE Į.

A Street in Venice.

Enter Anthonio, Salarino, and Salanis.
N

footh, I know not why I am fo fad ;
It wearies me; you say it wearies you;
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn:

And fuch a want-wit fadness makes of me,
That I have much ado to know myself.

Sal. Your mind is toffing on the ocean:
There, where your argofies with portly fail,
Like figniors and rich burghers on the flood,
Or as it were the pageants of the fea,-
Do over-peer the petty traffickers,
That curtly to them, do them reverence,
As they fly by them with their woven wings.
Sala. Believe me, fir, had I fuch ventures forth,
The better part of my affections would

with my hopes abroad. I should be still Packing the grafs, to know where fits the wind; Prong in maps, for ports, and piers, and roads ; And every object that might make me fear Msfortune to my ventures, out of doubt, Would make me fad.

Sal. My wind, cooling my broth,
Would blow me to an ague, when I thought
What harm a wind too great might do at fea.
I fhould not fee the fandy hour-glass run,
But I should think of shallows, and of flats;
And see my wealthy Andrew 2 dock'd in fand,
Vailing 3 her high top lower than her ribs,
To kifs her burial. Should I go to church,
And fee the holy edifice of stone,

And not bethink me ftraight of dangerous rocks?
Which touching but my gentle veffel's fide,
Would fcatter all her fpices on the stream;
Enrobe the roaring waters with my filks;
And, in a word, but even now worth this,
And now worth nothing? Shall I have the thought
To think on this; and fhall I lack the thought,
That fuck a thing, bechanc'd, would make me fad?
But, tell not me; I know, Anthonio
Is fad to think upon his merchandize.

[it,

Anth. Believe me, no: I thank my fortune for My ventures are not in one bottom trusted, Nor to one place; nor is my whole estate Upon the fortune of this prefent year ; Therefore my merchandize makes me not fad. Sala. Why then you are in love? Anth. Fie, fie!

1 Ships, fo named from Ragufa. 2 The name of the ship. 3 To vail, means to put off the hat, to the fail, to give fign of fubmiffion.

03

Sela.

Sala. Not in love neither? Then let's fay, you That therefore only are reputed wife,

are fad,

Because you are not merry: and 'twere as easy
For you, to laugh, and leap, and fay, you are merry,
Because you are not fad. Now, by two-headed Janus,
Nature hath fram'd strange fellows in her time:
Some that will evermore peep through their eyes,
And laugh, like parrots, at a bag-piper;
And other of fuch vinegar afpect,

That they'll not fhew their teeth in way of fmile,
Though Neftor swear the jest be laughable.

Enter Baffanio, Lorenzo, and Gratiano.
Sal. Here comes Bafianio, your most noble
Gratiano, and Lorenzo: fare you well; [kinfman,
We leave you now with better company.

Sala. I would have ftaid till I had made you merry,
If worthier friends had not prevented me.

Anth. Your worth is very dear in my regard.
I take it, your own business calls on you,
And you embrace the occafion to depart.

Sal. Good morrow, my good lords.
Baff. Good figniors both, when shall we laugh
fay, when?

You grow exceeding strange; Muft it be fo
Sal. We'll make our leifures to attend on yours.
[Exeunt Sal. and Sala.
Lor. My lord Baffanio, fince you have found
Anthonio,

We two will leave you; but at dinner-time,
I pray you, have in mind where we must meet.
Ball. I will not fail you.

Gra. You look not well, fignior Anthonio;
You have too much respect upon the world:
They lofe it, that do buy it with much care.
Believe me, you are marvellously chang'd.

Anth. I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano;|
A ftage, where every man muít play a part,
And mine a fad one.

Gra. Let me play the fool:

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come;
And let my liver Lather heat with wine,
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans.
Why should a man, whole blood is warm within,
Sit like his grandfire cut in alabafter?
Sleep when he wakes? and creep into the jaundice
By being peevish? I tell thee what, Anthonio,
I love thee, and it is my love that speaks ;—
There are a fort of men whofe vilages
Do cream and mantle, like a ftanding pond;
And do a wilful ftillness entertain,
With purpose to be dreit in an opinion
Of wildom, gravity, profound conceit;
As who fhould fay, "I am Sir Oracle,
"And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!"
amy Anthonio, I do know of thefe,

[tools 2.

For faying nothing; who, I am very fure, [ears,
If they fhould fpeak, would almoft dann thofe
Which, hearing them, would call their brothers
I'll tell thee more of this another time:
But fish not with this melancholy bait,
For this fool's gudgeon, this opinion.-
Come, good Lorenzo:-Fare ye well, a while;
I'll end my exhortation after dinner 3.

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gear. Gra. Thanks, i'faith; for filence is only comIn a neat's tongue dry'd, and a maid not vendible. [Exeunt Gra. and Lor.

Anth. Is that any thing now?
B. Gratiano fpeaks an infinite deal of nothing,
more than any man in all Venice: His reafons
are as two grains of wheat hid in two bufhels of
chaff; you shall seek all day ere you find them;
and, when you have them, they are not worth
the fearch.

Anth. Well; tell me now, what lady is the fame,
To whom you fwore a fecret pilgrimage,
That you to-day promis'd to tell me of?

Baff. "Tis not unknown to you, Anthonio,
How much I have difabled mine estate,
By fomething fhewing a more fwelling port
Than my faint means would grant continuance :
Nor do I now make moan to be abridg'd
From fuch a noble rate; but my chief care
Is, to come fairly off from the great debts,
Wherein my time, fomething too prodigal,
Hath left me gag'd: To you, Anthonio,
I owe the moft, in money, and in love;
And from your love I have a warranty
To unburthen all my plots, and purposes,
How to get clear of all the debts I owe.
Anth. I pray you, good Baffanio, let me know it;
And, if it stand, as you yourself still do,
Within the eye of honour, be affur'd,
My purie, my perfon, my extremeft means,
Lye all unlock'd to your occasions.

[fhaft,

B. In my fchool-days, when I had loft oue
I fhot his fellow of the felf-fame flight
The felf-fame way, with more advised watch,
To find the other forth; and by advent'ring both,
I oft found both: 1 urge this childhood proof,
Because what follows is pure innocence.

I owe you much; and, like a wilful youth,

1 This alludes to the common comparison of human life to a ftage-play. So that he defires his may be the tool's or butloon's part, which was a conftant character in the old farces; from whence came the phiale, to play the fool. 2 Our author's meaning is, that fome people are thought wife whitt they keep filence; who, when they open their mouths, are fuch ftupid praters, that the hearers cannot help calling them fools, and to incur the judgment denounced in the gofpel. 3 The humour of this confias in its being an allufion to the practice of the puritan preachers of thofe times; who being generally very long and tedious, were often forced to put off that part of their fermon called the exhoitation, till after dinner.

That

The which I owe is loft: but if you please
To thoot another arrow that felf way
Which you did fhoot the firft, I do not doubt,
As I will watch the aim, or to find both,
Or bring your latter hazard back again,
And thankfully reft debtor for the fift.

[time,
Arth. You know me well; and herein fpend but
To wind about my love with circumftance;
And, out of doubt, you do me now more wrong,
In making question of my uttermoft,
Then if you had made wafte of all I have:
Then do but fay to me what I should do,
That in your knowledge may by me be done,
Aral am I preft unto it: therefore speak.
Bail. In Belmont is a lady richly left,
And the is fair, and, fairer than that word,

|blood; but a hot temper leaps o'er a cold decree : fuch a hare is madnefs the youth, to skip o'er the methes of good counfel the cripple. But this reafoning is not in the fashion to chufe me a husband:

O me, the word chufe! I may neither chufe whom I would, nor refuse whom I dislike; so is the will of a living daughter curb'd by the will of a dead father:-Is it not hard, Neriffa, that I can not chufe one, nor refufe none?

Ner. Your father was ever virtuous; and holy men, at their death, have good infpirations; there. fore, the lottery, that he hath devifed in these three chetts, of gold, filver, and lead, (whereof who chufes his meaning, chufes you) will, no doubt, never be chofen by any rightly, but one who you fhall rightly love. But what warmth is there in your affection

Of wondrous virtues: fometimes 2 from her eyes towards any of thefe princely fuitors that are al

I did receive fair fpeechlefs meilages:

Her name is Portia; nothing undervalu'd

To Cao's daughter, Bratus' Portia.

Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth;
For the four winds blow in from every coaft
Repowned fuitors: and her funny locks
Hang on her temples like a golden f.cece;
With makes her feat of Belmont, Colchos' ftrand,
And many Jafons come in queft of her.
Omy Anthonio, had I but the means
To hold a rival place with one of them,

I have a mind prefages me fuch thrift,

That I thould queftionless be fortunate.

ready come?

Por. I pray thee, over-name them; and, as thou nam'ft them, I will defcribe them; and, according to my defcription, level at my affection.

Ner. First, there is the Neapolitan prince.

--Por. Ay, that's a colt 3, indeed, for he doth nothing but talk of his horfe; and he makes it a great appropriation to his own good parts, that he can fhoe him hinfelf: I am much afraid my lady his mother play'd falfe with a fmith.

Ner. Then, there is the County Palatine.

Por. He doth nothing but frown; as, who fhould fay, An if you will not have me, chuje: he hears

4. Thou know'ft, that all my fortunes are at fea; merry tales, and fmiles not: I fear, he will prove Nor have I money, nor commodity

To raife a prefent fum: therefore go forth,
Try what my credit can in Venice do;
That th!! be rack'd, even to the uttermoft,
To furnish thee to Belmont, to fair Portia.
Go, prefently enquire, and to will I,
Where money is; and I no queftion make,
To het of my truft, or for my fake.

SCENE

II.

[Exeunt

A Ream in Portia's Houfe at Belmont.

Enter Portia and Neriffa.

P. By my troth, Neriffa, my little body is aweary of this great world.

the weeping philofopher when he grows old, being fo full of unmannerly fadnefs in his youth. I had rather be married to a death's-head with a bone in his mouth, than to either of these. God defend me from thefe two!

Ner. How fay you by the French lord, Monfieur

Le Bon?

Por. God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man. In truth, I know it is a fin to be a mocker; But, he! why, he hath a horfe better than the Neapolitan's; a better bad habit of frowning than the Count Palatine: he is every man in no man; if a throttle fing, he fails ftrait a-capering; he will fence with his own fhadow: if I should marry him, I fhould marry twenty husbands: If he would despise me, I would forgive him; for if he love me to mad nefs, I fhall never requite him.

Ner. You would be, fweet madam, if your miferes were in the fame abundance as your good fatmes are: And yet, for aught I fee, they are as fack, that furfeit with too much, as they that ftarve with nothing: It is no mean happinefs therefore, Por. You know, I fay nothing to him; for he to be feated in the mean; fuperfluity comes fooner understands not me, nor I him: he hath neither by white hairs, but competency lives longer. Latin, French, nor Italian; and you will come Por. Good fentences, and well pronounc'd. into the court and fwear, that I have a poor pennyNr. They would be better, if well follow'd. worth in the English. He is a proper man's pic Per. If to do, were as eafy as to know what ture, But, alas! who can converfe with a dumb were good to do, chapels had been churches, and how? How oddly he is fuited! I think, he poor men's cottages, princes' palaces. It is a good bought his doublet in Italy, his round hofe in evine, that follows his own inftructions. I can France, his bonnet in Germany, and his behaviour taher teach twenty what were good to be done, every-where..

Ner. What fay you then to Faulconbridge, the young baron of England?

than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching.

Ner. What think you of the Scottish lord, his

The brain may devife laws for the neighbour?

That is, ready to do it. 2 Sometimes here means formerly. 3 i. e. a thoughtless, giddy, gay

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Por. That he hath a neighbourly charity in him; for he borrow'd a box of the ear of the Englishman, and fwore he would pay him again, when he was able: I think, the Frenchman became his furety, and feal'd under for another.

Ner. How like you the young German, the duke of Saxony's nephew?

Por. Very vilely in the morning, when he is fober; and moft vilely in the afternoon, when he is drunk: when he is beft, he is a little worfe than a man; and when he is worst, he is little better than a beaft: an the worst fall that ever fell, I hope, I fhall make shift to go without him.

Shy. For three months,-well.

Baf. For the which, as I told you, Anthonio fhall be bound.

Shy. Anthonio fhall become bound,-well.
Baff. May you stead me? Will you pleasure me?
Shall I know your answer?

Shy. Three thousand ducats, for three months, and Anthonio bound.

Baff. Your answer to that.
Shy. Anthonio is a good man.

Baff. Have you heard any imputation to the contrary?

Shy. Ho, no, no, no, no;-my meaning, in fay Ner. If he should offer to chufe, and chufe the ing he is a good man, is, to have you understand right cafket, you should refufe to perform your fa-me, that he is fufficient: yet his means are in fupther's will, if you should refufe to accept him. pofition: he hath an argofy bound to Tripolis, anoPor. Therefore, for fear of the worst, I pray thee, ther to the Indies; I understand moreover upon fet a deep glass of Rhenish wine on the contrary the Rialto, he hath a third at Mexico, a fourth for cafket; for, if the devil be within, and that tempt-England,--and other ventures he hath, fquander'd ation without, I know he will chufe it. I will abroad: But ships are but boards, failors but men; do any thing, Neriffa, ere I will be marry'd to a there be land-rats, and water-rats, water-thieves, fpunge. and land-thieves; I mean, pirates; and then, there Ner. You need not fear, lady, the having any of is the peril of waters, winds, and rocks: The man thefe lords; they have acquainted me with their is, notwithstanding, fufficient :-three thousand dudeterminations: which is, indeed, to return to their cats ;-I think, I may take his bond. home, and to trouble you with no more fuit; un- Baff. Be affur'd, you may. lefs you may be won by fome other fort than your father's impofition, depending on the caskets.

Por. If I live to be as old as Sibylla, I will die as chafte as Diana, unless I be obtained by the manner of my father's will: I am glad this parcel of wooers are so very reasonable; for there is not one among them but I dote on his very abfence, and I pray God grant them a fair departure.

Ner. Do you not remember, lady, in your father's time, a Venetian, a scholar, and a foldier, that came hither in company of the marquis of Montferrat

I

[affin'd,

Shy. I will be affur'd, I may; and, that I may be will bethink me: May I fpeak with Anthonio? Baff. If it please you to dine with us.

Shy. Yes, to fmell pork; to eat of the habita tion which your prophet the Nazarite conjured the devil into: I will buy with you, fell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and fo 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 Anthonio. Baff. This is fignior Anthonio.

Por. Yes, yes, it was Baffanio; as I think, fo he Shy.[Afide.] How like a fawning publican he looksł was call'd.

Ner. True, madam; he, of all the men that ever my foolish eyes look'd upon, was the best deferving a fair lady.

Por. I remember him well; and I remember him worthy of thy Iraife.-How now! what news?

Enter a Servant.

I hate him for he is a Chriftian:
But more, for that, in low simplicity,
He lends out money gratis, and brings down
The rate of ufance here with us in Venice.
If I can catch him once upon the hip1,
I will feed fat the ancient grudge 1 bear him.
He hates our facred nation; and he rails,

Ser. The four ftrangers feek for you, madam, to Even there where merchants most do congregate, take their leave: and there is a fore-runner come On me, my bargains, and my well-won thrift, from a fifth, the prince of Morocco; who brings Which he calls intereft: Curfed be my tribe, word, the prince, his mafter, will be here to-night. If I forgive him!

Baff. Shylock, do you hear?

Por. If I could bid the fifth welcome with fo good heart as I can bid the other four farewell, I Shy. I am debating of my present store; fhould be glad of his approach: if he have the And, by the near guess of my memory, condition of a faint, and the complexion of a devil, I cannot inftantly raise up the grofs

I had rather he should fhrive me than wive me. Of full three thousand ducats: What of that? Come, Neriffa. Sirrah, go before.-Whiles we Tubal, a wealthy Hebrew of my tribe, fhut the gate upon one wooer, another knocks at Will furnish me: But foft; How many months the door. [Exeunt. Do you defire?-Rest you fair, good fignior;

SCENE III.

A publick Place in Venice.
Enter Balanin and Shylock.

Shy. Three thoutand ducats,-well.
Baff. Aj, fir, for three months.

[To Antbonio Your worship was the laft man in our mouths. Anth. Shylock, albeit I neither lend nor borrow, By taking, nor by giving of excess,

Yet, to fupply the ripe wants of my friend,

1 This is a phrase taken from the practice of wrestlers.

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