For never fhall you lie by Portia's fide,
With an unquiet foul. You fhall have gold
To pay the petty debt, twenty times over.
When it is paid, bring your true friend along;
My maid Neriffa, and myfelf, mean time,
Will live as maids and widows. Come, away!
For you fhall hence upon your wedding-day.
Bid your friends welcome, fhew a merry cheer;
Since you are dear bought, I will love you dear.
But let me hear the letter of your friend.

BASSANIO reads.

Sweet Baffanio, my ships have all mifcarried, and my

creditors grow cruel; my eftate is very low, my bond to

the Jew is forfeit; and fince, in paying it, it is impoffible I pould live, all debts are cleared between you and me, if I might but fee you at my death; notwithstanding, ufe your pleasure. If your love do not perfuade you to come, let not my letter.

Por. O, love! dispatch all business, 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 rest be interpofer 'twixt us twain.

[Exeunt.

SCENE changes to a Street 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.

Anth. Hear me yet, good Shylock.

[bond ;*

Shy. I'll have my bond; fpeak not against my

I've sworn an oath, that I will have my bond.
Thou call'dft me dog, before thou hadft a caufe;
But fince I am a dog, beware my fangs :

The duke fhall grant me juftice. I do wonder,
Thou naughty gaoler, that thou art fo fond
To come abroad with him, at his request.
Anth. I pray thee, hear me speak.

The fullen flintiness of Shylock's heart, in this scene, is strongly depicted.

Shy.

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

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

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

[Exit Shylock Sola. It is the most impenetrable cur, That ever kept with men.

Anth. Let him alone.

I'll follow him no more with bootless 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.

Anth. The duke cannot deny the courfe of law;
For the commodity that ftrangers have
With us in Venice, if it be deny'd,

Will much impeach the juftice of the state;
Since that the trade and profit of the city,
Confifteth of all nations. Therefore, go,
Thefe griefs and loffes, have fo 'bated me,
That I fhall hardly fpare a pound of flesh,
To-morrow, to my bloody creditor.
Well, gaoler, on; pray heav'n Bassanio come
To fee me pay his debt, and then I care not!

[Exeunt. SCENE, a Chamber in Portia's House.

Enter PORTIA, NERISSA, LORENZO, JESSICA, and

BALTHAZAR.

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

Of godlike amity; which appears moft ftrongly,
In bearing thus the abfence 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 enforce you.

D 3

Por.

Por. I never did repent of doing good,
And shall not, now.*

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 heaven breath'd a fecret vow
To live in pray'r and contemplation,
Only attended by Neriffa here,

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

And there we will abide. I do defire you
Not to deny this impofition;

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.

Par. My people do already know my mind,
And will acknowledge you and Jelica,
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 wish your ladyfhip all heart's content.
Por. I thank you, for your wifh, and am well pleafed
To wifh it back on you. Fare you well, Feffica.
Now, Balthazar,

[Exeunt Jef. and Lor. As I have ever found thee honest, 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 cousin's hand, Doctor Bellario;
*Thefe lines fhould be retained:

For in companions

That do converfe and wafte the time together,
Whofe fouls do bear an equal yoke of love,
There muft needs be a like proportion,
Of lineaments, of manners, and of fpirits:
Which makes me think that this Anthonio,
Being the bofom-lover of my lord,
Muft needs be like my lord. If it be fo,
How little is the coft I have bestowed,
In purchafing the femblance of my foul,
From out the ftate of hellish cruelty?
This comes too near the praifing of myself.

And

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. Waste 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, Neria; 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 speak between the change of man and boy,
With a reed voice; and turn two mincing fteps
Into a manly ftride; and fpeak of frays,
Like a fine bragging youth; and tell quaint lies,
How honourable ladies fought my love,
Which I denying, they fell fick and dy'd;
I could not do with all: then I'll repent,
And with, for all that, that I had not kill'd them.
And twenty of thefe puny lies I'll tell;

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

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 measure twenty miles to-day. [Exeunt.
Enter LAUNCELOT and JESSICA.

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.

Jes.

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 bastard hope, indeed. So 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 fhall be faved by my husband; he hath made me a christian.

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 porkeaters, we shall not fhortly have a rather on the coals, for money.

Enter LORENZO.

Jef. I'll tell my husband, Launcelot, what you say. 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 heav'n, because I am a Jew's daughter; and he fays, you are no good member of the commonwealth; for in converting Jews to Christians, 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 fhould be more than reafon but if the be less than an honeft woman, fhe is indeed more than I took her for.

Lor. How every fool can play upon the word! Go in, firrah; bid them prepare for dinner.

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

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

Laun.