I'll not be made a foft 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.

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

Ant. Let him alone,

[Exit Shylock.

I'll follow him no more with bootlefs pray'rs:
He feeks my life; his reason 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 course of law; (20) 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,
These griefs and loffes have fo bated me,
That Ifhall hardly fpare a pound of flesh
To morrow to my bloody creditor.

Well, goaler, on; pray God, Bassanio come
To fee me pay his debt, and then I care not! [Exeunt.

(20) The Duke cannot deny] As this Sentence feems a little perplex'd and obfcure, it may not be amifs to give it a fhort Explanation. The "Duke cannot deny the Courfe of Law, (fays Anthonio;) for if its Course "be denied, the Privilege that Strangers have, being violated, will cry *out against the Injuftice". This is very much to the Purpofe; for he does not fay, that the Juftice of the State could indeed be impeach'd by ftopping the Courfe of Law in his Cafe: For, indeed, it was the utmoft Juftice to ftop it here: But that Strangers would accufe it of Injuftice. This fhews the true Temper of the State of Venice, and of all other trading States; which will always more fear an Inconvenience than an Injuftice. The Jealoufy, that foreign Merchants may entertain of Injuftice, being always more carefully guarded againft, than Injustice itfelf. Mr. Warburton.

SCENE

SCENE changes to BELMONT.

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

Lor. MAdam, although I speak it in your prefence,

You have a noble and a true conceit

Of God-like amity; which appears most strongly
In bearing thus the absence of your lord.
But if you knew to whom you fhew this honour,
How true a gentleman you send 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.
Por. I never did repent of doing good,
And fhall not now; for in companions
That do converse and waste the time together,
Whose fouls do bear an equal yoke of love,
There must be needs a like proportion
Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit;
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 purchasing the femblance of my foul
From out the state of hellish cruelty?
This comes too near the praifing of my self; (21)
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.
lord's return. For mine own part,
I have tow'rd heaven breath'd a fecret vow,
To live in prayer and contemplation,

(21) This comes too near the praising of my self;

Therefore no more of it: here other things,

Lorenzo, I commit &c.] Thus has this Paffage been writ and pointed, but abfurdly, thro' all the Editions. Portia finding the Reflections fhe had made came too near Self-praife, begins to chide herself for it: fays, She'll fay no more of that Sort; but call a new Subject. The Regulation I have made in the Text was likewife prefcrib'd by Dr. Thirl

by.

E 4

Only

Only attended by Neriffa here,

Untill 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.

Por. My people do already know my mind
And will acknowledge you and Jeffica
In place of lord Bassanio and my felf.
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 wish, and am well pleas'd To wifh it back on you: fare you well, Jeffica.

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 ufe thou all th' endeavour of a man,

In fpeed to Padua; see thou render this (22)
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 fee our husbands
Before they think of us.

(22) In fpeed to Mantua;] Thus all the old Copies; and thus all the Modern Editors implicitly after them. But 'tis evident to any diligent Reader, that We muft reftore, as I have done, In Speed to Padua: For it was there, and not at Mantua, Bellario liv'd. So afterwards; A Meffenger, with Letters from the Doctor, New come from Padua And again, Came you from Padua, from Bellario? And again, It comes from Padua, from Bellario.- Befides, Padua, not Mantua, is the Place of Education for the Civil Law in Italy.

Ner.

Ner. Shall they see us?

Por. They fhall, Nerissa; but in such 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 steps
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 wish, 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 school
Above a twelve-month. I have in my mind
A thousand raw tricks of these bragging jacks,
Which I will practise.

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 measure twenty miles to day.

[Exeunt.

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 baftardhope 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 bastard hope, indeed; fa the fins of my mother should be visited upon me,

Laun. Truly, then, I fear, you are damn'd both by father and mother; thus when you thun Scylla, (23) your father, you fall into Charybdis, your mother: well, you are gone both ways.

Jef. I shall 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 raise the price of hogs; if we grow all to be pork-eaters, we shall not shortly have a rafher on the coals for mony.

Enter Lorenzo.

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

Lor. Ifhall 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 says, you are no good member of the common-wealth; 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 fhould be more than

(23) Thus when you foun Scylla, your Father,] By the Allufion which Launcelot makes here, 'tis evident, Shakespeare was no Stranger to this Hexameter, nor the Application of it;

Incidit in Scyllam cupiens vitare Charybdim.

Erafmus, in his Adagies, quotes this Verse as one very much in Vogue with the Latines; but fays, he does not remember its Author. I prefume, it might have been founded upon the Greek proverbial Sentence, likewife quoted by him, Τὴν Χάρυβδιν ἐκφυγὼν τῇ Σκύλλη περιέπεσον. This is one of those Iambics, he tells us, which were call'd, Dimetri axicano. For my own part, (throwing out this cramp Definition) I think it might have been a plain Iambic, as most of the proverbial Gnomes were, and only difmounted from its Numbers by the unneceffary Infertion of the Articles. I would read it;

Σκύλλη περιέπεσον, Χάρυβδιν ἐκφυγών.

reafon: