Ant. Moft heartily I do befeech the Court To give the judgment. Por. Why, then thus it is: You must prepare your bofom for his knife. Which here appeareth due upon the bond. Shy. Ay, his breast; So fays the bond, doth it not, noble judge? Por. It is fo. Are there fcales, to weigh the flesh? Shy. I have them ready. Por. Have by fome furgeon, Shylock, on your charge, To ftop his wounds, left he should bleed to death. Shy. Is it fo nominated in the bond? Por. It is not fo exprefs'd; but what of that? 'Twere good, you do fo much for charity. Shy. I cannot find it; 'tis not in the bond. To let the wretched man out-live his wealth,. Repent not you, that you fhall lofe your friend; F 3 I'll pay it inftantly with all my heart. Por. Your wife would give you little thanks for that, If the were by to hear you make the offer. Gra. I have a wife, whom, I protest, I love; I would, the were in heaven, so the could Intreat fome Pow'r to change this currith Jew. Ner. 'Tis well, you offer it behind her back ; The wish would make else an unquiet house. Shy. These be the chriftian husbands. I've a daughter; Would, any of the stock of Barrabas Had been her husband, rather than a chriftian! [Afide. We trifle time; I pray thee, pursue sentence. Por. A pound of that fame merchant's flesh is thine, The Court awards it, and the law doth give it. Shy. Moft rightful judge! Por. And you must cut this flesh from off his breaft'; The law allows it, and the Court awards it. Shy. Most learned judge! a fentence: come, prepare. One drop of chriftian blood; thy lands and goods Unto the ftate of Venice. Gra. O upright judge! mark, Jew, O learned judge! Shy. Is that the law? Por. Thy felf fhalt fee the Act: For as thou urgeft juftice, be affur'd, Thou shalt have juftice, more than thou defir'ft. Baff. Baff. Here is the mony. Por. The Jew fhall have all juftice; foft! no hafte; He shall have nothing but the penalty. Gra. O few! an upright judge, a learned judge! Thou dieft, and all thy goods are confifcate. Por. Why doth the Jew paufe? take the forfeiture. Shy. Why then the devil give him good of it! I'll ftay no longer question. Por. Tarry, Jew. The law hath yet another hold on you: It is enacted in the laws of Venice, If it be prov'd against an alien, That by direct, or indirect, attempts He seek the life of any citizen, The party, 'gainst the which he doth contrive, F4 That That indirectly, and directly too, Thou haft contriv'd against the very life Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the Duke. Gra. Beg, that thou may'ft have leave to hang thy And yet, thy wealth being forfeit to the state, Therefore, thou must be hang'd at the state's charge. I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it: Por. Ay, for the ftate; not for Anthonio. Por. What mercy can you render him, Anthonio? Court, (29) So please my Lord the Duke,] The Terms, which Antonio prefcribes to be comply'd with by the few, have been reckon'd intricate and corrupt; and a different Regulation has been advis'd: But, if I am not mistaken, they are to be thus understood. The Jew had forfeited his whole Substance; one Moiety thereof to go to the State, and the other to the Defendant. Antonio propofes, that the State fhould be content with fining him only that Moiety, which was confifcated to them; that, as to the Other, which Antonio equally might claim to himself; he only defires to hold the Benefit, paying Intereft for it to the few during his Life: and, upon the Jew's Demife, to have it immediately vested in his Son and Daughter. Nor does Antonio propofe any Thing mean and ungenerous in this; he quits that Right and Property, which the Law gave him, in the Jew's Subftance; and (with Regard to his own great Loffes,) is content to ftand only as a Borrower of it, upon the general Foot of paying Interest: Nor are the Son and Daughter robb'd in This; fince, fetting afide Antonio's Claim by the Jew's Forfeiture, their Pretenfions could not take place, till the Jew's Death: and He takes care, their reverfionary Right in it fhould be fecur'd by the Jew's recording a Deed of Gift to that Purpose. То To quit the fine for one half of his goods, The other half in use, to render it Two things provided more, that for this favour The other, that he do record a Gift Duke. He fhall do this, or else I do recant The pardon that I late pronounced here. Por. Art thou contented, Jew? what doft thou say? Por. Clerk, draw a Deed of gift. Shy. I pray you, give me leave to go from hence; I am not well; fend the Deed after me, And I will fign it. Duke. Get thee gone, but do it. Gra. In chrift'ning thou shalt have two godfathers. Had I been judge, thou should'ft have had ten more, (3a) To bring thee to the gallows, not the font. (30) [Exit Shylock. Duke. thou should't have had ten more, ] i. e. a Jury of Twelve Men, to condemn thee to be hang'd. So, in Measure for Meafure, I not deny, The Jury paffing on the Pris'ner's Life, May in the fworn twelve have a Thief or two That Juftice feizes on. The Scenes of these two Plays are refpectively laid in Venice and Vienna; and yet 'tis obfervable, in Both the Poet alludes to the Custom of fentencing by Juries, as in England. This is not to be imputed to him as Ignorance: The Licence of the Stage has allow'd it, not only at home; but likewife the Tragic and Comic Poets of Antiquity indulg'd themselves in transplanting their own Customs to other Nations. Æfchylus, for Inftance, in his Choephora, makes Electra, who is in Argos, talk of the Cuftoms us'd in Purifications, and prescrib'd by Law, as the Scholiaft obferves, at Athens. Τότε πρὸς τὸ παρ' Αθωαίοις ἔ@ο προς 'Alávnoι vómov. Sophocles, in his Laocoon, the Scenary of which is laid in Troy, talks of erecting Altars, and burning Incenfe before their Doors, as was practis'd on joyful Occafions at Athens: therein tranf planting the Athenian Manners, as Harpocration has noted, to Tray. Me 5 τάγων |