What may for strength with steel compare?
O, love has fetters stronger far!
By bolts of steel are limbs confin'd;
But cruel love enchains the mind.

No longer then perplex thy breast,
When thoughts torment, the first are best;
'Tis mad to go, 'tis death to stay,
Away, my Jessy, haste away

JESSICA at the Window.

Jes. Who are you? tell me for more certainty, Albeit I'll swear that I do know your tongue. Lor. Lorenzo, and thy love.

Jes. Lorenzo, certain; and my love, indeed ; For whom love I so much? and now who knows But you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours?

Lor. Heaven, and my thoughts, are witness that thou art.

Jes. Here, catch this casket; it is worth the pains. Lor. But come at once;

For the close night doth play the run-away.

And we are staid for at Bassanio's feast.

Jess. I will make fast the doors, and gild myself With some more ducats, and be with you straight. [Exit JESSICA from the Window.

Gra. Now, by my hood, a gentile and no jew,
Lor. Beshrew me, but I love her heartily;

For she is wise, if I can judge of her;
And fair she is, if that mine eyes be true;
And true she is, as she hath prov'd herself:
And therefore, like herself, wise, fair, and true,
Shall she be placed in my constant soul.

Enter JESSICA.

What, art thou come?-On, gentlemen, away;
Our masking mates by this time for us stay.

[Exeunt.

ACT THE THIRD,

SCENE I.

A Street in Venice.

Enter SALARINO and SALANIO,

Sal. Why man, I saw Bassanio under sail; With him is Gratiano gone along;

And in their ship, I am sure, Lorenzo is not.

Sala. The villain Jew with outcries rais'd the Duke, Who went with him to search Bassanio's ship.

Sal. He came too late, the ship was under sail :
But there the Duke was given to understand,
That in a gondola were seen together
Lorenzo and his amorous Jessica :
Besides, Antonio certify'd the Duke,
They were not with Bassanio in his ship.
Sala. I never heard a passion so confus'd,
So strange, outrageous, and so variable,
As the dog Jew did utter in the streets :

My daughter!-O my ducats!-O my daughter! Fled with a christian!-O my christian ducats!Justice! the law! my ducats, and my daughter!" Let good Antonio look he keeps his day,

Or he shall pay for this.

Sal. Marry, well remember'd ;

I reason'd with a Frenchman yesterday; who told me, that Antonio hath a ship of rich lading wrecked on the narrow seas; the Goodwins, I think they call the place; a very dangerous flat, and fatal, where

the carcases of many a tall ship lie buried, as they say, if my gossip report be an honest woman of her

word.

Sala. I would she were as lying a gossip in that, as ever knapt ginger, or made her neighbours believe she wept for the death of a third husband: but it is true, that the good Antonio, the honest Antonio,→→ O that I had a title good enough to keep his name company!

Sal. Come, the full stop.

Sala. Why the end is, he hath lost a ship.

Sal. I would it might prove the end of his losses! Sala. Let me say Amen betimes, lest the Devil cross thy prayer; for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew.

Enter SHYLOCK.

How now, Shylock? what news among the merchants? Shy. You knew, none so well, none so well as you, of my daughter's flight.

Sal. That's certain; I, for my part, knew the tailor that made the wings she flew withal.

Sala. And Shylock, for his own part, knew the bird was fledged; and then it is the complexion of them all to leave the dam.

Shy. She is damned for it.

Sal. That's certain, if the devil may be her judge. Shy. My own flesh and blood to rebel!

Sala. But tell us, do you hear, whether Antonio have had any loss at sea or no?

Shy. There I have another bad match: a bankrupt prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on the Rialto;

a beggar, that used to come so smug upon the mart; let him look to his bond: he was wont to call me usurer;-let him look to his bond he was wont to lend money for a christian courtesy ;-let him look to his bond.

:

Sal. Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his flesh; what's that good for?

Shy. To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and hindered me of half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated my enemies; and what's his reason? I am a jew: Hath not a jew eyes? hath not a jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a christian is if you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? if we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a jew wrong a christian, what is his humility? revenge: If a christian wrong a jew, what should his sufferance be by christian example? why, revenge. The villany, you teach me, I will execute; and it shall go hard, but I will better the instruction.

Enter PIETRO.

Pietro. Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at his house, and desires to speak with you both.

Sal. We have been up and down to seek him.

[Exit PIETRO. Sala. Here comes another of the tribe; a third cannot be matched, unless the devil himself turn jew. [Exeunt SAL. and SALA,

Enter TUBAL.

Shy. How now TUBAL, what news from Genoa?

hast thou found my daughter?

Tub. I often came where I did hear of her, but cannot find her.

Shy. Why there, there, there, there! a diamond gone, cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfort! The curse never fell upon our nation till now; I never felt it till now:-two thousand ducats in that; and other precious, precious jewels.-I would, my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear! 'would she were hears'd at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin! No news of them?-Why so:-and I know not what's spent in the search: why, thou loss upon loss! the thief gone with so much, and so much to find the thief and no satisfaction, no revenge: nor no ill luck stirring, but what lights o' my shoulders; no sighs, but o' my breathing; no tears, but o' my shedding.

Tub. Yes, other men have ill luck too; Antonio, as I heard in Genoa,—

Shy. What, what, what? ill luck, ill luck ?

Tub.-Hath an argosy cast away, coming from Tripolis.

Shy. I thank God, I thank God!-Is it true? is it

true?

Tub. I spoke with some of the sailors, that escaped the wreck.

Shy. I thank thee, good Tubal ;-Good news, good news: ha! ha!-Where, in Genoa ?

Tub. Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I heard, one night, four score ducats.

Shy. Thou stick'st a dagger in me:-I shall never see my gold again: four score ducats at a sitting! four score ducats!

Tub. There came divers of Antonio's creditors in my company to Venice, that swear he cannot chuse but break.

Shy. I am very glad of it; I'll plague him; I'll torture him; I am glad of it.

Tub. One of them showed me a ring, that he had of your daughter for a monkey.

Shy. Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal:

E