Issuing life-blood.

Have all his ventures fail'd? What, not one hit?
From Tripolis, from Mexico, and England,
From Lisbon, Barbary, and India?

And not one vessel 'scape the dreadful touch
Of merchant-marring rocks?

Sol.

Not one, my lord.

Besides, it should appear, that if he had
The present money to discharge the Jew,
He would not take it. Never did I know
A creature, that did bear the shape of man,
So keen and greedy to confound a man.
He plies the Duke at morning and at night;
And doth impeach the freedom of the State,
If they deny him justice. Twenty merchants,
The Duke himself, and the magnificoes
Of greatest port, have all persuaded with him;
But none can drive him from the envious plea 2
Of forfeiture, of justice, and his bond.

27

Jess. When I was with him, I have heard him swear To Tubal and to Chus, his countrymen,

That he would rather have Antonio's flesh

Than twenty times the value of the sum
That he did owe him; and I know, my lord,
If law, authority, and power deny not,

It will go hard with poor Antonio.

Por. Is it your dear friend that is thus in trouble?
Bass. The dearest friend to me, the kindest man,
The best-condition'd and unwearied spirit 28

In doing courtesies; and one in whom
The ancient Roman honour more appears
Than any that draws breath in Italy.

Por. What sum owes he the Jew?
Bass. For me three thousand ducats.
Por.

What, no more?

Pay him six thousand, and deface the bond;
Double six thousand, and then treble that,29

27 Envy and envious are continually used by old writers in the sense of malice and malicious.

28 The force of the superlative, best, is continued over unwearied in the sense of most. Condition'd is tempered, disposed. See page 108, note 19. 29 The Venetian ducat, in or near the Poet's time, is said on good authority to have been equivalent to nearly $1.53 of our money. At this rate, Portia's 36,000 ducats would have equalled about $55,000. And money was worth some six times as much then as it is now! - In the second line below, my is wanting in all the old copies till the folio of 1632, where it is supplied. The Poet would hardly have made the verse deficient in a syllable there. Perhaps we should read thorough instead of through, those two forms being used indifferently at that time.

Before a friend of this description

Shall lose a hair through my Bassanio's fault.
First go with me to church and call me wife,
And then away to Venice to your friend;
For never shall you lie by Portia's side
With an unquiet soul. You shall have gold
To pay the petty debt twenty times over;
When it is paid, bring your true friend along:
My maid Nerissa and myself, mean-time,
Will live as maids and widows. Come, away!
For you shall hence upon your wedding-day.
Bid friends welcome, show a merry
Since you are dear-bought, I will love you dear.
But let me hear the letter of your friend.

your

cheer;

80

Bass. [Reads.] Sweet Bassanio, my ships have all miscarried, my creditors grow cruel, my estate is very low, my bond to the Jew is forfeit; and since, in paying it, it is impossible I should live, all debts are clear'd between you and I, if I might but see you at my death. Notwithstanding, use your pleasure: if your love do not persuade you to come, let not my letter. Por. O love, despatch all business, and be gone! Bass. Since I have your good leave to go away,

I will make haste; but, till I come again,
No bed shall e'er be guilty of my stay,

Nor rest be interposer 'twixt us twain.

[Exeunt.

Enter SHYLOCK, SALARINO, ANTONIO, and Jailer.
Shy. Jailer, look to him: tell not me of mercy.-
This is the fool that lends out money gratis. —
Jailer, look to him.

Ant.

Hear me yet, good Shylock.

Shy. I'll have my bond; speak not against my bond: I've sworn an oath that I will have my bond.

Thou call'dst me dog before thou hadst a cause;

But, since I am a dog, beware my fangs :

The Duke shall grant me justice.—I do wonder,
Thou naughty jailer, that thou art so fond1
To come abroad with him at his request.

Ant. I pray thee, hear me speak.

Shy. I'll have my bond; I will not hear thee speak:

I'll have my bond; and therefore speak no more.

80 Cheer is from the French chère, signifying countenance. Shakespeare has it in the same sense again in A Midsummer-Night's Dream, iii. 2: "All fancy-sick she is, and pale of cheer"

1 Fund is generally used by Shakespeare in the sense of foulish.

I'll not be made a soft and dull-ey'd fool,
To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield
To Christian intercessors. Follow not;
I'll have no speaking: I will have my bond.

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

Ant.
Let him alone:
I'll follow him no more with bootless prayers.
He seeks 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.

Sal.

[Exit SHYLOCK.

I am sure, the Duke
Will never grant this forfeiture to hold.

Ant. The Duke cannot deny the course of law,
For the commodity that strangers have
With us in Venice: if it be denied,

"Twill much impeach the justice of the State;
Since that the trade and profit of the city
Consisteth of all nations." Therefore, go:
These griefs and losses have so 'bated me,
That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh
To-morrow to my bloody creditor.

Well, jailer, on. Pray God, Bassanio come
To see me pay his debt, and then I care not!

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV. Belmont. A Room in PORTIA'S House.

Enter PORTIA, NERISSA, LORENZO, JESSICA, and BAL

THAZAR.

Lor. Madam, although I speak it in your presence, You have a noble and a true conceit 1

2 It should be borne in mind, that Antonio was one of the citizens, while Shylock was reckoned among the strangers of the place. And since the city was benefited as much by the trade and commerce of foreigners as of natives, justice evidently required that the law should give equal advantages to them both. But to stop the course of law in behalf of citizens against strangers, would be putting the latter at a disadvantage, and so would clearly impeach the justice of the State. For means the same as because of, -a sense in which it is often used by the Poet. The passage is usually printed thus:

"The Duke cannot deny the course of law;
For the commodity that strangers have
With us in Venice, if it be denied,

Will much impeach the justice of the state."

Where commodity is obviously the subject of impeach. Which greatly clogs and obscures the passage, though perhaps it may still be made to yield the same meaning. Commodity here bears the sense of commercial intercourse.

1 Conceit is conception, idea, or judgment. I think the word is never used by Shakespeare in a bad sense. See page 102, note 18.

Of god-like amity; which appears most strongly
In bearing thus the absence of your lord.

But, if you knew to whom you show this honour,
How true a gentleman you send relief,
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 for doing good,
Nor shall not now: for in companions
That do converse and waste the time together,
Whose souls 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 Antonio,
Being the bosom lover of my lord,2
Must needs be like my lord. If it be so,
How little is the cost I have bestow'd
In purchasing the semblance of my soul
From out the state of hellish cruelty!
This comes too near the praising of myself;
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 toward Heaven breath'd a secret vow
To live in prayer and contemplation,
Only attended by Nerissa here,

Until her husband and my lord's return:

There is a monastery two miles off,

And there we will abide. I do desire you

Not to deny this imposition,3

The which my love and some necessity

Now lays upon you.

Lor.

Madam, with all my heart;

I shall obey you in all fair commands.

Por. My people do already know my mind, And will acknowledge you and Jessica

In place of Lord Bassanio and myself.

So, fare you well, till we shall meet again.

Lor. Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you!
Jess. I wish your ladyship all heart's content.

Por. I thank you for your wish, and am well pleas'd
To wish it back on you: fare you well, Jessica.

Now, Balthazar,

[Exeunt JESSICA and LORENZO.

2 Lover was much used by Shakespeare and other writers of his time for friend. His sonnets are full of examples in point.

8 Imposition is any charge, task or duty imposed.

As I have ever found thee honest-true,

So let me find thee still. Take this same letter,
And use thou all th' endeavour of a man

In speed to Padua: see thou render this
Into my cousin's hand, Doctor Bellario;

4

And, look, what notes and garments he doth give thee,
Bring them, I pray thee, with imagin'd speed
Unto the Tranect,5 to the common ferry
Which trades to Venice. Waste no time in words,
But get thee gone: I shall be there before thee.
Balth. Madam, I go with all convenient speed.
Por. Come on, Nerissa; I have work in hand
That you yet know not of: we'll see our husbands
Before they think of us.

Ner.

Shall they see us?
Por. They shall, Nerissa; but in such a habit,
That they shall think we are accomplished
With what we lack. I'll hold thee any wager,
When we are both accoutred 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 stride; and speak of frays,
Like a fine-bragging youth; and tell quaint lies,
How honourable ladies sought my love,
Which I denying, they fell sick and died;
I could not do withal: then I'll repent,
And wish, for all that, that I had not kill'd them.
And twenty of these puny lies I'll tell;
That men shall swear I've discontinu'd school
Above a twelvemonth. I've within my mind
A thousand raw tricks of these 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

[Exit.

4 That is, with the celerity of imagination. So, in the Chorus preceding the Third Act of Henry V.: "Thus with imagin'd wing our swift scene flies."

5 This word evidently implies the name of a place where the passageboat set out, and is in some way derived from tranare, to draw. No other instance of its use has yet occurred. The Poet had most likely heard or read of the place on the Brenta, about five miles from Venice, where a boat was drawn over a dam by a crane.

6 A phrase of the time, signifying I could not help it. So, in Beaumont and Fletcher's Little French Lawyer, Dinant, who is reproached by Clerimont for not s lencing the music which endangered his safety, replies: I cannot do withal; I have spoke and spoke; I am betrayed and lost too."

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