Who chooseth me, shall have as much as he deserves.
Did I deserve no more than a fool's head?
Is that my prize? are my deserts no better?
Por. To offend, and judge, are distinct offices,
And of opposed natures.

Ar. What is here?

The fire seven times tried this;
Seven times tried that judgement is,
That did never choose amiss:
Some there be, that shadows kiss;
Such have but a shadow's bliss:
There be fools alive, I wis,
Silver'd o'er; and so was this.
Take what wife you will to bed,
I will ever be your head:
So begone, sir, you are sped.

Still more fool I shall appear
By the time I linger here:

With one fool's head I came to woo,
But I go away with two.-
Sweet, adieu! I'll keep my oath,
Patiently to bear my wroth.

Salan. Let me say amen betimes, lest the devil cross
my prayer; for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew.-
Enter SHYLOCK.

[Exeunt Arragon, and Train.
Por. Thus hath the candle sing'd the moth.
O these deliberate fools! when they do choose,
They have the wisdom by their wit to lose.
Ner. The ancient saying is no heresy ;-
Hanging and wiving goes by destiny.
Por. Come, draw the curtain, Nerissa!

Enter a Servant.

Serv. Where is my lady?

Por. Here; what would my lord?

Serv. Madam, there is alighted at your gate
A young Venetian, one, that comes before
To signify the approaching of his lord:
From whom he bringeth sensible regrets;

To wit, besides commends, and courteous breath,
Gifts of rich value; yet I have not seen
So likely an embassador of love:

A day in April never came so sweet,

To show how costly summer was at hand,

As this fore-spurrer comes before his lord.

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

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

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

Shy. She is damn'd for it.

Salar. That's certain, if the devil may be her judge.
Shy. My own flesh and blood to rebel!
Salan. Out upon it, old carrion! rebels it at these
years?

Shy. I say, my daughter is my flesh and blood.
Salar.There is more difference between thy flesh and
hers, than between jet and ivory: more between your
bloods, than there is between red wine and rhenish-
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,
a prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on the Rial-
to;
-a abeggar, that used to come so smug upon the
mart; let him look to this 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

Por. No more, I pray thee; I am half afeard,
Thou wilt say anon, he is some kin to thee,
Thou spend'st such high-day wit in praising him.--
Come, come, Nerissa; for I long to see
Quick Cupid's post, that comes so mannerly.
Ner. Bassanio, lord Love, if thy will it be ! [Exeunt.

А СТ III

SCENE I.-Venice. A street.
Enter SALANIO and SALARINO

-

his bond!

Salar. Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt no 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 mine 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 exam-
ple? why, revenge. The villainy, you teach me,
I will
execute; and it shall go hard, but I will better the in-

Salan. Now, what news on the Rialto? Salar. Why, yet it lives there uncheck'd, that Antonio hath a ship of rich lading wreck'd 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.

Salan. I would she were as lying a gossip in that, as ever knapp'd ginger, or made her neighbours believe she wept for the death of a third husband: but it is true--without any slips of prolixity, or crossing the plain high-way of talk,--that the good Antonio, the honest Antonio,----O that I had a title good enough to keep his name company!-

Salar. Come, the full stop!

Salan. Ha,--what say'st thou ?--Why, the end is, he hath lost a ship!

Salar. I would it might prove the end of his losses!

struction.

Enter a Servant.

Serv. Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at his house, and desires to speak with you both. Salar. We have been up and down to seek him.

Enter TUBAL.

Salan. Here comes another of the tribe; a third cannot be matched, unless the devil himself turn Jew. [Exeunt Salan. Salar.and Servant. 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-and1 | Which makes me fear the enjoying of my love:
know not what's spent in the search: why, thou There may as well be amity and life
loss upon loss! the thief gone with so much, and so
much to find the thief; and no satisfaction, no re-
venge: 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 polis.

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?

'Tween snow and fire, as treason and my love.
Por. Ay, but I fear, you speak upon the rack,
Where men enforced do speak any thing
Bass. Promise me life, and I'll confess the truth.
Por. Well then, confess, and live.
Bass. Confess, and love,

Had been the very sum of my confession:
O happy torment, when my torturer
Tri-Doth teach me answer for deliverance!
But let me to my fortune and the caskets.
Por. Away then: I am lock'd in one of them;
If you do love me, you will find me out.―
Nerissa, and the rest, stand all aloof!—
Let music sound, while he doth make his choice;
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end,
Fading in music: that the comparison
May stand more proper, my eye shall be the stream
And wat'ry death-bed for him. He may win;
And what is music then? then music is
Even as the flourish, when true subjects bow
To a new-crowned monarch: suchitis,
As are those dulcet sounds in break of day,
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom's ear,

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

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

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

Shy. I am very glad of it: I'll plague him; I'll tor-And summon him to marriage. Now he goes, ture him; I am glad of it.

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

Shy. Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: it was my turquoise; I had it of Leah, when I was a bachelor: I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkies.

Tub. But Antonio is certainly undone. Shy. Nay, that's true, that's very true! Go, Tubal, fee me an officer, bespeak him a fortnight before: I will have the heart of him, if he forfeit; for were he out of Venice, I can make what merchandise I will: go, go, Tubal, and meet me at our synagogue; go, good Tubal; at our synagogue, Tubal. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.-Belmont. A room in Portia's house.

With no less presence, but with much more love,
Than young Alcides, when he did redeem
The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy
To the sea-monster: I stand for sacrifice,
The rest aloof are the Dardanian wives,
With bleared visages, come forth to view
The issue of the exploit. Go, Hercules!
Live thou, I live:-with much much more dismay
view the fight, than thou that mak'st the fray.
Music, whilst Bassanio comments on the Caskets to
himself.

I

Enter BASSANIO, PORTIA, GRATIANO, NERISSA, and Reply.

Attendants. The Caskets are set out.
Por. I pray you, tarry, pause a day or two,
Before you hazard; for, in choosing wrong,
I lose your company; therefore forbear a while!
There's something tells me, (but it is not love,)
I would not lose you; and you know yourself,
Hate counsels not in such a quality:
But lest you should not understand me well,
(And yet a maiden hath no tongue but thought,)
I would detain you here some month or two,
Before you venture for me. I could teach you,
How to choose right, but then I am forsworn ;
So will I never be: so may you miss me:
But if you do, you'll make me wish a sin,

That I had been forsworn. Beshrew your eyes,
They have o'er-look'd me, and divided me;
One half of me is yours, the other half yours,-
Mine own, I would say; but if mine, then yours,
And so all yours: O! these naughty times
Put bars between the owners and their rights;
And so, though yours, not yours.-Prove it so,
Let fortune go to hell for it,-not I.

I speak too long; but 'tis to peize the time;
To eke it, and to draw it out in length,
To stay you from election.

Bass. Let me choose;

For, as I am, I live upon the rack.

Por. Upon the rack, Bassanio? then confess, What treason there is mingled with your love. Bass. None, but that ugly treason of mistrust,

All.

SONG.

1. Tell me, where is fancy bred,
Or in the heart, or in the head?
How begot, how nourished?

2. It is engender'd in the eyes,
With gazing fed; and fancy dies
In the cradle where it lies.

Let us all ring fancy's knell;
I'll begin it,-Ding dong, bell.
Ding, dong, bell.

Bass.So the outward shows be least themselves;
may
The world is still deceiv'd with ornament.
In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt,
But, being season'd with a gracious voice,
Obscures the show of evil? In religion,
What damned error, but some sober brow
Will bless it, and approve it with a text,
Hiding the grossness with fair ornament?
There is no vice so simple, but assumes
Some mark of virtue on his outward parts.
How many cowards, whose hearts are all as false,
As stairs of sand, wear yet upon their chins
The beards of Hercules and frowning Mars;
Who, inward search'd, have livers white as milk?
And these assume but valour's excrement,
To render them redoubted. Look on beauty,
And you shall see 'tis purchas'd by the weight;
Which therein works a miracle in nature,
Making them lightest that wear most of it:
So are those crisped snaky golden locks,
Which make such wanton gambols with the wind,
Upon supposed fairness, often known
To be the dowry of a second head,

The scull that bred them, in the sepulchre.
Thus ornament is but the guiled shore
To a most dangerous sea; the beauteous scarf
Veiling an Indian beauty; in a word,
The seeming truth which cunning times put on
To entrap the wisest. Therefore, thou gaudy gold,
Hard food for Midas, I will none of thee:
Nor none of thee, thou pale and common drudge
"Tween man and man: but thou, thou meagre lead,
Which rather threat'nest, than dost promise aught.
Thy plainness moves me more than eloquence,
And here choose I: joy be the consequence!
Por. How all the other passions fleet to air,
As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embrac'd despair,
And shudd'ring fear, and green-ey'd jealousy.
O love, be moderate, allay thy ecstasy,
In measure rain thy joy, scant this excess;
I feel too much thy blessing, make it less,
For fear I surfeit!

Myself, and what is mine, to you and yours
Is now converted: but now I was the lord
Of this fair mansion, master of my servants,
Queen o'er myself; and even now, but now,
This house, these servants, and this same myself,
Are yours, my lord; I give them with this ring;
Which when you part from, lose, or give away,
Let it presage the ruin of your love,
And be my 'vantage to exclaim on you.

Bass. What find here? [Opening the leaden casket.
Fair Portia's counterfeit? What demi-god
Hath come so near creation! Move these eyes?
Or whether, riding on the balls of mine,
Seem they in motion? Here are sever'd lips,
Parted with sugar breath; so sweet a bar

Should sunder such sweet friends. Here in her hairs
The painter plays the spider; and hath woven
A golden mesh to entrap the hearts of men,
Faster than gnats in cobwebs. But her eyes,-
How could he see to do them? having made one,
Methinks, it should have power to steal both his,
And leave itself unfurnish'd. Yet look, how far
The substance of my praise doth wrong this shadow
In underprizing it, so far this shadow

Doth limp behind the substance.--Here's the scroll,
The continent and summary of my fortune.

You that choose not by the view,
Chance as fair, and choose as true!
Since this fortune falls to you,
Be content, and seek no new!
If you be well pleas'd with this,
And hold your fortune for your bliss,
Turn you where your lady is

And claim her with a loving kiss.

Bass. Madam, you have bereft me of all words,
Only my blood speaks to you in my veins :
And there is such confusion in my powers,
As, after some oration fairly spoke
By a beloved prince, there doth appear
Among the buzzing pleased multitude;
Where every something, being blent together,
Turns to a wild of nothing, save of joy,
Express'd, and not express'd. But when this ring
Parts from this finger, then parts life from hence;
O, then be bold to say, Bassanio's dead.
Ner. My lord and lady, it is now our time,
That have stood by, and seen our wishes prosper,
To cry, good joy, good joy, my lord and lady!
Gra. My lord Bassanio, and my gentle lady,
I wish you all the joy that you can wish;
For I am sure, you can wish none from me:
And, when your honours mean to solemaize
The bargain of your faith, I do beseech you,
Even at that time I may be married too.

1

Bass. With all my heart, so thou canst get a wife.
Gra. Ithank your lordship; you have got me one.
My eyes, my lord, can look as swift as
yours:
You saw the mistress, I beheld the maid;
You lov'd, I lov'd; for intermission
No more pertains to me, my lord, than you.
Your fortune stood upon the caskets there;
And so did mine too, as the matter falls:
For wooing here, until I sweat again;
And swearing, till my very roof was dry
With oaths of love; at last,-if promise last,-

I got a promise of this fair one here,

To have her love, provided that your fortune
Achiev'd her mistress.

Por. Is this true, Nerissa?

Ner. Madam, it is, so you stand pleas'd withal.

A gentle scroll;-fair lady,by your leave; [Kissing her. Bass. And do you, Gratiano, mean good faith?

I come by note, to give, and to receive.

Like one of two contending in a prize,

That thinks he hath done well in people's eyes,

Hearing applause, and universal shout,
Giddy in spirit, still gazing, in a doubt

So, thrice fair lady, stand I, even so;

Whether those peals of praise be his or no;

As doubtful whether, what I see be true,
Until confirm'd, sign'd, ratified by you.

Por. You see me, lord Bassanio, where I stand,
Such as I am: though, for myself alone,
I would not be ambitious in my wish,
To wish myself much better; yet, for you,
I would be trebled twenty times myself;

A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times
More rich:

That only to stand high on your account,
I might in virtues, beauties, livings, friends,
Exceed account: but the full sum of me

Is sum of something; which, to term in gross,
Is an unlesson'd girl, unschool'd, unpractis'd:
Happy in this, she is not yet so old
But she may learn; and happier than this,
She is not bred so dull but she can learn ;
Happiest of all, is, that her gentle spirit
Commits itself to yours to be directed,
As from her lord, her governor, her king.

Gra. Yes, 'faith, my lord.

Bass. Our feast shall be much honoured in your marriage.

Gra. We'll play with them, the first boy for a thou

sand ducats.

But who comes here? Lorenzo, and his infidel?
What, my old Venetian friend, Salerio?

Enter LORENZO, JESSICA, and SALERIO.
Bass. Lorenzo, and Salerio, welcome hither;
If that the youth of may new interest here
Have power to bid you welcome. By your leave,

I bid my very friends and countrymen,
Sweet Portia, welcome.

Por. So do I, my lord;

They are entirely welcome.

Lor. I thank your honour. -For my part, my lord, My purpose was not to have seen you here;

But meeting with Salerio by the way,

He did entreat me, past all saying nay,
To come with him along.

Sale. I did, my lord,

And I have reason for it. Signior Antonio
Commends him to you.

[Gives Bassanio a letter

L

Lor. Fair thoughts, and happy hours, attend on you!
Jes. 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!—
[Exeunt Jessica and Lorenzo.

As I have ever found thee honest, true,
So let me find thee still: take this same letter,
And use thou all the endeavour of a man,
In speed to Padua; see thou render this
Into my cousin'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 tranect, to the common ferry,
Which trades to Venice-waste no time in words,
But get thee goue; I shall be there before thee.
Balth. Madam, I go with all convenient speed. [Exit.
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.

Por. They shall, Nerissa; butin such a habit,
That they shall think, we are accomplished
With what we lack. I'll hold thee any wager,
When we are both accouter'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 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;