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ich trades to Venice: waste no time in words, get thee gone; I shall be there before thee.

al. Madam, I go with all convenient speed. [Exit, L. Por. Come on, Nerissa, I have work in hand

at you yet know not of: we'll see our husbands ore they think of us!

Ver. Shall they see us?

Por. They shall, Nerissa;

t come, I'll tell thee all my whole device hen I am in my coach, which stays for us the park gate; and therefore haste away,

or we must measure twenty miles to-day. [Exeunt, L. SCENE V.-The Garden at Belmont.

Enter JESSICA and LAUNCELOT, L.

Laun. Yes, truly for, look you, the sins of the father e to be laid upon the children; therefore, I promise you, fear you. I was always plain with you, and so now I peak my agitation of the matter: therefore be of good heer; for, truly, I think-you are damned. There is out one hope in it that can do you any good: and that is s but a kind of bastard hope neither.

Jes. 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.

Jes. That were a kind of bastard hope, indeed; so the sins of my mother should be visited upon me.

Laun. Truly, then, I fear you are damned both by father and mother: thus when I shun Scylla, your father, I fall into Charybdis, your mother: well, you are gone both

ways.

Jes. I shall be saved by my husband; he hath made me & Christian.

Laun. Truly, the more to blame he: we were Christians enough before; e'en as many as could well live one by another. This making of Christians will raise the price of hogs; if we grow all to be pork-eaters, we shall not shortly have a rasher on the coals for money.

Jes. I'll tell my husband, Launcelot, what you say; here he comes. [Crosses, L.

Enter LORENZO, L.

Lor. I shall grow jealous of you shortly, Launcelot, if you thus get my wife into corners.

Jes. Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo; Launcelot and I are out: he tells me flatly, there is no mercy for me in heaven, because I am a Jew's daughter.

Lor. [Crosses, c.] Go in, sirrah; bid them prepare for

dinner.

Laun. That is done, sir; they have all stomachs.

Lor. Goodly lord, what a wit-snapper are you! then bid them prepare dinner.

Laun. That is done, too, sir; only cover is the word. Lor. Will you cover, then, sir?

Laun. Not so, sir, neither; I know my duty.

Lor. Yet more quarrelling with occasion! wilt thou show the whole wealth of thy wit in an instant? I pray thee, understand a plain man in his plain meaning; go to thy fellows; bid them cover the table, serve in the meat, and we will come in to dinner.

Laun. (R.) For the table, sir, it shall be served in; for the meat, sir, it shall be covered; for your coming in to dinner, sir, why, let it be as humours and conceits shall govern. [Exit, R. Lor. Oh, dear discretion, how his words are suited! The fool hath planted in his memory

An army of good words: and I do know
A many fools, that stand in better place,
Garnished like him, that for a tricksy word
Defy the matter. How cheer'st thou, Jessica!
And now, good sweet, say thy opinion,
How dost thou like the lord Bassanio's wife?
Jes. Past all expressing.

Lor. Even such a husband

Hast thou of me, as she is for a wife.

Jes. Nay, but ask my opinion, too, of that.

Jes

DUET.-LORENZO and JESSICA.

In vows of everlasting truth,
You waste your idle hours, fond youth,
But leave me once, and I should find
That out of sight were out of mind

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SCENE I.-A Court of Justice in Venice.

e DUKE, Magnificoes, ANTONIO, BASSANIO, SOLANIO SALARINO, GRATIANO, and Attendants, discovered.

Duke. [Seated, c.] What, is Antonio here?

Ant. Ready, so please your grace.

Duke. I am sorry for thee; thou art come to answer stony adversary, an inhuman wretch

ncapable of pity, void and empty

rom any dram of mercy.

Ant. I have heard

our grace hath taken great pains to qualify

His rigorous course; but since he stands obdurate,

And that no lawful means can carry me

Out of his envy's reach, I do oppose

My patience to his fury; and am armed
To suffer, with a quietness of spirit,
The very tyranny and rage of his.

Duke. Go one, and call the Jew into the court.
Sol. He's ready at the door: he comes, my lord.

Enter SHYLOCK, R.

Duke. Make room, and let him stand before our face. Shylock, the world, thinks, and I think so too, That thou but lead'st this fashion of thy malice To the last hour of act; and then, 'tis thought Thou'lt show thy mercy, and remorse, more strange Than is thy strange apparent cruelty:

And, where thou now exact'st the penalty,
(Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh,
Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture,
But, touched with human gentleness and love,
Forgive a moiety of the principal;
Glancing an eye of pity on his losses,
That have of late so huddled on his back;
Enough to press a royal merchant down,
And pluck commisseration of his state
From brassy bosoms, and rough hearts of flint,
From stubborn Turks and Tartars, never trained
To offices of tender courtesy.

We all expect a gentle answer, Jew.

Shy. (R.) I have possessed your grace of what I pur

pose;

And by our holy sabbath have I sworn,
To have the due and forfeit of my bond:
If you deny it, let the danger light
Upon your charter, and your city's freedom.
You'll ask me, why I rather choose to have
A weight of carrion flesh, than to receive
Three thousand ducats:-I'll not answer that:
But say, it is my humour: is it answered?
What if my house be troubled with a rat,
And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats
To have it baned; what, are you answered yet?
Some men there are, love not a gaping pig;
Some, that are mad, if they behold a cat;
Now for your answer:

As there is no firm reason to be rendered,
Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;

Why he, a harmless necessary cat;
So can I give no reason, nor will I not,

More than a lodged hate, and a certain loathing
I bear Antonio, that I follow thus

A losing suit against him. A.e you

answered? Bass. (L. c) This is no answer, thou unfeeling man, To excuse the current of thy cruelty.

Shy. I am not bound to please thee with my answer. Bass. Do all men kill the things they do not love? Shy. Hates any man the thing he would not kill? Bass. Every offence is not a hate at first.

hy. What, would'st thou have a serpent sting thee

twice?

Ant. (L. c.) I pray you, think you question with the
Jew:

u may as well go stand upon the beach,
d bid the main flood bate his usual height;
ou may as well use question with the wolf,
hy he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb;
ou may as well forbid the mountain pines

wag their high tops, and to make no noise. hen they are fretted with the gusts of heaven; ou may as well-do anything most hard,

s seek to soften that (than which what's harder?)
is Jewish heart: therefore I do beseech you,
lake no more offers, use no further means,
Sut, with all brief and plain conveniency,
Let me have judgment, and the Jew his will.
Bass. For thy three thousand ducats here are six.
Shy. If every ducat in six thousand ducats
Were in six parts, and every part a ducat,

I would not draw them, I would have my bond.

Duke. How shalt thou hope for mercy, rend'ring none}
Shy. What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong?
You have among you many a purchased slave,
Which, like your asses, and your dogs, and mules,
You use in abject and in slavish parts,

Because you bought them; shall I say to you,
Let them be free, marry them to your heirs;
Why sweat they under their burdens? let their beds
Be made as soft as yours, let their palates
Be seasoned with such viands? you will answer,
The slaves are ours:-So do I answer you:
The pound of flesh which I demand of him,
Is dearly bought, is mine, and I will have it:
If you deny me, fie upon your law!

There is no force in the decrees of Venice:
I stand for judgment:-answer: shall I have it?
Duke. Upon my power,
I dismiss this court,
may
Unless Bellario, a learned doctor,
Whom I have sent for to determine this,

Come here to-day.

Sala. (R.) My lord, here stays without

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