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O, what a goodly outside falshood hath !9 Shy. Three thousand ducats,-'tis a good round sum,

Three months from twelve, then let me see

the rate,

Anth. Well, Shylock, shall we be beholden

to you?

Shy.

9 0, what a goodly outside falshood hath!] But this is not true, that falshood hath always a goodly outside. Nor does this take in the force of the speak er's sentiment; who would observe that that falshood which quotes scripture for its purpose, has a goodly outside. We should therefore read:

"O what a goodly outside's falshood hath !" i. e. his falshood, Shylock's. WARBURTON.

I wish any copy would give me authority to range and read the lines thus:

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O, what a godly outside falshood hath! "An evil soul producing holy witness, "Is like a villain with a smiling cheek; "Or goodly apple rotten at the heart." Yet there is no difficulty in the present reading. Falshood, which, as truth means honesty, is taken here for treachery and knavery, does not stand for falshood in general, but for the dishonesty now operating. JOHNSON.

These words must be understood as spoken in an ironical contemptuous manner, by which they are peculiarly applied and confined to the instance which had just then presented itself to observation. They are not intended to express a general maxim, which holds universally; so that Mr. Warburton's objection is beside the purpose. HEATH.

Anthonio's concluding observation, though not a maxim of universal application to falshood of every

species

[graphic]

Shy. Signior Anthonio, many a time a In the Rialto you have rated me About my monies, and my usances :2 Still have I borne it with a patient shrug For sufferance is the badge of all our tri You call me-misbeliever, cut-throat do

species and degree, is, I imagine, by no m be limited to that particular instance which g casion to it: It has, not only, a reference, same time, to the other circumstances adduc the purpose of comparative illustration, but, moralizing spirit of Shakspeare, takes in, it bable, a wider scope of reflection; it is as if said, "O, what a goodly outside is falshood "certain occasions, capable of assuming!" to be wished that the speaker had not employ same epithet goodly in two places so close to other. I find that Hanmer has varied it in the of these to-godly. E.

I In the Riulto] Mr. Capell has suggested "the Rialto;" which has, indeed, the more sound, and is likely to be the genuine expre

2

and my usances:] Usance, in our a time, I believe, signified interest of money. been already used in this play in that sense: "He lends out money gratis, and brings "The rate of usance with us here in Ver Again in a subsequent part, he says, he wil doit of usance for his monies." Here i

66

no

mean interest. MALONE.

3 Still have I borne it with a patient shrug ;] Marlowe's Jew of Malta, 1633:

my

ha

"I learn'd in Florence how to kiss
"Heave up my shoulders when they ca
"dogge." IDEM.

And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine,4

And all for use of that which is mine own. Well then, it now appears, you need my help: Go to then; you come to me, and you say, Shylock, we would have monies; You say so; You, that did void your rheum5 upon my beard, And foot me, as you spurn a stranger cur Over your threshold; monies is your suit. What should I say to you? Should I not say, Hath a dog money? Is it possible,

A cur can lend three thousand ducats? or Shall I bend low, and in a bondman's key, With 'bated breath, and whispering humbleness, Say this,

Fair sir, you spit on me last Wednesday ;6

4

You

my Jewish gaberdine,] Gaberdine or gabardine, the coarse frock of a shepherd or fisherman, or any peasant: thence also any loose cassock. Ital. gavardina. HANMer.

5 You, that did void your rheum, &c.] As the virtues of Anthonio's character cannot fail to render him a favourite of every honest mind, it is impossible not to regret that the poet should have supposed him capable of behaving in so injurious and unbecoming a manner, even to so unworthy a person as Shylock, and that, without the least attempt to extenuate his conduct, he should seem to admit the truth of the accusation here brought against him by the Jew. E.

6 Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last;] Following the example of some modern editors, Í have ventured a little to soften the above harsh and rugged line, by the transposition of two words and the omission of a particle. E.

[graphic]

You spurn'd me such a day; another t You call'd me-dog; and for these cou I'll lend you thus much monies.

Anth. I am as like to call thee so agai To spit on thee again, to spurn thee to If thou wilt lend this money, lend it no As to thy friends; (for when did frie take

A breed for barren metal of his friend?

7 A breed for barren metal of his friend?] A that is interest money bred from the principa the epithet barren, the author would instruc the argument on which the advocates against went, which is this, that money is a barren and cannot, like corn and cattle, multiply And to set off the absurdity of this kind of he put breed and barren in opposition. WARBU

Dr. Warburton very truly interprets this pa Old Meres says, "Usurie and encrease by go "silver is unlawful, because against nature; "hath made them sterill and barren, and "makes them procreative." FARMER.

A breed for barren, &c.] Thus both the printed by Roberts, and that by Hayes, in The folio has- 66 a breed of barren, &c."

is

MA

he

A glaring absurdity runs through the folios, has been copied by modern editions; for wha -a breed of things that are barren? breed conveys in this place the idea of-incr but is chosen to express it by, that the opposit barren may set off and heighten the unfitne such usury. CAPELL.

But lend it rather to thine enemy;

Who, if he break,8 thou may'st with better face Exact the penalty.

Shy.

Why, look you, how you storm! I would be friends with you, and have your

love,

Forget the shames that you have stain'd me with, Supply your present wants, and take no doit Of usance for my monies, and you'll not hear

me;

This is kind I offer.

Anth.

This were kindness.

Shy. This kindness will I show:—
Go with me to a notary, seal me there
Your single bond; and, in a merry sport,
If you repay me not on such a day,

In

-for when did friendship take, &c.] The evident meaning is, "when did one friend take a breed "for barren metal of another?" Now, though friendship might, not inelegantly, be put to denote a person professing friendship, yet the association of two terms, so distinct in their import, used, the one in a personified, the other in a natural sense, to express the same thing, produces in the mind a disagreeable sense of incongruity. E.

8 Who, if he break, &c.] This form of construction is quite ungrammatical; the relative who being the nominative, there is no verb with which it can be connected: This impropriety might be remedied by reading the line in the following manner

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Then, if he break, thou may'st," &c. E.

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