Tub. I spoke with fome of the failors that escaped the wreck.

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

Tub. Your daughter fpent in Genoa, as I heard, one night, fourfcore ducats.

Shy. Thou ftick'ft a dagger in me:-I fhall never fee my gold again: Fourfcore ducats at a fitting! fourscore ducats!

1

Tub. There came divers of Anthonio's creditors in my company to Venice, that fwear he cannot chufe but break. Shy. I am glad of it; I'll plague him; I'll torture him; I am glad of it.

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

Shy. Out upon her! Thou tortureft me, Tubal: it was my turquoise; I had it of Leah, when I was a batchelor : I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkies. Tub. But Anthonio is certainly undone.

Shy. Nay, that's true, that's very true: Go, Tubal, fee me an officer, befpeak him a fortnight before: I will have the heart of him, if he forfeit; for were he out of Venice, I can make what merchandize I will: Go, go, Tubal, and meet me at our fynagogue; go, good Tubal; at our fynagogue, Tubal. [Exeunt.

SCENE II.

Belmont.

Enter Baffanio, Portia, Gratiano, and attendants.
The cafkets are fet out.

Por. I pray you, tarry; pause a day or two,
you hazard; for, in chufing wrong,

Before

I loofe

I lose your company; therefore, forbear a while:
There's fomething tells me, (but it is not love)
I would not lofe you; and you know yourself,
Hate counfels not in fuch a quality :

But left you fhould not understand me well,
(And yet a maiden hath no tongue but thought)
I would detain you here fome month or two,
Before
you venture for me. I could teach you
How to chufe right, but I am then forfworn;
So will I never be so you may miss me;
But if you do, you'll make me with a fin,
That I had been forfworn. Befhrew your eyes,
They have o'er-look'd me, and divided me;
One half of me is yours, the other yours,-
Mine own, I would say; but if mine, then yours,
And fo all yours: Oh! 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.

8

I fpeak too long; but 'tis to peize the time;
To eke it, and to draw it out in length,

To ftay you from election.

Baff. Let me chuse;

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

Por. Upon the rack, Baffanio? then confefs
What treafon there is mingled with your love.

Baff. None, but that ugly treason of mistrust,
Which makes me fear the enjoying of my love:
There
may as well be amity and life

'Tween fnow and fire, as treafon and my love.
Por. Ay, but, I fear, you speak upon the rack,

Prove it fo, &c.]-Should you chance to lofe me, let fortune rather go to bell for depriving you of your deferts, than I for a breach of my oath. peize]-delay, retard, piece.

VOL. II.

K

Where

Where men enforced do fpeak any thing.

Baff. Promise me life, and I'll confefs the truth.
Por. Well then, confess and live.

Baff. Confefs, and love,

Had been the very fum of my confeffion :
O happy torment, when my torturer
Doth teach me anfwers 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.-
Neriffa, and the rest, stand all aloof.-

Let mufick found, while he doth make his choice;
Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end,
Fading in mufick: that the comparison

May stand more proper, my eye fhall be the stream,
And watʼry death-bed for him: He may win;

And what is mufick then? then mufick is
Even as the flourish when true fubjects bow
To a new-crowned monarch: fuch it is,
As are those dulcet founds in break of day,
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom's ear,
And fummon him to marriage. Now he goes,
With no less prefence, but with much more love,
Than young Alcides, when he did redeem
The virgin tribute paid by howling Troy
To the fea-monfter: I ftand for facrifice,
The reft aloof are the Dardanian wives,
With bleared vifages, come forth to view
The iffue of the exploit. Go, Hercules!
Live thou, I live:-With much much more difmay
I view the fight, than thou that mak'ft the fray.

[Mufick within.

h With no less prefence.]-With like intrepidity.

virgin tribute]-Hefione daughter of Laomedon king of Troy deftined to be devoured by a fea-monster, but delivered by Hercules.

A fong,

A fong, whilft Baffanio comments on the cafkets to himself.

Tell me, where is fancy bred,

Or in the heart, or in the head?
How begot, bow nourished?

Reply.

All.

k

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

W

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

Baff.-'So may the outward fhows be least themselves; The world is ftill deceiv'd with ornament. In law, what plea fo tainted and corrupt, But, being 'feafon'd with a gracious voice, Obfcures the show of evil? In religion, What damned error, but fome fober brow Will blefs it, and approve it with a text, Hiding the groffness with fair ornament? There is no vice fo fimple, but affumes Some mark of virtue on his outward parts. How many cowards, whofe hearts are all as falfe As stairs of fand, wear yet upon their chins The beards of Hercules, and frowning Mars; Who, inward fearch'd, have livers white as milk ? And these affume but valour's excrement,

To render them redoubted. Look on " beauty,

and fancy dies &c.]-alluding to love's changeablenefs, being excited by one object, and extinguished by another.

So may &c.]-part of the argument had already paffed in his mind. feafon'd with a gracious voice,]-fet off with the charms of oratory: beauty]-artificial.

O

And you shall fee 'tis purchas'd by the weight;
Which therein works a miracle in nature,
Making them lightest that wear most of it:
So are thofe crisped fnaky golden locks,
Which make fuch wanton gambols with the wind,
Upon fuppofed fairness, often known
To be the dowry of a second head,
The fcull that bred them, in the fepulchre.
Thus ornament is but the 'guiled shore
To a most dangerous fea; the beauteous scarf
Veiling an 'Indian beauty; in a word,
The feeming truth which cunning times put on
To entrap the wifeft. Therefore, thou gaudy gold,
Hard food for Midas, I will none of thee:

Nor none of thee, thou ftale and common drudge
'Tween man and man: but thou, thou meager lead,
Which rather threatnest, than doft promise aught,
Thy paleness moves me more than eloquence,
And here chufe I; Joy be the confequence !
Por. How all the other paffions fleet to air,
As doubtful thoughts, and rafh-embrac'd despair,
And fhudd'ring fear, and green-ey'd jealousy.
O love, be moderate, allay thy ecitafy,
In measure rain thy joy, fcant this excefs;
I feel too much thy blefling, make it lefs,
For fear I furfeit!

[Opening the leaden cafket.

W

Bass. What find I here?

Fair Portia's counterfeit? What demy-god