For fear I surfeit!
Bass.

What find I here?3

[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:5 Yet look, how far

So, in Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, sc. ii :

"Rein thy tongue." Steevens.

3 What find I here?] The latter word is here employed as a dissyllable. Malone.

Some monosyllable appears to have been omitted. There is no example of here, used as a dissyllable; and even with such assistance, the verse, to the ear at least, would be defective. Perhaps our author designed Portia to say:

"For fear I surfeit me." Steevens.

4 Fair Portia's counterfeit?] Counterfeit, which is at present used only in a bad sense, anciently signified a likeness, a resemblance, without comprehending any idea of fraud. So, in The Wit of a Woman, 1604: "I will see if I can agree with this stranger, for the drawing of my daughter's counterfeit."

Again, (as Mr. M. Mason observes) Hamlet calls the pictures he shows to his mother:

"The counterfeit presentment of two brothers." Steevens.

5 Methinks, it should have power to steal both his,

And leave itself unfurnish'd:] Perhaps it might be:
And leave himself unfurnish'd. Johnson.

If this be the right reading, unfurnished must mean "unfurnished with a companion or fellow." I am confirmed in this explanation, by the following passage in Fletcher's Lover's Progress, where Alcidon says to Clarangé, on delivering Lidian's challenge, which Clarangé accepts

66

you are a noble gentleman,

"Will 't please you bring a friend; we are two of us, "And pity, either of us should be unfurnish'd." M. Mason. Dr. Johnson's emendation would altogether subvert the poet's meaning. If the artist, in painting one of Portia's eyes, should

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.

A gentle scroll;-Fair lady, by your leave; [Kissing her.
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

lose both his own, that eye which he had painted, must necessarily be left unfurnished, or destitute of its fellow. Henley.

And leave itself unfurnish'd:] i. e. and leave itself incomplete; unaccompanied with the other usual component parts of a portrait, viz. another eye, &c. The various features of the face our author seems to have considered as the furniture of a picture. So, in As you Like it: "—he was furnish'd like a huntsman;" i. e. had all the appendages belonging to a huntsman. Malone.

The hint for this passage appears to have been taken from Greene's History of Faire Bellora; afterwards published under the title of A Paire of Turtle Doves, or the Tragicall History of Bellora and Fidelio, bl. 1: "If Apelles had beene tasked to have drawne her counterfeit, her two bright-burning lampes would have so dazled his quicke-seeing sences, that quite dispairing to expresse with his cunning pensill so admirable a worke of nature, he had been inforced to have staid his hand, and left this earthly Venus unfinished."

A preceding passage in Bassanio's speech might have been suggested by the same novel.

A golden mesh to entrap the hearts of men: "What are our curled and crisped lockes, but snares and nets to catch and entangle the hearts of gazers," &c. Steevens.

Doth limp behind the substance.] So, in The Tempest:

64

she will outstrip all praise, "And make it halt behind her."

Steevens.

Whether those peals of praise be his or no;
So, thrice fair lady, stand I, even so;
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 in 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

7 - peals of praise—] The second quarto reads-pearles of praise. Johnson.

This reading may be the true one. So, in Whetstone's Arbour of Virtue, 1576:

"The pearles of praise that deck a noble name." Again, in R. C.'s verses in praise of the same author's Rock of Regard:

"But that that bears the pearle of praise away." Steevens.

8 Is sum of something;] We should read-some of something, i. e. only a piece, or part only of an imperfect account; which she explains in the following line. Warburton.

Thus one of the quartos. The folio reads:

Is sum of nothing.

The purport of the reading in the text seems to be this:

66 the full sum of me -.

Is sum of something, i. e. is not entirely ideal, but amounts to as much as can be found in—an unlesson'd girl, &c. Steevens. I should prefer the reading of the folio, as it is Portia's intention, in this speech, to undervalue herself. M. Mason.

9 But she may learn;] The latter word is here used as a dissyllable. Malone.

Till the reader has reconciled his ear to this dissyllabical pronunciation of the word learn, I beg his acceptance of-and, a harmless monosyllable which I have ventured to introduce for the sake of obvious metre. Steevens.

Commits itself to yours to be directed,
As from her lord, her governor, her king.
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. 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,1
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:2
And, when your honours mean to solemnize
The bargain of your faith, I do beseech you,
Even at that time I may be married too.

Bass. With all my heart, so thou canst get a wife.
Gra. I thank 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 3

1. being blent together,] i. e. blended. Steevens.

2

-you can wish none from me:] That is, none away from

me; none that I shall lose, if you gain it. Johnson.

3

- for intermission—] Intermission is pause, intervening time, delay. So, in Macbeth:

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.
Bass. And do you, Gratiano, mean good faith?
Gra. Yes, 'faith, my lord.

Bass. Our feast shall be much honour'd in your mar

riage.

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

Ner. What, and stake down?

Gra. No; we shall ne'er win at that sport, and stake

down..

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

Enter LORENZO, JESSICA, and SALERIO.
Bass. Lorenzo, and Salerio, welcome hither;
If that the youth of my new interest here
Have power to bid you welcome:-By your leave,
I bid my very friends and countrymen,

Sweet Portia, welcome.

Por.

They are entirely welcome.

So do I, my lord;

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.

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

Bass.

I did, my lord,

Signior Antonio

[Gives BASS. a letter.

Ere I ope his letter,

I pray you, tell me how my good friend doth.