Lock up my doors; and when you hear the drum,
And the vile squealing of the wry-neck'd fife,5
Clamber not you up to the casements then,
Nor thrust your head into the public street,

To gaze on Christian fools with varnish'd faces; 6
But stop my house's ears, I mean my casements;
Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter

My sober house. By Jacob's staff, I swear

I have no mind of feasting forth to-night; before me, sirrah ;

But I will go.- Go

you

Say, I will come.

Laun.

I'll go before you, sir.

Mistress, look out at window for all this;

There will come a Christian by,

Will be worth a Jewess' eye.8

[Exit LAUN.

Shy. What says that fool of Hagar's offspring, ha?

Jess. His words were, Farewell, mistress; nothing else. Shy. The patch 9 is kind enough; but a huge feeder, Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day

More than the wild-cat.

Drones hive not with me;

5 There has been some dispute whether wry-neck'd fife mean the instrument or the musician. Boswell cited a passage from Barnabe Rich's Aphorisms, 1618, which appears to settle the matter: "A fife is a wry-neckł musician, for he always looks away from his instrument."

6 Alluding perhaps to the painted masks; but meaning, withal, an insinuation of duplicity, or doublefacedness.

7 Hebrews, xi. 21: "By faith, Jacob, when he was a-dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff."

8 The worth of a Jew's eye was the price with which the Jews used to buy themselves off from mutilation. The expression became proverbial, and was kept up long after its original meaning was lost.

9 This use of patch sprang from the motley or patched dress worn by professional Fools. Hence a general term of contempt. So in A Midsummer-Night's Dream, iii. 2: “A crew of patches, rude mechanicals, that work for bread upon Athenian stalls."

Therefore I part with him; and part with him
To one that I would have him help to waste

His borrow'd purse. -Well, Jessica, go in :
Perhaps, I will return immediately.

Do as I bid you; shut doors after you :

Fast bind, fast find,

A proverb never stale in thrifty mind.

[Exit.

Jess. Farewell; and if my fortune be not crost,

I have a father, you a daughter lost.

[Exit.

Enter GRATIANO and SALARINO, masked.

Grati. This is the pent-house under which Lorenzo Desired us to make stand.

Salar.

His hour is almost past.

Grati. And it is marvel he out-dwells his hour, For lovers ever run before the clock.

10

Salar. O, ten times faster Venus' pigeons fly
To seal love's bonds new-made than they are wont,
To keep obligèd faith 11 unforfeited!

Grati. That ever holds. Who riseth from a feast
With that keen appetite that he sits down?
Where is the horse that doth untread again
His tedious measures with th' unbated fire

That he did pace them first? All things that are,
Are with more spirit chasèd than enjoy'd.

How like a younker 12 or a prodigal

The scarfèd bark puts from her native bay,

10 Classic fable imagined Venus and her son Cupid to ride through the air in a chariot drawn by doves. So in The Tempest, iv. 1: "I met her deity cutting the clouds towards Paphos, and her son dove-drawn with her." 11 "Obliged faith" is plighted faith, or faith made obligatory by solemn vows, as in marriage.

12 Younker meant a youngster, or a young gallant.

Hugg'd and embraced by the wanton wind!
How like a prodigal doth she return,

With over-weather'd ribs, and ragged sails,
Lean, rent, and beggar'd by the wanton wind!

Salar. Here comes Lorenzo: more of this hereafter.
Enter LORENZO.

Loren. Sweet friends, your patience for my long abode ; 13 Not I, but my affairs have made you wait :

When you shall please to play the thieves for wives,
I'll watch as long for you then. Come, approach;
Here dwells my father Jew. - Ho! who's within?

Enter JESSICA above, in Boy's clothes.

Jess. Who are you? Tell me for more certainty, Albeit I'll swear that I do know your tongue.

Loren. Lorenzo, and thy love.

Jess. Lorenzo, certain; and my love indeed; For whom love I so much? And now who knows

But you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours?

Loren. Heaven and thy thoughts are witness that thou art.

Jess. Here, catch this casket; it is worth the pains.

I'm glad 'tis night, you do not look on me,

For I am much ashamed of my exchange : 14

But love is blind, and lovers cannot see
The pretty follies that themselves commit
For, if they could, Cupid himself would blush
To see me thus transformèd to a boy.

Loren. Descend, for you must be my torch-bearer.
Jess. What, must I hold a candle to my shames?

13 "Long abode" is long tarrying, or long delay.

14 Her change of dress; referring to her masculine attire.

They in themselves, good sooth, are too-too light.15
Why, 'tis an office of discovery, love;

And I should be obscured.

Loren.

So are you, sweet,

Even in the lovely garnish of a boy.16

But come at once;

For the close 17 night doth play the runaway,
And we are stay'd for at Bassanio's feast.

Jess. I will make fast the doors, and gild myself
With some more ducats, and be with you straight.

[Exit, from above. Grati. Now, by my hood, a Gentile, 18 and no Jew. Loren. Beshrew me but 19 I love her heartily;

For she is wise, if I can judge of her;

And fair she is, if that mine eyes be true;

And true she is, as she hath proved herself;

And therefore, like herself, wise, fair, and true,
Shall she be placed in my constant soul. -

Enter JESSICA, below.

What, art thou come?— On, gentlemen; away
Our masquing mates by this time for us stay.

!

[Exit, with JESSICA and SALARING.

15 A pun implied of light in a material and a moral sense.

16 Another pun. Jessica means that she ought to be hidden; Lorenzo that her brightness is disguised.

17 Close is secret, properly; here, what conceals or keeps dark.

18 Gratiano is disguised with a mask, and in swearing by his hood he implies a likening of himself to a hooded monk swearing by his monastic character. There is also a play on the word gentile, which signifies both a heathen and one well-born.

19 Here but has the force of if not;· "Beshrew me if I do not love her." So in Othello, iii. 2: "Perdition catch my soul but I do love thee!" The exceptive but, as it is called; from be out. Beshrew me is an old adjuration, equivalent to confound me, or plague take me.

Anto. Who's there?

Enter ANTONIO.

Grati. Signior Antonio?

Anto. Fie, fie, Gratiano! where are all the rest?
'Tis nine o'clock; our friends all stay for you.
No masque to-night; the wind is come about;
Bassanio presently will go aboard :

I have sent twenty out to seek for

you.

Grati. I'm glad on't: I desire no more delight

Than to be under sail and gone to-night.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI. - Belmont. A Room in PORTIA'S House.

Flourish of Cornets.

Enter PORTIA, with the Prince of

MOROCCO, and both their Trains.

Portia. Go, draw aside the curtains, and discover

The several caskets to this noble Prince.

Now make your choice.

Moroc. The first, of gold, which this inscription bears, Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire; The second, silver, which this promise carries, Who chooseth me shall get as much as he deserves. This third, dull lead, with warning all as blunt, Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath. How shall I know if I do choose the right?

If

Portia. The one of them contains my picture, Prince : you choose that, then I am yours withal.

Moroc. Some god direct my judgment! Let me see ; I will survey th' inscriptions back again.

What says this leaden casket?

Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.

Must give, for what? for lead? hazard for lead?