Bassanio presently will go aboard; I have sent twenty out to seek for you. GRA. I am glad on't; I desire no more delight, Than to be under sail, and gone to-night. [Exeunt. SCENE VII. Belmont. A Room in PORTIA'S House. Flourish of Cornets. Enter PORTIA, with the Prince of Morocco, and both their Trains. POR. Go, draw aside the curtains, and discover The several caskets to this noble prince : Now make your choice. MOR. The first, of gold, who 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 ? 8 POR. The one of them contains my picture, prince ; If you choose that, then I am yours withal. MOR. Some god direct my judgment! Let me see, I will survey the inscriptions back again : What says this leaden casket? Who chooseth me, must give and hazard all he hath. *First folio omits many. 8 as blunt ;] That is, as gross as the dull metal. JOHNSON. A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross; Who chooseth me, shall get as much as he deserves. If thou be'st rated by thy estimation, As much as I deserve!-Why, that's the lady: One of these three contains her heavenly picture. tion, Twere damna To think so base a thought; it were too gross 9 To rib her cerecloth in the obscure grave. 9 TO RIB-] i. e. inclose, as the ribs inclose the viscera. So, ribb'd and paled in "With rocks unscaleable, and roaring waters." STEEVENS. Or shall I think, in silver she's immur'd, Being ten times undervalued to try'd gold'? Was set in worse than gold. They have in England A coin, that bears the figure of an angel * Stamped in gold; but that's insculp'd upon 2; Lies all within.-Deliver me the key; Here do I choose, and thrive I as I may ! POR. There, take it, prince, and if my form lie there, Then I am yours. MOR. [He unlocks the golden casket. O hell! what have we here? A carrion death, within whose empty eye All that glisters is not gold, * First folio and quartos, stamp't. UNDERVALUED to try'd gold?] If compared with try'd gold, so in p. 17: 2 "Her name is Portia, nothing undervalued "To Cato's daughter." Boswell. INSCULP'D upon;] To insculp is to engrave. So, in a comedy called A New Wonder, a Woman Never Vex'd, 1632: in golden text "Shall be insculp'd-" STEEVENS. The meaning is, that the figure of the angel is raised or embossed on the coin, not engraved on it. TUTET. 3 Gilded TOMBS do worms infold.] In all the old editions this line is written thus: "Gilded timber do worms infold." From which Mr. Rowe and all the following editors have made: "Gilded wood may worms infold." A line not bad in itself, but not so applicable to the occasion as that which, I believe, Shakspeare wrote: "Gilded tombs do worms infold." Had you been as wise as bold, Cold, indeed; and labour lost: Then, farewell, heat; and, welcome, frost.Portia, adieu! I have too griev'd a heart To take a tedious leave: thus losers part. [Exit. POR. A gentle riddance:--Draw the curtains, go;— Let all of his complexion choose me so. [Ereunt. A tomb is the proper repository of a death's-head. JOHNSON. The thought might have been suggested by Sidney's Arcadia, book i.: "But gold can guild a rotten piece of wood." STEEVENS. Dr. Johnson's emendation is supported by Shakspeare's 101st Sonnet : "To make thee much out-live a gilded tomb." MALONE. 4 YOUR answer had not been INSCROL'D:] Since there is an answer inscrol'd or written in every casket, I believe for your we should read-this. When the words were written y' and y3, the mistake was easy. JOHNSON. Your answer is the answer you have got; namely, "Fare you well," &c. BOSWELL. 5 - choose me so.] The old quarto editions of 1600 have no distribution of Acts, but proceed from the beginning to the end in an unbroken tenour. This play, therefore, having been probably divided without authority by the publishers of the first folio, lies open to a new regulation, if any more commodious division can be proposed. The story is itself so wildly incredible, and the changes of the scene so frequent and capricious, that the probability of action does not deserve much care; yet it may be proper to observe, that, by concluding the Second Act here, time is given for Bassanio's passage to Belmont. JOHNSON. SCENE VIII. Venice. A Street. Enter SALARINO and SALANIO. SALAR. Why man, I saw Bassanio under sail; With him is Gratiano gone along ; And in their ship, I am sure, Lorenzo is not. SALAN. The villain Jew with outcries rais'd the duke; Who went with him to search Bassanio's ship. SALAR. He came too late, the ship was under sail : But there the duke was given to understand, Lorenzo and his amorous Jessica : Besides, Antonio certify'd the duke, My daughter!-O my ducats!-O my daughter! Of double ducats, stol'n from me by my daughter! stones, Stol'n by my daughter!-Justice! find the girl! She hath the stones upon her, and the ducats! SALAR. Why, all the boys in Venice follow him, Crying, his stones, his daughter, and his ducats. SALAN. Let good Antonio look he keep his day, Or he shall pay for this. SALAR. Marry, well remember'd : |