To be asham'd to be my father's child! SCENE IV. The same. A Street. [Exit. Enter GRATIANO, LORENZO, SALARINO, and Salanio. Lor. Nay, we will slink away in supper-time; Disguise us at my lodging, and return All in an hour. Gra. We have not made good preparation. Salar. We have not spoke us yet of torch-bearers. Salan. 'Tis vile, unless it may be quaintly order'd; And better, in my mind, not undertook. Lor. 'Tis now but four o'clock; we have two hours To furnish us; Enter LAUNCELOT, with a letter. Friend Launcelot, what's the news? Laun. An it shall please you to break up this, it shall seem to signify. Lor. I know the hand: in faith, 'tis a fair hand; And whiter than the paper it writ on, Is the fair hand that writ. Gra. Laun. By your leave, sir. Love-news, in faith. Lor. Whither goest thou? Laun. Marry, sir, to bid my old master the Jew to sup to-night with my new master the Christian. Lor. Hold here, take this: tell gentle Jessica, speak it privately; go. [Exit LAUNCELOT. Will you prepare you for this masque to-night? Salar. Ay, marry, I'll be gone about it straight. Lor. Meet me, and Gratiano, At Gratiano's lodging some hour hence. [Exeunt SALAR. and SALAN Gra. Was not that letter from fair Jessica ? Lor. I must needs tell thee all: She hath directed, How I shall take her from her father's house; What gold, and jewels, she is furnish'd with; What page's suit she hath in readiness. If e'er the Jew her father come to heaven, It will be for his gentle daughter's sake: And never dare misfortune cross her foot, Unless she do it under this excuse, That she is issue to a faithless Jew. Come, go with me; peruse this, as thou goest: [Exeunt. The same. SCENE V. Before Shylock's House. Enter SHYLOCK and LAUNCELOT. Shy. Well, thou shalt see, thy eyes shall be thy judge, The difference of old Shylock and Bassanio:- And sleep and snore, and rend apparel out; - Laun. Why, Jessica! Shy. Who bids thee call? I do not bid thee call. Laun. Your worship was wont to tell me, I could do nothing without bidding. Enter JESSICA. Jes. Call you? What is your will? Shy. I am bid forth to supper, Jessica; The prodigal Christian 4.- Jessica, my girl, Laun. I beseech you, sir, go; my young master doth expect your reproach. Shy. So do I his. Laun. And they have conspired together,—I will not say, you shall see a masque; but if you do, then it was not for nothing that my nose fell a bleeding on Black-Monday last', at six o'clock i̇'the morning, falling out that year on Ash-Wednesday was four year in the afternoon. Shy. What, are there masques? Hear you me, Lock up my doors; and when you hear the drum, 4 to feed upon The prodigal Christian.] Shylock forgets his resolution. In a former scene he declares he will neither eat, drink, nor pray with Christians. Of this circumstance the poet was aware, and meant only to heighten the malignity of the character, by making him depart from his most settled resolve, for the prosecution of his revenge. STEEVENS. 5 then it was not for nothing that my nose fell a bleeding on Black-Monday last,]" Black-Monday is Easter-Monday, and was so called on this occasion: in the 34th of Edward III. (1360.) the 14th of April, and the morrow after Easter-day, King Edward, with his host, lay before the city of Paris: which day was full of dark mist and hail, and so bitter cold, that many men died on their horses' backs with the cold. Wherefore, unto this day it hath been called the Blacke-Monday." Stowe, p. 264-6. GREY. Clamber not you up to the casements then, Laun. I will go before, sir.— Mistress, look out at window, for all this; There will come a Christian by, Will be worth a Jewess' eye. [Exit. Shy. What says that fool of Hagar's offspring, ha? else. Shy. The patch 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; His borrowed purse.- Well, Jessica, go in; Do, as I bid you, Shut doors after you: Fast bind, fast find; A proverb never stale in thrifty mind. [Exit, Jes. Farewell; and if my fortune be not crost, I have a father, you a daughter, lost. [Exit. SCENE VI. The same. Enter GRATIANO and SALARINO, masqued. Gra. This is the pent-house, under which Lorenzo Desir'd us to make stand. 6 The patch-] A term for a fool Salar. His hour is almost past. Gra. And it is marvel he out-dwells his hour, Salar. O, ten times faster Venus' pigeons fly Gra. That ever holds: who riseth from a feast, The scarfed bark' puts from her native bay, Enter LORENZO. Salar. Here comes Lorenzo ; more of this hereafter. Lor. Sweet friends, your patience for my long abode; Not I, but my affairs, have made you wait; When you shall please to play the thieves for wives, my father Jew : Ho! who's within? Enter JESSICA above, in boy's clothes. Jes. Who are you? Tell me for more certainty, Albeit I'll swear that I do know your tongue. Lor. Lorenzo, and thy love. Jes. Lorenzo, certain ; and my love, indeed : For who love I so much? and now who knows, But you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours? 7- scarfed bark--] i, e. the vessel decorated with flags. |