My patience to his fury; and am arm'd
To suffer, with a quietness of spirit,
The very tyranny and rage of his.

Duke. Go one, and call the Jew into the court,

Salan. He's ready at the door: he comes my lord.

Enter Shylock.

Duke. Make room, and let him stand before our face.

Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so

too,

That thou but lead'st this fashion of thy

malice

To the last hour of act; and then, 'tis thought,

Thou'lt shew thy mercy, and remorse,2 more

strange

Than is thy strange apparent cruelty :3

Revenge against Murder, 1621:

And

he never

"looks on her his (wife) with affection, but envy." p. 109, edit. 1679. So, also (as Mr. Malone ob serves) in Lazarus Pyot's Orator, &c.

" had slaine him for verie envie." STEEvens.

2

-they

-and remorse,] i. e. pity. So, in Othello:

"And to obey shall be in me remorse."

IDEM.

That is, seeming;

And, where 4 thou now exact'st the penalty,
(Which is a pound of this poor merchant's
flesh)

Thou wilt not only lose the forfeiture,
But touch'd with human gentlenes and love,
Forgive a moiety of the principal;
Glancing an eye of pity on his losses,
That have of late so huddled on his back;
Enough to press a royal merchant down,5
And pluck commiseration of his state

From brassy bosoms, and rough hearts of flint,

From stubborn Turks, and Tartars, never train'd

To offices of tender courtesy."

We all expect a gentle answer, Jew.
Shy. I have possess'd your grace of what
I purpose;

where] For whereas. JOHNSON.

And

5 Enough to press a royal merchant down,] We are not to imagine the word royal to be only a ranting sounding epithet. It is used with great propriety, and shews the poet well acquainted with the history of the people whom he here brings upon the stage. For when the French and the Venetians, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, had won Constantinople, the French under the emperor Henry, endeavoured to extend their conquests into the provinces of the Grecian empire on the Terra Firma; while the Venetians; who were master of the sea, gave liberty

And by our holy sabbath have I sworn,
To have the due and forfeit of my bond:
If you deny it, let the danger light
Upon your charter, and your city's freedom.
You'll ask me, why I rather choose to have
A weight of carrion flesh, than to receive
Three thousand ducats: I'll not answer that :6

But,

liberty to any subjects of the republic, who would fit out vessels, to make themselves masters of the isles of the Archipelago, and other maritime places; and to enjoy their conquests in sovereignty; only doing homage to the republic for their several principalities. By virtue of this licence, the Sanudos, the Justiniani, the Grimaldi, the Summaripos, and others, all Venetian merchants, erected principalities in several places of the Archipelago, (which their descendants enjoyed for many generations) and thereby became truly and properly royal merchants; which indeed was the title generally given them all over Europe. Hence, the most eminent of our own merchants (while public spirit resided amongst them, and before it was aped by faction) were called royal merchants. WARBURTON.

This epithet was in our poet's time more striking and better understood, because Gresham was then commonly dignified with the title of the royal merchant. JOHNSON.

Even the pulpit did not disdain the use of this phrase. I have now before me "The Merchant "Royal, a Sermon, preached at Whitehall, before "the king's majestie, at the nuptialls of the right "honourable the Lord Hay and his lady, upon the "twelfe day last, being Jan. 6, 1607." STEEVENS. I'll not answer that:

6

But, say, it is my humour; is it answer'd?]

That is,

But, say, it is my humour; Is it answ What if my house be troubled with a And I be pleas'd to give ten thousand To have it baned? What, are you a yet?

Some men there are, love not a gaping

I will not give a direct answer to the ques ask, nor give you a particular account of th of my present proceeding: But suppose particular fancy to act thus; will you accep for an answer? HEATH.

The Jew being asked a question which does not require him to answer, stands upon and refuses; but afterwards gratifies his lignity by such answers as he knows will the pain of the enquirer. I will not ans he, as to a legal or serious question, but want an answer, will this serve you?

"He could not abide to see a pig's hea "I thought your grace would find h

Shakspeare might have read of such and pathy [to a pigge stufte] in Goulart's Hi which there was an earlier edition than 1607. RITSON.

By a gaping pig, Shakspeare, I believe pig prepared for the table; for in that st

Some, that are mad, if they behold a cat ; And, others, when the bag-pipe sings i' the

nose,

Cannot contain their urine for affection.8

Masters

epithet, gaping, most applicable to this animal. So, in Fletcher's Elder Brother:

"And they stand gaping like a roasted pig.” A passage in one of Nashe's pamphlets, (which, perhaps, furnished our author with his instance) may serve to confirm the observation: "The causes con

66

ducting unto wrath are as diverse as the actions of a man's life. Some will take on like a madman, "if they see a pig come to the table. Sotericus the "the surgeon was choleric at the sight of sturgeon," &c. Pierce Pennyless his supplication to the Devil. 1592. MALONE.

8 Cannot contain their urine for affection.] The reading of all the old editions is:

"And others, when the bag-pipe sings i' th' nose, "Cannot contain their urine for affection.

"Masters of passion sways it to the mood "Of what it likes or loaths." RITSON.

The true meaning undoubtedly is,The masters of passion, that is, such as are possessed of the art of engaging and managing the human passions, influence them by a skilful application to the particular likings or loathings of the person they are addressing; this is a proof that men are generally governed in their conduct by those likings and loathings; and, therefore, it is by no means strange or unnatural that I should be so too in the present instance. HEATH.

Mr. Rowe reads:

"Cannot contain their urine for affection. "Masterless passion sways it to the mood "Of what it likes, or loaths."

Masterless