The French and English, there miscarried Salan. You were best to tell Antonio what you hear; Yet do not suddenly, for it may grieve him. Salar. A kinder gentleman treads not the earth. I saw Bassanio and Antonio part: Bassanio told him, he would make some speed And quicken his embraced heaviness With some delight or other. Salar. SCENE IX. Do we so. [Exeunt. Belmont. A Room in Portia's House. Enter NERISSA, with a Servant. Ner. Quick, quick, I pray thee, draw the curtain straight; The prince of Arragon hath ta'en his oath, And comes to his election presently. 2 To slubber is to do a thing carelessly. 3 Shows, tokens. Flourish of Cornets. Enter the Prince of Arragon, PORTIA, and their Trains. Por. Behold, there stand the caskets, noble prince: you choose that wherein I am contain❜d, Straight shall our nuptial rites be solemniz'd; If But if you fail, without more speech, my lord, Ar. I am enjoin'd by oath to observe three things: First, never to unfold to any one Which casket 'twas I chose; next, if I fail To woo a maid in way of marriage; lastly, Por. To these injunctions every one doth swear, That comes to hazard for my worthless self. Ar. And so have I address'd1 me: Fortune now To my heart's hope!-Gold, silver, and base lead.. Who chooseth me, must give and hazard all he hath. You shall look fairer, ere I give, or hazard. What says the golden chest? ha! let me see:— Who chooseth me, shall gain what many men desire. What many men desire.—That many may be meant By the fool multitude, that choose by show, 2 Not learning more than the fond eye doth teach; I will not choose what many men desire, 1 Prepared. 4 2 By and of being synonymous, were used by our ancestors indifferently; Malone has adduced numerous instances of the use of by, in all of which, by substituting of, the sense is rendered clear to the modern reader. 3 Power. 4 To jump is to agree with. And rank me with the barbarous multitudes. O, that estates, degrees, and offices, Were not deriv'd corruptly! and that clear honour Por. Too long a pause for that which you find there. How much unlike my hopes, and my deservings? Who chooseth me, shall have as much as he deserves. Did I deserve no more than a fool's head? Is that my prize? are my deserts no better? Por. To offend, and judge, are distinct offices, And of opposed natures. Ar. What is here? The fire seven times tried this; 5 The meaning is, how much meanness would be found among the great, and how much greatness among the mean. That did never choose amiss: Some there be, that shadows kiss; There be fools alive, I wiso, [Exeunt Arragon, and Train. Enter a Servant. Serv. Where is my lady? Por. 6 Know. Here; what would my lord? 7 The poet had forgotten that he who missed Portia was never to marry any other woman. 8 Wroath is used in some of the old writers for misfortune, and is often spelt like ruth, Caxton's Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye, 1471, has frequent instances of wroth. Thus also in Chapman's Version of the 22nd Iliad born all to wroth Of woe and labour.' Hoccleeve also uses it: 'But poore shamefast man ofte is wrooth.' And Barclay in his Ship of Fools: 'Be the poore, wroth, or be well apayde.' Serv. Madam, there is alighted at your gate A day in April never came so sweet, Por. No more, I pray thee; I am half afeard, [Exeunt. ACT III. SCENE I. Venice. A Street. Enter SALANIO and SALARINO. Salan. Now, what news on the Rialto? Salar. Why, yet it lives there uncheck'd, that Antonio hath a ship of rich lading wreck'd on the narrow seas; the Goodwins, I think they call the place; a very dangerous flat, and fatal, where the carcasses of many a tall ship lie buried, as they say, if my gossip report be an honest woman of her word. Salan. I would she were as lying a gossip in that, 9 Salutations. 10 So in The Merry Wives of Windsor: -He speaks holiday.' |