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I am fent, with broom, before,

To fweep the duft behind the door.

Enter King and Queen of Fairies, with their Train.

06. Through this house give glimmering light, By the dead and drowsy fire:

Every elf, and fairy sprite,

Hop as light as bird from brier;

And this ditty, after me,
Sing and dance it trippingly.

Tit. First, rehearse this fong by rote:
To each word a warbling note,
Hand in hand, with fairy grace,
Will we fing, and bless this place.
SONG and DANCE.

Ob. Now, until the break of day,
Through this house each fairy stray.
To the best bride-bed will we,
Which by us shall blessed be;
And the issue, there create,
Ever shall be fortunate.
So shall all the couples three
Ever true in loving be:
And the blots of nature's hand
Shall not in their iffue stand;
Never mole, hare-lip, nor fcar,
Nor mark prodigious, fuch as are

Despised in nativity,
Shall upon their children be.
With this field-dew confecrate,
Every fairy take his gate 2;
And each feveral chamber bless,
Through this palace, with sweet peace:
Ever shall it fafely reft,

And the owner of it bleft.

Trip away;
Make no stay;

Meet me all by break of day.

[Exeunt King, Queen, and Tra

Puck. If we shadows bave offended,
Think but this, (and all is mended)
That you have but flumber'd bere,
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,
Gentles, do not reprehend;
If you pardon, we will mend.
And, as I'm an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck
Now to 'Scape the ferpent's tongue,
We will make amends, ere long:

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Zi. c. portentous. 2 i. e, take his way.

MERCHANT

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Senators of Venice, Officers, Failer, Servants, and other Attendants.
SCENE, partly at Venice, and partly at Belmont, the Seat of Portia.

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Sai. Your mind is toffing on the ocean:

Would fcatter all her fpices on the stream;

There, where your argofies with portly fail, - Enrobe the roaring waters with my filks;

Like figniors and rich burghers on the flood,

And, in a word, but even now worth this,

Or as it were the pageants of the fea,

Do over-peer the petty traffickers,

Tast curtfy to them, do them reverence,

And now worth nothing? Shall I have the thought
To think on this; and shall I lack the thought,
That fucla a thing, bechanc'd, would make me fad?

As they fly by them with their woven wings.

Sala. Believe me, fir, had I fuch ventures forth,

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The better part of my affections would

Anth. Believe me, no: I thank my fortune for

Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still
Plocking the grafs, to know where fits the wind;
Prang in maps, for ports, and piers, and roads:
And every object that might make me fear

My ventures are not in one bottom trufted,
Nor to one place; nor is my whole eftate
Upon the fortune of this present year:

Therefore my merchandize makes me not fad.

Misfortune to my ventures, out of doubt,

Sala. Why then you are in love?

Would make me fad.

Anth. Fie, fie!

1 Ships, fo named from Ragufa. 2 The name of the ship. 3 To vail, means to put off the hat, to

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the fail, to give fign of fubmiffion.

03

Sola.

Sala. Not in love neither? Then let's say, you That therefore only are reputed wife,

are fad,

Recause you are not merry: and 'twere as easy
For you, to laugh, and leap, and fay, you are merry,
Becaufe you are not fad. Now, by two-headed Janus,
Nature hath fram'd strange fellows in her time:
Some that will evermore peep through their eyes,
And laugh, like parrots, at a bag-piper;
And other of fuch vinegar afpect,
That they'll not shew their teeth in way of smile,
Though Neftor swear the jest be laughable.

Enter Baffanio, Lorenzo, and Gratians.
Sal. Here comes Bafianio, your most noble
Gratiano, and Lorenzo: fare you well; [kinsman,
We leave you now with better company.

Sala. I would have staid till I had made you merry, If worthier friends had not prevented me. Anth. Your worth is very dear in my regard. I take it, your own business calls on you, And you embrace the occafion to depart. Sal. Good morrow, my good lords. Baff. Good figniors both, when shall we laugh? fay, when?

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You grow exceeding strange; Muft it be so? Sal. We'll make our leifures to attend on yours. [Exeunt Sal. and Sala.

Lor. My lord Baffanio, fince you have found
Anthonio,

We two will leave you; but at dinner-time,
I pray you, have in mind where we must meet.
Baf. I will not fail you.
Gra. You look not well, fignior Anthonio;
You have too much respect upon the world:
They lofe it, that do bay it with much care.
Believe me, you are marvelloufly chang'd.

Anth. I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano;
A ftage, where every man must play a part,
And mine a fad one.

Gra. Let me play the fool:
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come;
And let my liver rather heat with wine,
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans.
Why should a man, whose blood is warm within,
Sit like his grandfire cut in alabaiter?

Sleep when he wakes? and creep into the jaundice
By being peevith? I tell thee what, Anthonio,
I love thee, and it is my love that fpeaks;-
There are a fort of men whose vifages
Do cream and mantle, like a standing pond;
And do a wilful ftillness entertain,
With purpose to be drest in an opinion
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit;
As who fhould fay, "I am Sir Oracle,
"And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!"
d my Anthonio, I do know of these,

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gear.

Anth. Is that any thing now?

Baff. Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice. His reafons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff; you shall feek all day ere you find them; and, when you have them, they are not worth the fearch.

Anth. Well; tell me now, what lady is the fame,
To whom you fwore a fecret pilgrimage,
That you to-day promis'd to tell me of ?

Baff. 'Tis not unknown to you, Anthonio,
How much I have difabled mine eftate,
By fomething shewing a more fwelling port
Than my faint means would grant continuance:
Nor do I now make moan to be abridg'd
From fuch a noble rate; but my chief care
Is, to come fairly off from the great debts,
Wherein my time, fomething too prodigal,
Hath left me gag'd: To you, Anthonio,
I owe the most, in money, and in love;
And from your love I have a warranty
To unburthen all my plots, and purposes,
How to get clear of all the debts I owe.

Anth. I pray you, good Baffanio, let me know it;
And, if it stand, as you yourself still do,
Within the eye of honour, be affur'd,
My purie, my perfon, my extremest means,
Lye all unlock'd to your occafions.

[shaft,

Baff. In my school-days, when I had loft one I shot his fellow of the felf-fame flight The felf-fame way, with more advited watch, To find the other forth; and by advent'ring both, I oft found both: I urge this childhood proof, Because what follows is pure innocence.

I owe you much; and, like a wilful youth,

I This alludes to the common comparison of human life to a stage-play. So that he defires his may be the fool's or butloon's part, which was a conftant character in the old farces; from whence came the phiale, to play the foot. 2 Our author's meaning is, that some people are thought wife whiift they keep filence; who, when they open their mouths, are such stupid praters, that the hearers not help calling them fools, and tu incur the judgment denounced in the gofpel. 3 The humour of this confins in its being an allusion to the practice of the puritan preachers of those times; who being generally very long and tedious, were often forced to put off that part of their fermon called the exhortation, till after dinner.

can

That

That which I owe is loft: but if you please
To thoot another arrow that felf way
Which you did shoot the firft, I do not doubt,
As I will watch the aim, or to find both,
Or bring your latter hazard back again,
And thankfully reft debtor for the fuft.
Auth. You know me well; and herein spend but
To wind about my love with circumftance;
And, out of doubt, you do me now more wrong,
In making question of my uttermoft,
Than if you had made wafte of all I have:

[time,

blood; but a hot temper leaps o'er a cold decree fuch a hare is madness the youth, to skip o'er the methes of good counsel the cripple. But this reafoning is not in the fashion to chuse me a husband: -O me, the word chufe! I may neither chuse whom I would, nor refuse whom I diflike; fo is the will of a living daughter curb'd by the will of dead father:-Is it not hard, Neriffa, that I can not chuse one, nor refuse none?

Then do but fay to me what I should do,

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And the is fair, and, fairer than that word,

Ner. Your father was ever virtuous; and holy men, at their death, have good infpirations; there. fore, the lottery, that he hath devised in these three chetts, of gold, filver, and lead, (whereof who chuses his meaning, chufes you) will, no doubt, never be chofen by any rightly, but one who you shall rightly love. But what warmth is there in your affection

Of wond'rous virtues: fometimes 2 from her eyes towards any of these princely fuitors that are al

I did receive fair fpeechless meilages:

ready come?

Her name is Portia; nothing undervalu'd

To Cato's daughter, Brutus' Portia.

Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth;

Por. I pray thee, over-name them; and, as thou nam'ft them, I will defcribe them; and, according to my defcription, level at my affection.

For the four winds blow in from every coaft

Ner. First, there is the Neapolitan prince.

Resowned fuitors: and her funny locks

Hang on her temples like a golden Acece;

Por. Ay, that's a colt 3, indeed, for he doth no thing but talk of his horse; and he makes it a great

Which makes her feat of Belmont, Colchos' ftrand, appropriation to his own good parts, that he can

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Nor have I money, nor commodity

Nor. Then, there is the County Palatine.

Por. He doth nothing but frown; as, who should fay, An if you will not have me, chuje: he hears

Auth. Thou know'st, that all my fortunes are at fea; merry tales, and smiles not: I fear, he will prove

To raife a prefent fum: therefore go forth,

Try what my credit can in Venice do;
That the !! be rack'd, even to the uttermoft,
To fumish thee to Belmont, to fair Portia.
Go, prefently enquire, and to will I,
Where money is; and I no question make,
To have it of my truft, or for my fake.

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[Exeunt.

A Room in Portia's House at Belmont.
Enter Portia and Neriffa.

Por. By my troth, Neriffa, my little body is a weary of this great world.

Ner. You would be, sweet madam, if your miferes were in the fame abundance as your good bines are: And yet, for aught I fee, they are as fsck, that furfeit with too much, as they that ftarve wch nothing: It is no mean happiness therefore, to be feated in the mean; fuperfluity comes fooner by white hairs, but competency lives longer. Por. Good fentences, and well pronounc'd. Nr. They would be better, if well follow'd. Por. If to do, were as eafy as to know what

the weeping philofopher when he grows old, be ing fo full of unmannerly fadness in his youth. I had rather be married to a death's-head with a bone in his mouth, than to either of these. God defend me from thefe two!

Ner. How fay you by the French lord, Monfieur Le Bon?

Por. God made him, and therefore let him pafs for a man. In truth, I know it is a fin to be a mocker; But, he! why, he hath a horfe better than the Neapolitan's; a better bad habit of frowning than the Count Palatine: he is every man in no man; if a throftle fing, he fells ftrait a capering; he will fence with his own fhadow: if I should marry him, I should marry twenty husbands: If he would despise me, I would forgive him; for if he love me to mad nefs, I shall never requite him.

Ner. What fay you then to Faulconbridge, the young baron of England?

Por. You know, I say nothing to him; for he understands not me, nor I him: he hath neither Latin, French, nor Italian, and you will come into the court and fwear, that I have a poor penny worth in the English. He is a proper man's pic ture, But, alas! who can converfe with a dumb

were good to do, chapels had been churches, and show How oddly he is fuited! I think, he poor men's cottages, princes' palaces. It is a good bought his doublet in Italy, his round hofe in evine, that follows his own instructions. I can France, his bonnet in Germany, and his behaviour cafier teach twenty what were good to be done, every-where.

than be one of the twenty to follow mine own Ner. What think you of the Scottish lord, his Raching. The brain may devise laws for the neighbour?

:

That is, ready to do it. 2 Sometimes here means formerly. 3 i. e. a thoughtless, giddy, gay youngher.

Shy. For three months,-well.

Baf. For the which, as I told you, Anthonio shall

Por. That he hath a neighbourly charity in him; for he borrow'd a box of the ear of the Englishman, and fwore he would pay him again, when he was be bound. able: I think, the Frenchman became his surety, and feal'd under for another.

Ner. How like you the young German, the duke of Saxony's nephew?

Por. Very vilely in the morning, when he is fober; and moft vilely in the afternoon, when he is drunk: when he is beft, he is a little worse than a man; and when he is worst, he is little better than a beaft: an the worst fall that ever fell, I hope, I shall make shift to go without him.

Ner. If he should offer to chuse, and chuse the right casket, you should refuse to perform your father's will, if you should refuse to accept him.

Sby. Anthonio shall become bound, well.

Baff. May you ftead me? Will you pleasure me? Shall I know your answer?

Sby. Three thousand ducats, for three months, and Anthonio bound.

Baff. Your anfwer to that.

Shy. Anthonio is a good man.

Baff. Have you heard any imputation to the contrary?

Sby. Ho, no, no, no, no; -my meaning, in faying he is a good man, is, to have you understand me, that he is sufficient: yet his means are in fupposition: he hath an argofy bound to Tripolis, anoPor. Therefore, for fear of the worst, I pray thee, ther to the Indies; I understand moreover upon fet a deep glass of Rhenish wine on the contrary the Rialto, he hath a third at Mexico, a fourth for casket; for, if the devil be within, and that tempt- England, and other ventures he hath, squander'd ation without, I know he will chuse it. I will abroad: But ships are but boards, failors but men; do any thing, Nerissa, ere I will be marry'd to a there be land-rats, and water-rats, water-thieves, spunge. and land-thieves; I mean, pirates; and then, there

Ner. You need not fear, lady, the having any of is the peril of waters, winds, and rocks: The man

thefe lords; they have acquainted me with their determinations: which is, indeed, to return to their home, and to trouble you with no more fuit; unlefs you may be won by fome other fort than your father's impofition, depending on the caskets.

Por. If I live to be as old as Sibylla, I will die as chafte as Diana, unless I be obtained by the manner of my father's will: I am glad this parcel of wooers are fo very reafonable; for there is not one among them but I dote on his very abfence, and I pray God grant them a fair departure.

Ner. Do you not remember, lady, in your father's time, a Venetian, a scholar, and a foldier, that came hither in company of the marquis of Montferrat?

Por. Yes, yes, it was Baffanio; as I think, fo he

was call'd.

Ner. True, madam; he, of all the men that ever my foolish eyes look'd upon, was the best deserving a fair ladv.

Por. I remember him well; and I remember him worthy of thy traise.-How now! what news?

Enter a Servant.

is, notwithstanding, fufficient:-three thousand ducats;-I think, I may take his bond.

[afford,

Baff. Be affur'd, you may.
Shy. I will be affur'd, I may; and, that I may be
I will bethink me: May I speak with Anthonio?
Baff. If it please you to dine with us.

Shy. Yes, to smell pork; to eat of the habitation which your prophet the Nazarite conjured the devil into: I will buy with you, fell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and fo following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you. What news on the Rialto?-Who is he comes here?

Enter Anthonio.

Baff. This is fignior Anthonio.

Sby. [Afide.] How like a fawning publican he lookst I hate him for he is a Christian:

But more, for that, in low fimplicity,

He lends out money gratis, and brings down
The rate of ufance here with us in Venice,
If I can catch him once upon the hip1,
I will feed fat the ancient grudge 1 bear him.
He hates our facred nation; and he rails,
Even there where merchants most do congregate,

Ser. The four strangers feek for you, madam, to
take their leave: and there is a fore-runner come On me, my bargains, and my well-won thrift,
from a fifth, the prince of Morocco; who brings Which he calls intereft: Cursed be my tribe,
word, the prince, his mafter, will be here to-night. If I forgive him!

Por. If I could bid the fifth welcome with fo Baff. Shylock, do you hear? good heart as I can bid the other four farewell, I Shy. I am debating of my present store; should be glad of his approach: if he have the And, by the near guess of my memory, condition of a faint, and the complexion of a devil, I cannot instantly raise up the gross I had rather he should shrive me than wive me. Of full three thousand ducats: What of that? Come, Neriffa. Sirrah, go before.Whales we Tubal, a wealthy Hebrew of my tribe, shut the gate upon one wooer, another knocks at Will furnish me But foft; How many months the door. [Exeunt. Do you defire?-Rest you fair, good fignior;

SCENE III.
A publick Placo in Venice.
Enter Baffanio and Shylock.

Shy. Three thousand ducats, well.
Baff. Aj, fir, for three months.

To Anthonio.

Your worship was the last man in our mouths.
Anth. Shylock, albeit I neither lend nor borrow,
By taking, nor by giving of excess,
Yet, to fupply the ripe wants of my friend,

1 This is a phrafe taken from the practice of wrestlers. _

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