I am provided of a torch-bearer.

[Exit Laun:

Sol. Ay, marry, I'll be gone about it straight.

Sala. And fo will I.

Lor. Meet me, and Gratiano,

At Gratiano's lodging fome hour hence.

Sol. 'Tis good we do fo." [Exeunt Sala. and Solan.
Gra. Was not that letter from fair Jeffica?

Lor. I must needs tell thee all: fhe hath directed,
How I must take her from her father's house;
What gold, and jewels, she is furnish'd with;
What page's fuit fhe hath in readiness.
If e'er the Jew her father come to heaven,
It will be for his gentle daughter's fake:
And never dare misfortune cross her foot,
Unless she do it under this excufe,-
That she is iffue to a faithlefs Jew.

Come, go with me; peruse this, as thou goest:

Fair Jeffica fhall be

my torch-bearer.

[Exeunt.

SCENE V.

Shylock's Houfe.

Enter Shylock, and Launcelot.

Shy. Well, thou shalt fee, thy eyes fhall be thy judge, The difference of old Shylock and Bassanio :What, Jeffica!-thou shalt not 'gormandize, As thou haft done with me;-What, Jeffica!And fleep and fnore, and rend apparel out; Why, Jeffica, I fay!

Laun. Why, Jeffica!

Sby. Who bids thee call? I do not bid thee call.

t

* gormandize,]-feed fo plentifully.

Laun.

Laun. Your worfhip was wont to tell me, that I could do nothing without bidding.

Enter Felica.

Jef. Call you? What is your will?
Shy. I am bid forth to fupper, Jeffica;

There are my keys :-But wherefore should I go?
I am not bid for love; they flatter me:

But

yet I'll go

in hate, to feed upon
The prodigal Christian.-Jeffica, my girl,
Look to my house:-I am right loth to go;
There is fome ill a brewing towards my reft,
For I did dream of money-bags to-night.

Laun. I befeech you, fir, go; my young master doth expect your reproach.

Shy. So do I his.

W

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 nofe fell a bleeding on black-monday laft, at fix o'clock i' the morning, falling out that year on afh-wednesday was four year in the afternoon.

Shy. What are there mafques? Hear you me, Jeffica: Lock up my doors; and when you hear the drum, And the vile fqueaking of the wry-neck'd fife, Clamber not you up to the casements then, Nor thrust your head into the publick street, To gaze on Christian fools with * varnish'd faces : But ftop my houfe's ears, I mean, my cafements; Let not the found of fhallow foppery enter

My fober house.-By Jacob's ftaff, I swear,

น

W

my nofe fell a bleeding]-bleeding at the nose was accounted ominous. black-monday]-fo called because remarkably dark and cold: EafterMonday April 14th 1360, when many of the hoft of K. Edward III, then lying before Paris, perifhed on their horfes' backs, through the inclemency of the weather. warnifh'd]-masked.

I have no mind of feafting forth to night:
But I will go.-Go you before me, firrah;
Say, I will come.

Laun. I will go before, fir.

Mistress, look out at window, for all this;

There will come a Chriftian by,

Will be worth a Jewels' eye.

[Exit Laun.

Shy. What fays that fool of Hagar's offspring, ha?
Jef. His words were, Farewel, miftrefs; nothing else.
Shy. The patch is kind enough; but a huge feeder,

Snail-flow in profit, and he fleeps by day

More than the wild cat; drones hive not with me:
Therefore I part with him: and part with him
To one that I would have him help to wafte
His borrow'd purfe.-Well, Jeffica, go in;
Perhaps, I will return immediately;

Do, as I bid

you,

Shut the doors after you: Fast bind, fast find;
A proverb never ftale in thrifty mind.

[Exit.

Jef. Farewel; and if my fortune be not croft,

I have a father, you a daughter, lost.

[Exit.

SCENE VI.

The Street.

Enter Gratiano, and Solanio, in masquerade.

Gra. This is the pent-house, under which Lorenzo Defir'd us to make stand.

Sol. His hour is past.

Gra. And it is marvel he out-dwells his hour,

For lovers ever run before the clock.

Sol. O, ten times fafter 2 Venus' pigeons fly

y patch]-varlet.

VOL. II.

2 Venus' pigeons]-love's votaries.

I

Το

"

To feal love's bonds new made, than they are wont,
To keep obliged faith unforfeited!

Gra. That ever holds: Who riseth from a feast,
With that keen appetite that he fits down?
Where is the horse, that doth untread again
His tedious measures with the unbated fire
That he did pace them firft? all things that are,
Are with more spirit chafed than enjoy'd.
How like a younker, or a prodigal,

a

The skarfed bark puts from her native bay,
Hugg'd and embraced by the ftrumpet wind!
How like a prodigal doth fhe return;

b

With over-weather'd ribs, and ragged fails,

Lean, rent, and beggar'd by the ftrumpet wind!

Enter Lorenzo.

Sol. 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,
I'll watch as long for you then.-Approach;
Here dwells my father Jew:-Ho! who's within?

Felica above in boy's cloaths.

Jef. Who are you? tell me, for more certainty,
Albeit I'll fwear that I do know your tongue.
Lor. Lorenzo, and thy love.

Jef. Lorenzo, certain; and my love, indeed;
For who love I fo much? and now who knows,

But you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours?

Lor. Heaven, and thy thoughts, are witness that thou art. Jef. Here, catch this cafket; it is worth the pains..

fkarfed bark]-in gallant or full trim, in all her bravery.

over-weather'd ribs,]-damaged fides-over-wither'd.

I am glad 'tis night, you do not look on me,
For I am much afham'd of my exchange :
But love is blind, and lovers cannot fee
The pretty follies that themfelves commit;
For if they could, Cupid himfelf would blush
To fee me thus transformed to a

boy.
Lor. Defcend, for you must be my torch-bearer.
Jef. What, muft I hold a candle to my fhames?
They in themselves, good footh, are too too light.
Why, 'tis an office of difcovery, love;
And I fhould be obfcur'd.

Lor. So are you, sweet,

Even in the lovely garnish of a boy.

But come at once:

For the clofe night doth play the run-away,
And we are ftaid for at Baffanio's feast.

Jef. I will make faft the doors, and gild myself With fome more ducats, and be with you ftraight. [Exit, from above.

Gra. Now, by my hood, a Gentile, and no Jew.
Lor. Befhrew me, but I love her heartily:

For fhe is wife if I can judge of her;
And fair fhe is, if that mine eyes be true;
And true she is, as fhe hath prov'd herself;
And therefore, like herself, wife, fair, and true,
Shall fhe be placed in my conftant foul.

Enter feffica, below.

What, art thou come?-On, gentlemen, away; Our mafquing mates by this time for us stay.

[Exit, with Jelica &c.

by my bood,]-habit, a monkish oath.
Gentile,]-(a pun)-heathen, and well born-gentle.