With us in Venice: if it be deny'd,

'Twill much impeach the justice of the state;
Since that the trade and profit of the city
Confifteth of all nations. Therefore, go:
These griefs and loffes have fo'bated me,
That I fhall hardly fpare a pound of flesh
To-morrow to my bloody creditor.-
Well, gaoler, on :-Pray God, Baffanio come
To see me pay his debt, and then I care not!

[Exeunt.

Enter Portia, Neriffa, Lorenzo, Jeffica, and Balthazar.

Lor. Madam, although I fpeak it in your prefence,
You have a noble and a true conceit

Of god-like amity; which appears most strongly
In bearing thus the abfence of your lord,
But, if you knew to whom you fhew this honour,
How true a gentleman you send relief,
How dear a lover of my lord your husband,
I know, you would be prouder of the work,
Than customary bounty can enforce you.

Por. I never did repent for doing good,
Nor fhall not now: for in companions
That do converfe and waste the time together,
Whose fouls do bear an equal yoke of love,
There must needs be a like proportion
Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit;
Which makes me think, that this Anthonio,
Being the bofom lover of my lord,

• 'bated]-reduced, emaciated.
lineaments,]-frame, conftitution of body.

Muft

Muft needs be like my lord: If it be fo,
How little is the coft I have beftow'd,
In purchafing the femblance of my foul
From out the state of hellish cruelty?
This comes too near the praifing of myself;
Therefore, no more of it: hear other things.-
Lorenzo, I commit into your hands

The husbandry and manage of my house,
Until my lord's return: for mine own part,
I have toward heaven breath'd a fecret vow,
To live in prayer and contemplation,
Only attended by Neriffa here,

Until her husband and my lord's return :
There is a monaftery two miles off,

And there we will abide. I do defire you,
Not to deny this imposition;

The which my love, and fome neceffity,
Now lays upon you.

Lor. Madam, with all my heart;

I fhall obey you in all fair commands.

Por. My people do already know my mind, And will acknowledge you and Jeffica

In place of lord Baffanio and myself.

So fare you well, till we fhall meet again.

Lor. Fair thoughts, and happy hours attend on you! Jef. I wish your ladyship all heart's content.

Por. I thank you for your wish, and am well pleas'd To wish it back on you: fare you well, Jeffica.

Now Balthazar,

[Exeunt Jeffica, and Lorenzo.

As I have ever found thee honeft, true,

So let me find thee ftill: Take this fame letter,
And ufe thou all the endeavour of a man,

9 of my foul]-of him that is to me as my own foul.

In fpeed to Padua; fee thou render this

Into my cousin's hand, doctor Bellario ;

And, look, what notes and garments he doth give thee, Bring them, I pray thee, with 'imagin'd speed

Unto the tranect, to the common ferry

Which trades to Venice:-wafte no time in words,

But get thee gone; I fhall be there before thee.

Balth. Madam, I go with all convenient fpeed. [Exit. Por. Come on, Neriffa; I have work in hand, That you yet know not of: we'll fee our husbands Before they think of us.

Ner. Shall they fee us?

Por. Thy fhall, Neriffa; but in fuch a habit,
That they shall think we are accomplished
With what we lack. I'll hold thee any wager,
When we are both accouter'd like young men,
I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two,
And wear my dagger with the braver grace;
And speak, between the change of man and boy,
t With a reed voice; and turn two mincing steps
Into a manly ftride; and speak of frays,
Like a fine bragging youth and tell "quaint lies,
How honourable ladies fought my love,

Which I denying, they fell fick and dy'd;
I could not do with all ;-then I'll repent,
And wish, for all that, that I had not kill'd them :
And twenty of these puny lies I'll tell,

That men fhall fwear, I have discontinued school
Above a twelvemonth :-I have within my mind
A thousand raw tricks of thefe bragging jacks,
Which I will practise.

imagin'd]-all imaginable.

stranect]-paffage boat, traje&.

Ner.

With a reed voice ;]-In a rough, hoarse, harsh accent. " quaint]-well feign'd.

Ner. Why, fhall we turn to men?
Por. Fie! what a question's that,
If thou wert near a lewd interpreter ?
But come, I'll tell thee all my whole device
When I am in my coach, which stays for us
At the park gate; and therefore hafte away,
For we must measure twenty miles to-day.

W

[Exeunt.

Laun. Yes, truly:-for, look you, the fins of the father are to be laid upon the children; therefore, I promise you, I fear you. I was always plain with you, and fo now I fpeak my agitation of the matter: Therefore be of good cheer; for, truly, I think, you are damn'd. There is but one hope in it that can do you any good; and that is but a kind of a bastard hope neither.

Jef. And what hope is that, I pray thee?

Laun. Marry, you may partly hope that your father got you not, that you are not the Jew's daughter.

Jef. That were a kind of bastard hope, indeed; fo the fins of my mother shall be vifited upon me.

Laun. Truly then I fear you are damn'd both by father and mother: thus when I fhun Scylla, your father, I fall into Charybdis, your mother: well you are gone both ways. Jef. I fhall be faved by my husband; he hath made me a Christian.

Laun. Truly, the more to blame he: we were Chriftians enough before; e'en as many as could well live one by another: This making of chriftians will raise the price

"fear for you.

X

my agitation of the matter:]-the refult of my thoughts on this fubject.

of

of hogs; if we grow all to be pork-eaters, we fhall not shortly have a rather on the coals for money.

Enter Lorenzo.

Jef. I'll tell my husband, Launcelot, what you fay; here

he comes.

Lor. I fhall grow jealous of you fhortly, Launcelot, if you thus get my wife into corners.

Jef. Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo; Launcelot and I are out: he tells me flatly, there is no mercy for me in heaven, because I am a Jew's daughter: and he says, you are no good member of the commonwealth; for, in converting Jews to Christians, you raise the price of pork.

Lor. I fhall answer that better to the commonwealth, than you can the getting up of the negro's belly: the Moor is with child by you, Launcelot.

Laun. It is much, that the Moor fhould be more than reafon but if the be lefs than an honeft woman, fhe is, indeed, more than I took her for.

Lor. How every fool can play upon the word! I think, the best grace of wit will shortly turn into filence; and difcourfe grow commendable in none only but parrotsGo in, firrah; bid them prepare for dinner.

Laun. That is done, fir; they have all stomachs.

Lor. Good lord! what a wit-fnapper are you! then bid them prepare dinner.

Laun. That is done too, fir; only, cover is the word. Lor. Will you cover then, fir?

Laun. Not fo, fir, neither; I know my duty.

Lor. Yet more 'quarrelling with occafion! wilt thou shew the whole wealth of thy wit in an inftant? I pray

Y quarrelling with occafion !]-quibbling at every turn.

VOL. II:

L

thee,