What if my house be troubled with a rat, And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats Some, that are mad if they behold a cat; Of what it likes or loathes.16 Now, for your answer: Why he cannot abide a gaping pig; Why he, a harmless necessary cat ; Why he, a wauling bag-pipe,17 but of force 18 Must yield to such inevitable shame ground of reason could be alleged. Thus, if a man had an individual crotchet which he meant should override the laws and conditions of our social being, it was his humour. Corporal Nym is a burlesque on this sort of affectation. 18 Baned is poisoned; killed with what is called ratsbane. 14 A pig's head as roasted for the table. In England, a boar's head is served up at Christmas, with a lemon in its mouth. So in Webster's Duchess of Malfi, iii. 2: "He could not abide to see a pig's head gaping: I thought your Grace would find him a Jew." And in Fletcher's Elder Brother, ii. 2: "And they stand gaping like a roasted pig." 15 Here, again, for is equivalent to because of. See page 153, note 30.Affection, in this place, means much the same as impulse; more properly, the state of being affected or moved by any external object or impression. 16 An axiomatic saying, brought in here with signal aptness. Even the greatest masters of passion move and rule it according as it is predisposed: so, for instance, in the dramatic delineation of passion; and the secret of Shakespeare's unequalled power lies partly in that fact: hence, in his work, the passions are rooted in the persons, instead of being merely pasted on. 17 "Wauling bag-pipe " evidently means the same as "when the bag-pipe sings i' the nose." The effect in question is produced by the sound of the bag-pipe, and not by the sight, as in the instances of the gaping pig and of the cat. 18 Of force is the same as perforce; of necessity, or necessarily. As to offend, himself being offended; So can I give no reason, nor I will not, More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing I bear Antonio, that I follow thus A losing suit against him. Are you answer'd? Bass. This is no answer, thou unfeeling man, Shy. I am not bound to please thee with my answer. Shy. What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice? You may as well go stand upon the beach, And bid the main 20 flood 'bate his usual height; You may as well use question with the wolf, As seek to soften that than which what's harder?— 19 Question, here, like reason before, has the sense of talk or converse. The usage was common, and Shakespeare has it repeatedly. 20 Great, strong, mighty are among the old senses of main. 21" Let the sentence proceed against me with such promptness and directness as befits the administration of justice." The Poet often uses brief for quick or speedy. Shy. If every ducat in six thousand ducats Were in six parts, and every part a ducat, I would not draw them: I would have my bond. Duke. How shalt thou hope for mercy, rendering none? Because you bought them. Shall I say to you, There is no force in the decrees of Venice. I stand for judgment: answer; shall I have it? Whom I have sent for to determine this, Come here to-day. Solan. My lord, here stays without A messenger with letters from the Doctor, New come from Padua. Duke. Bring us the letters; call the messenger. Bass. Good cheer, Antonio! What, man, courage yet! The Jew shall have my flesh, blood, bones, and all, Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood. Anto. I am a tainted wether of the flock, Meetest for death: the weakest kind of fruit Drops earliest to the ground, and so let me : Enter NERISSA, dressed like a Lawyer's Clerk. Duke. Came you from Padua, from Bellario? Neris. From both, my lord: Bellario greets your Grace. [Presents a letter. Bass. Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly? Shy. To cut the forfeit from that bankrupt there. 22 This is well illustrated by a passage in 2 Henry the Fourth, iv. 4: "Thou hidest a thousand daggers in thy thoughts, which thou hast whetted on thy stony heart." 23 "Let justice be impeached or arraigned for suffering thee to live." 24 The ancient philosopher of Samos, who is said to have taught the transmigration of souls. In As You Like It, iii. 2, Rosalind says, "I was never so berhymed since Pythagoras' time, that I was an Irish rat, which I can hardly remember." And in Twelfth Night, iv. 2, the Clown says to Malvolio, "Thou shalt hold the opinion of Pythagoras ere I will allow of thy wits; and fear to kill a woodcock, lest thou dispossess the soul of thy grandam." And, whilst thou lay'st with thy unhallow'd dam, A Duke. This letter from Bellario doth commend and learned Doctor to our court. young Where is he? Neris. He attendeth here hard by, To know your answer, whether you'll admit him. Duke. With all my heart. Some three or four of you Go give him courteous conduct to this place.— Meantime the court shall hear Bellario's letter. [Clerk reads.] Your Grace shall understand, that at the receipt of your letter I am very sick; but, in the instant that your messenger came, in loving visitation was with me a young doctor of Rome; his name is Balthazar. I acquainted him with the cause in controversy between the Jew and Antonio the merchant: we turn'd o'er many books together: he is furnished with my opinion; which, better'd with his own learning, the greatness whereof I cannot enough commend, comes with him, at my importunity, to fill up your Grace's request in my stead. I beseech you, let his lack of years be no impediment to let him lack a reverend estimation;26 for I never knew so young a body with so old a head. I leave him to your gracious acceptance, whose trial shall better publish his commendation. 25 That is, in speaking. The infinitive used gerundively again. 26 The meaning apparently is, "Let his youthfulness be no hindrance to his being reverently esteemed." |