ACT I.

SCENEI.-Venice. A Street. Enter ANTONIO, SAL

ARINO, and SALANIO.

IN

Antonio.
sooth, I know not why I am so sad ;
It wearies me ; you say, it wearies you ;
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn ;
And such a want-wit sadness makes of me,
That I have much ado to know myself.

Sal. Your mind is tossing on the ocean ;
There, where your argosies? with portly sail,-
Like signiors and rich burghers of the flood,
Or, as it were the pageants of the sea,-
Do overpeer the petty traffickers,
That curt’sy to them, do them reverence,
As they fly by them with their woven wings.

Sala. Believe me, sir, had I such venture forth,
The better part of my affections would
Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still
Plucking the grass, 2 to know where sits the wind ;
Peering in maps, for ports, and piers, and roads ;
And every object that might make me fear
Misfortune to my ventures, out of doubt,
Would make me sad.

Sal. My wind, cooling my broth,
Would blow me to an ague, when I thought
What harm a wind too great might do at sea.

[!] Argosies-Å name given in our author's time to ships of great burthen, probably galleons, such as the Spaniards use in their West India trade. JOH.

[2] By holding up the grass, or any light body that will bend by a gentle blast, the direction of the wind is found." This way I used in shooting. Betwixt the markes was an open place, there I take a fethere, or a lyttle light grasse, and so learned how the wind stood.” Ascham. JOHNSON

I should not see the sandy hour-glass run,
But I should think of shallows and of flats;
And see my wealthy Andrew3 dock'd in sand,
Vailing her high-top lower than her ribs,
To kiss her burial. Should I go to church,
And see the holy edifice of stone,
And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks?
Which, touching but my gentle vessel's side,
Would scatter all her spices on the stream ;
Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks ;
And, in a word, but even now worth this,
And now worth nothing ? Shall I have the thought
To think on this ; and shall I lack the thought,
That such a thing, bechanc'd, would make me sad ?
But, tell not me ; I know, Antonio
Is sad to think upon his merchandize.

Ant. Believe me, no : I thank my fortune for it,
My ventures are not in one bottom trusted,
Nor to one place ; nor is my whole estate
Upon the fortune of this present year :
Therefore my merchandize makes me not sad.

Sala. Why then you are in love.
Ant. Fie, fie !

Sala. Not in love neither? Then let's say, you are sad,
Because you are not merry : and 'twere as easy
For you, to laugh, and leap, and say, you are merry,
Because you are not sad. Now, by two-headed Janus,
Nature hath fram'd strange fellows in her time :
Some that will evermore peep through their eyes, 4
And laugh, like parrots, at a bag-piper ;
And other of such vinegar-aspect,
That they'll not show their teeth in way of smile, 5
Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable.

Enter BASSANIO, LORENZO, and GRATIANO. Sal. Here comes Bassanio, your most noble kinsman, Gratiano, and Lorenzo : Fare you well ; 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.

Ant. Your worth is very dear in my regard. [3] Andrew-The

JOHNSON 571 This gives a very picturesque image of the countenance in laughing when the eyes are half shut. WARBURTON. [5] Because such are apt enough to show their teeth in anger. WARB.

4

5

I take it, your own business calls on you,
And you embrace the occasion to depart.

Sal. Good-morrow, my good lords.
Bass. Good signiors both, when shall we laugh? Say,

when ?
You grow exceeding strange : Must it be so?
Sal. We'll make our leisures to attend on yours.

[Exe. SALARINO and SALANIO. Lor. My lord Bassanio, since you have found Antonio, We two will leave you : but, at dinner time, I pray you, have in mind where we must meet. Bass. I will not fail you.

Gra. You look not well, signior Antonio ; You have too much respect upon the world : They lose it, that do buy it with much care. Believe me, you are marvellously chang'd.

Ant. I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano; CA stage, where

every man must play a part, And mine a sad one.

Gra. Let me play the Fool : 6
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 grandsire

cut in alabastera 5
Sleep when he wakes ? and creep into the jaundice
By being peevish! I tell thee what, Antonio,
I love thee, and it is my love that speaks ;-
There are a sort of men, whose visages
Do cream and mantle, like a standing pond;
And do a wilful stillness entertain,
With purpose to be drest in an opinion
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit
As who should say, I am sir Oracle,
And, when I ope my lips, let no dog bark !
O, my Antonio, I do know of these,
That therefore only are reputed wise,
For saying nothing ; who, I am very sure,
If they should speak, would almost damn those ears,
Which, hearing them, would call their brothers, fools.

[6] Alluding to the common comparison of human life to a stage-play. So that he desires his may be the fool's or buffoon's part, which was a constant character in the old farces ; from whence came the phrase, to play the fool.

WARBURTON.

I'll tell thee more of this another time :
But fish not, with this melancholy bait,
For this fool's gudgeon, this opinion.--
Come, good Lorenzo :-Fare ye well, a while ;
I'll end my exhortation after dinner. 7

Lor. Well, we will leave you then till dinner time :
I must be one of these same dumb wise men,
For Gratiano never lets me speak.

Gra. Well, keep me company but two years more, Thou shalt not know the sound of thine own tongue.

Ant. Farewell : I'll grow a talker for this gear.

Gra. Thanks, i' faith; for silence is only commendable In a neat's tongue dried, and a maid not vendible.

[Exeunt GRA. and LOREN. Ant. Is that any thing now?

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

Ant. Well ; tell me now, what lady is this same
To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage,
That you to-day promis'd to tell me of?

Bass. 'Tis not unknown to you, Antonio,
How much I have disabled mine estate,
By something showing a more swelling port
Than my faint means would grant continuance :
Nor do I now make moan to be abridg'd
From such a noble rate ; but my chief care
Is, to come fairly off from the great debts,
Wherein my time, something too prodigal,
Hath left me gaged : To you, Antonio,
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.

Ant. I pray you, good Bassanio, let me know it;
And, if it stand, as you yourself still do,
Within the eye of honour, be assur'd,
My purse, my person, my extremest means,
Lie all unlock'd to your occasions.

[7] The humour of this consists in its being an allusion to the practice of the puritan preachers of those times ; who being generally long and tedious, were often forced to put off that part of their sermon called the exhortation, till after dinner. WARBURTON.

Bass. In my school-days, when I had lost one shaft, I shot his fellow of the self-same flight The self-same way, with more advised 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, That which I owe is lost : but if you please To shoot another arrow that self way Which you did shoot the first, I do not doubt, As I will watch the aim, or to find both, Or bring your latter hazard back again, And thankfully rest debtor for the first.

Ant. You know me well; and herein spend but time, To wind about my love with circumstance ; And, out of doubt, you do me now more wrong, In making question of my uttermost, Than if you had made waste of all I have : Then do but say to me what I should do,

That in your knowledge may by me be done, And I am prest unto it : therefore, speak.

Bass. In Belmont is a lady richly left, And she is fair, and, fairer than that word, Of wond'rous virtues; sometimes from her eyes I did receive fair speechless messages : Her name is Portia ; nothing undervalued To Cato's daughter, Brutus' Portia. Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth ; For the four winds blow in from every coast Renowned suitors : and her sunny locks Hang on her temples like a golden fleece ; Which makes her seat of Belmont, Colchos' strand, And many Jasons come in quest of her. O my Antonio, had I but the means To hold a rival place with one of them, I have a mind presages me such thrift, That I should questionless be fortunate.

Ant. Thou know'st, that all my fortunes are at sea ; Nor have I money, nor commodity To raise a present sum : therefore go forth, Try what my credit can in Venice do ; That shall be rack'd, even to the uttermost, To furnish thee to Belmont, to fair Portia. Go, presently inquire, and so will I,

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