Por. Well then, confefs and live. Had been the very fum of my confeffion. O happy torment, when my torturer Por. Away then! I am lockt in one of them; If you Neriffa, and the reft, ftand all aloof, Let mufick found, while he doth make his choice; may win, [Mufick within. A Song, whilst Baffanio comments on the caskets to himself. Tell me, where is fancy bred, Or in the heart, or in the head? It is engender'd in the eye, I'll begin it. Ding, dong, bell. All. Ding, dong, bell. Baff. So may the outward fhows be leaft themselves: The world is ftill deceiv'd with Ornament. In law, what plea fo tainted and corrupt, But being feafon'd with a gracious voice, Obfcures the show of evil? in religion, What damned error, but fome fober brow Will blefs it, and approve it with a text, Hiding the grofsnefs with fair ornament ? There is no vice fo fimple, but affumes Some mark of virtue on its outward parts. How many cowards, whofe hearts are all as falfe As ftairs of fand, wear yet upon their chins The beards of Hercules and frowning Mars; Who, inward fearcht, have livers white as milk? And these affume but valour's excrement, To render them redoubted. Look on beauty, And you' fhall fee 'tis purchas'd by the weight, Which therein works a miracle in nature, Making them lighteft, that wear most of it: So are thofe crifped fnaky golden locks, Which make fuch wanton gambols with the wind Upon fuppofed fairness, often known To be the dowry of a second head, The fkull, that bred them, in the fepulchre. (16)-is but the gilded fore] I have reftor'd, on the authority of the old 4to's and Folio impreffions, guiled, i. e. guily, furnish'd for deceit, made to betray. The poet ufes the participle paffive in an active fignification; as, vice verfa, it will be found, upon obfervation, that he employs the active participle passively. To give a fingle inftance from K. Lear; Who, by the art of known and feeling forrows, Am pregnant to good pity. For feeling forrows here means forrows that make themselves felt. Hard Hard food for Midas, I will none of thee: Nor none of thee, thou pale and common drudge Por. How all the other paffions fleet to air, [Opening the leaden casket, eyes ? Baff. What find I here? The fubftance of my praise doth wrong this shadow Doth limp behind the fubftance. Here's the fcrowl, You that chufe not by the view, (17) Thy palenefs moves me more than eloquence ;] Bassanio is difpleas'd at the golden casket for its gawdinefs, and the filver one for its palenefs; but, what! is he charm'd with the leaden one for having the very fame quality that difpleas'd him in the filver? The poet never intended fuch an abfurd reasoning. He certainly wrote, Thy plainnefs moves me more than eloquence; This characterizes the lead from the filver, which palenefs does not, they being both pale. Befides, there is a beauty in the antithefis between plainress and eloquence; between palenefs and eloquence, none. Mr. Warburton. Since this fortune falls to you, And claim her with a loving kiss. A gentle fcrowl; fair lady, by your leave; [Kissing her. Like one of two contending in a prize, Por. You fee me, lord Bafanio, where I stand, I would not be ambitious in my wish, A thousand times more fair; ten thousand times Exceed account: but the full fum of me But the may learn; more happy then in this, Let Let it prefage the ruin of your love, And be my vantage to exclaim on you. Baff. Madam, you have bereft me of all words, Ner. My lord and lady, it is now our time, Baff. With all my heart, fo thou canst get a wife. No (18) You lov'd; I lov'd for intermiffion] Thus this paffage has been nonfenfically pointed thro' all the editions. If loving for intermission. can be expounded into any fenfe, I confefs, I as yet am ignorant, and fhall be glad to be inftructed in it. But till then I must beg leave to think, the fentence ought to be thus regulated; You lov'd, I lov'd:-. For intermiffion No more pertains to me, my lord, than you. i. e. ftanding idle; a paufe, or difcontinuance of action. And fuch is the fignification of intermiffio and intermiffus amongst the Latines.Neque alia ulla fuit caufa intermiffionis epiftolarum, rifi quod ubi effes plane nefciebam: fays Cice o to Trebatius. Nor was there any other reafon for my difcontinuing to write, but that I was abfolutely ignorant where you were'. And fo Pliny, of the Nightingale: Lufciniis diebus ac noctibus quindecim garrulus fine intermiflu Cantus. Nightin gales |