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my foot, and the jewels in her ear; O, would she were hers'd at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin. No news of them; why fo! and I know not what's spent in the fearch: why, thou lofs upon lofs! the thief gone with fo much, and fo much to find the thief; and no fatisfaction, no revenge, nor no ill luck stirring, but what lights o' my fhoulders; no fighs but o' my breathing, no tears but o' my fhedding.

Tub. Yes, other men have ill luck too; Anthonio, as I heard in Gencua

Shy. What, what, what? ill' luck, ill luck?

Tub. Hath an Argofie caft away, coming from Tripolis. Shy. I thank God, I thank God; is it true? is it true? Tub. I fpoke with fome of the failors that escaped the wreck.

Shy. I thank thee, good Tubal; good news, good news; ha, ha, where in Genoua?

Tub. Your daughter spent in Genoua, as I heard, one night, fourfcore ducats.

Shy. Thou ftick'st a dagger in me; I fhall never fee my gold again; fourfcore ducats at a fitting, fourfcore ducats!

Tub. There came divers of Anthonio's creditors in my company to Venice, that fwear he cannot chufe but break. Shy. I am glad of it, I'll plague him, I'll torture him; I am glad of it.

Tub. One of them fhew'd me a ring, that he had of your daughter for a monkey.

Shy. Out upon her! thou tortureft me, Tubal; it was my Turquoife, I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor; I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkies. Tub. But Anthonio is certainly undone.

Shy. Nay, that's true, that's very true; go fee me an officer, befpeak him a fortnight before. I will have the heart of him, if he forfeit; for were he out of Venice, I can make what merchandize I will: go: go, Tubal, and meet me at our fynagogue; go, good Tue bal; at our fynagogue, Tubal. [Exeunt.

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SCENE

SCENE changes to Belmont.

Enter Baffanio, Portia, Gratiano, and Attendants. The Cafkets are fet out.

Por.

I

Pray you, tarry, paufe a day or two,
Before you hazard; for in chufing wrong
I lofe your company; therefore, forbear a-while.
There's fomething tells me (but it is not love)
I would not lofe you; and you know yourself,
Hate counfels not in fuch a quality.

But left you should not understand me well,
And yet a maiden hath no tongue but thought,
I would detain you here fome month or two,
Before you venture for me. I could teach you
How to chufe right, but I am then forfworn:
So will I never be; fo may you miss me;
But if you do, you'll make me wish a fin,
That I had been forfworn. Befhrew your eyes,
'T'hat have o'erlook'd me, and divided me;
One half of me is yours, the other half yours;
Mine own, I would fay: but if mine, then yours;
And fo all yours. Alas! thefe naughty times
Put bars between the owners and their rights:
And fo tho' yours, not yours; prove it, fo,
Let fortune go to hell for it, not I.

I fpeak too long, but 'tis to piece the time,
To eche it, and to draw it out in length,
To stay you from election.

Bal. Let me chufe:

For as I am, I live upon the rack.

Por. Upon the rack, Baffanio? then confefs, What treason there is mingled with your love. Baff. None, but that ugly treafon of mistrust, Which makes me fear th' enjoying of my love: There may as well be amity and life

'Tween fnow and fire, as treason and my love.

Por. Ay, but I fear you fpeak upon the rack;
Where men enforced do fpeak any thing.
Baff. Promise me life, and I'll confefs the truth.

F 5

Por

Por. Well then, confess and live.
Bal. Confefs, and love,

Had been the very fum of

my confeffion.
O happy torment, when my torturer
Doth teach me anfwers for deliverance!
But let me to my fortune and the caskets.

Por. Away then! I am lockt in one of them;
If you do love me, you will find me out.
Neriffa, and the reft, ftand all aloof,

Let mufick found, while he doth make his choice;
Then, if he lofe, he makes a fwan like end,
Fading in mufick. That the comparison
May ftand more juft, my eyes shall be the stream
And wat❜ry death-bed for him: he may win,
And what is, mufick then? then mufick is
Even as the flourish, when true fubjects bow
To a new crowned monarch: fuch it is,
As are thofe dulcet founds in break of day,
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom's ear,
And fummon him to marriage. Now he goes,
With no less prefence, but with much more love,
Than young Alcides, when he did redeem
The virgin-tribute, paid by howling Troy
To the fea-monfter: I ftand for facrifice;
The reft aloof are the Dardanian wives,
With bleared vifages come forth to view
The iffue of th' exploit. Go, Hercules!
Live thou, I live; with much, much more difmay
I view the fight, than thou, that mak'st the fray.
[Mufick within.

A Song, whilft Bassanio comments on the caskets to himself.

Tell me, where is fancy bred,

Or in the heart, or in the head ?
How begot, how nourished?

Reply, reply.

It is engender'd in the eye,

With gazing fed, and fancy dies :
In the cradle where it lies:
Let us all ring fancy's knell.

I'll begin it.

Ding, dong, bell.

All. Ding, dong, bell.

Baff. So may the outward fhows be leaft themfelves ;
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 fhow of evil? in religion,
What damned error, but fome fober brow
Will blefs it, and approve it with a text,
Hiding the groffnefs 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 lightest, 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 fecond head,

The fkull, that bred them, in the fepulchre.
Thus Ornament is but the guiled fhore (16)
To a molt dang'rous fea; the beauteous scarf
Veiling an Indian beauty; in a word,

The feeming truth which cunning times put on
T'entrap the wifeft. Then thou gaudy gold,

(16) is but the gilded here] I have reftor'd, on the authority of the old 4tos 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 paffively. 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
"Tween man and man: but thou, thou meager lead,
Which rather threatnest, than doft promise ought, (17)
Thy plainnefs moves me more than eloquence;
And here chufe I; joy be the consequence!

Por. How all the other paffions fleet to air,
As doubtful thoughts, and rash embrac'd defpair,
And fhudd'ring fear, and green-ey'd jealoufy,
O love, be mod'rate, allay thy ecstasy;
In measure rain thy joy, fcant this excess,
I feel too much thy bleffing, make it lefs,
For fear I furfeit.

[Opening the leaden cafket.

Ba. What find I here?
Fair Portia's counterfeit ? what Demy-god
Hath come fo near creation? move these eyes?
Or whether, riding on the balls of mine,
Seem they in motion? here are fever'd lips
Parted with fugar breath; fo fweet a bar
Should funder fuch fweet friends: here in her hairs
The painter plays the spider, and hath woven
A golden mesh t' intrap the hearts of men,
Faster than gnats in cobwebs : but her eyes,
How could he fee to do them? having made one,
Methinks, it should have pow'r to steal both his,
And leave itself unfinish'd: yet how far

The fubftance of my praife doth wrong this fhadow
In underprizing it; fo far this fhadow

Doth limp behind the fubftance. Here's the fcrowl,
The continent and fummary of my fortune.
You that chufe not by the view,

Chance as fair, and chufe as true:

(17) Thy palenefs moves me more than eloquence ;] Baffanio is dif pleas'd at the golden cafket for its gardinefs, 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 paleness does not, they being both pale. Befides, there is a beauty in the antithefis between plainnefs and eloquence; between paleness and eloquence, none. Mr. Warburton.

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