Shy. Antonio shall become bound,—well. Bass. May you stead me? Will you pleasure me? Shall I know your answer? Shy. Three thousand ducats, for three months, and Antonio bound. Bass. Your answer to that. Shy. Antonio is a good man. Bass. Have you heard any imputation to the contrary? Shy. Ho, no, no, no, no;—my meaning, in saying he is a good man, is to have you understand me, that he is sufficient: yet his means are in supposition: he hath an argosy bound to Tripolis, another to the Indies; I understand moreover upon the Rialto, he hath a third at Mexico, a fourth for England, and other ventures he hath, squander'd abroad: But ships are but boards, sailors but men: there be land-rats, and water-rats, water-thieves, and land-thieves; I mean, pirates; and then, there is the peril of waters, winds, and rocks: The man is, notwithstanding, sufficient;-three thousand ducats;— I think, I may take his bond. Bass. Be assured you may. Shy. I will be assured I may; and that I may be assured, I will bethink me: May I speak with Antonio? Bass. If it please you to dine with us. Shy. Yes, to smell pork; to eat of the habitation which your prophet, the Nazarite, conjured the devil into: I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray you. What news on the Rialto?-Who is he comes e? with Enter ANTONIO. Bass. This is signior Antonio. Shy. [Aside.] How like a fawning publican he looks! I hate him for he is a Christian: But more, for that, in low simplicity, He lends out money gratis, and brings down I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him. Bass. Shylock, do you hear? Will furnish me: But soft; How many months 1 It is almost incredible what gain the Venetians receive by the usury of the Jews, both privately and in common. For in every city the Jews keep open shops of usury, taking gages of ordinary for xv in the hundred by the yeare; and if at the year's end the gage be not redeemed, it is forfeit, or at least done away to a great disadvantage; by reason whereof the Jews are out of measure wealthy in those parts.'-Thomas's Historye of Italye, 1661, 4to. f. 77. 2 To catch, or have, on the hip, means to have at an entire advantage. The phrase seems to have originated from hunting, because, when the animal pursued is seized upon the hip, it is finally disabled from flight. Dr. Johnson once thought the phrase was taken from the art of wrestling, but he corrected his opinion at a subsequent period, and in his Dictionary derives it from hunting. It occurs again in Othello: 'I'll have our Michael Cassio on the hip' VOL. III. D Do you desire?—Rest you fair, good signior; [TO ANTONIO. Yet, to supply the ripe wants3 of my friend, Shy. Ay, ay, three thousand ducats. Ant. And for three months. Shy. I had forgot,—three months, you told me so. Well then, your bond; and, let me see,—But hear you; Methought, you said, you neither lend, nor borrow, Upon advantage. Ant. I do never use it. Shy. When Jacob graz'd his uncle Laban's sheep, This Jacob from our holy Abraham was (As his wise mother wrought in his behalf,) The third possessor; ay, he was the third. say, Ant. And what of him? did he take interest? Shy. No, not take interest; not, as you would Directly interest: mark what Jacob did. When Laban and himself were compromis'd, That all the eanlings 5 which were streak'd, and pied, Should fall as Jacob's hire; the ewes, being rank, In the end of autumn turned to the rams: And when the work of generation was Between these woolly breeders in the act, The skilful shepherd peel'd me certain wands, And in the doing of the deed of kind 6, 3 Wants come to the height, which admit no longer delay. 4 Informed. 5 Young lambs just dropt, or ean'd. This word is usually spelt yean but the Saxon etymology demands ean. ticularly to ewes. 6 i. e. of nature. It is applied par He stuck them up before the fulsome ewes ; Ant. This was a venture, sir, that Jacob serv'd for; Ant. Mark you this, Bassanio, The devil can cite scripture for his purpose. O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath! Shy. Three thousand ducats,-'tis a good round sum. Three months from twelve, then let me see the rate. 7 Fulsome,' says Mr. Douce, has, doubtless, the same signification with the preceding epithet rank.' It is true that rank has sometimes the interpretation affixed to it of rammish in old Dictionaries, but there is also another meaning of the word which may be found in Baret's Alvearie, 1573, viz. Fruiteful!, ranck, battle, Lat. fertilis. This sense would also, I think, better accord with fulsome, if it could be shown to be a synonyme. It is quite evident that Steevens's interpretation is not supported by his quotations, most of which have one of the old senses of the word foul or foulsome. Mr. Boswell's interpretation, pregnant, is inadmissible; and the quotation from Golding's Ovid is much in favour of my suggestion. The fulsome ewes may therefore only mean the fruitful ewes : But what have your poor sheepe misdone, a cattel meeke and meeld, Created for to maintaine man, whose fulsome dugs do yeeld Sweete nectar.' 8 Falsehood here means knavery, treachery, as truth is sometimes used for honesty. 20 Ant. Well, Shylock, shall we be beholden to you? About And all for use of that which is mine own. A cur can lend three thousand ducats? or Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last; Ant. I am as like to call thee so again, 9 Interest. 10 i. e. interest, money bred from the principal. Meres says, Usurie and encrease of gold and silver is unlawful, because against nature; nature hath made them sterill and barren, usurie makes them procreative.' The honour of starting this conceit belongs to Aristotle. See De Republ. l. 1. |