ACT THIRD

SCENE I

Venice. A street

Enter Salanio and Salarino.

Salan. Now, what news on the Rialto? Salar. Why, yet it lives there unchecked, that Antonio hath a ship of rich lading wrecked on the narrow seas; the Goodwins, I think they call the place; a very dangerous flat and fatal, where the carcases of many a tall ship lie buried, as they say, if my gossip Report be an honest woman of her word. Salan. I would she were as lying a gossip in that as ever knapped ginger, or made her 10 neighbors believe she wept for the death of a third husband.. But it is true, without any slips of prolixity, or crossing the plain highway of talk, that the good Antonio, the honest Antonio,-O that I had a title good enough to keep his name company!— Salar. Come, the full stop.

4. “narrow seas"; English Channel.-C. H. H.

10. "knapped ginger"; perhaps "to knap ginger" is to "nibble ginger"; old women were fond of this condiment: Cotgrave invariably gives "knap" as a synonym of "gnaw" or "nibble."-I. G.

Salan. Ha! what sayest thou? Why, the end

is, he hath lost a ship.

Salar. I would it might prove the end of his 20 losses.

Salan. Let me say 'amen' betimes, lest the devil

cross my prayer, for here he comes in the
likeness of a Jew.

Enter Shylock.

How now, Shylock! what news among the
merchants?

Shy. You knew, none so well, none so well as
you, of my daughter's flight.

Salar. That's certain: I, for my part, knew

the tailor that made the wings she flew 30 withal.

Salan. And Shylock, for his own part, knew the bird was fledged; and then it is the complexion of them all to leave the dam.

Shy. She is damned for it.

Salar. That's certain, if the devil may be her judge.

Shy. My own flesh and blood to rebel!

Salan. Out upon it, old carrion! rebels it at
these years?
Shy. I say, my daughter is my flesh and blood.
Salar. There is more difference between thy

flesh and hers than between jet and ivory;
more between your bloods than there is be-
tween red wine and rhenish. But tell us, do
you hear whether Antonio have had any loss
at sea or no?

401

Shy. There I have another bad match: a bank

rupt, a prodigal, who dare scarce show his
head on the Rialto; a beggar, that was used 50
to come so smug upon the mart; let him
look to his bond: he was wont to call me
usurer; let him look to his bond: he was wont
to lend money for a Christian courtesy; let
him look to his bond.

Salar. Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt
not take his flesh: what's that good for?
Shy. To bait fish withal: if it will feed noth-
ing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath
disgraced me, and hindered me half a mil- 60
lion; laughed at my losses, mocked at my
gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bar-
gains, cooled my friends, heated mine ene-
mies; and what's his reason? I am a Jew.
Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands,
organs, dimensions, senses, affections, pas-
sions? fed with the same food, hurt with the
same weapons, subject to the same diseases,
healed by the same means, warmed and
cooled by the same winter and summer, as a 70
Christian is? If you prick us, do we not
bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if
you poison us, do we not die? and if you
wrong us, shall we not revenge? if we are
like you in the rest, we will resemble you in
that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is

49. "a prodigal"; i. e. from Shylock's point of view.-C. H. H. 60. “hindered me," etc.; so in all the old copies. Modern editions generally encumber the passage by thrusting in of before half.—

H. N. H.

his humility? Revenge. If a Christian
wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be
by Christian example? Why, revenge.
The villany you teach me, I will execute; 80
and it shall go hard but I will better the in-
struction.

Enter a Servant.

Serv. Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at his
house, and desires to speak with you both.
Salar. We have been up and down to seek him.
Enter Tubal.

Salan. Here come another of the tribe: a third cannot be matched, unless the devil himself turn Jew. [Exeunt Salan. Salar. and Servant. Shy. How now, Tubal! what news from Genoa? hast thou found my daughter?

Tub. I often came where I did hear of her, but cannot find her.

Shy. Why, there, there, there, there! a diamond

90

gone, cost me two thousand ducats in Frank-
fort! The curse never fell upon our na-
tion till now; I never felt it till now: two
thousand ducats in that; and other precious,
precious jewels. I would my daughter
were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her
ear! would she were hearsed at my foot, and 100
the ducats in her coffin! No news of them?
Why, so:-and I know not what's spent in

77. “humility," rightly explained by Schmidt as "kindness, benevolence, humanity."-I. G.

the search: why, thou loss upon loss! the thief
gone with so much, and so much to find the
thief; and no satisfaction, no revenge: nor
no il luck stirring but what lights on my
shoulders; no sighs but of my breathing;
no tears but of my shedding.

Tub. Yes, other men have ill luck too: Anto-
nio, as I heard in Genoa,—

Shy. What, what, what? ill luck, ill luck?
Tub. Hath an argosy cast away, coming from
Tripolis.

Shy. I thank God, I thank God! Is 't true,
is 't true?

Tub. I spoke with some of the sailors that escaped the wreck.

110

Shy. I thank thee, good Tubal: good news, good news! ha, ha! where? in Genoa? Tub. Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I 120 heard, in one night fourscore ducats. Shy. Thou stick'st a dagger in me: I shall never see my gold again: fourscore ducats at a sitting! fourscore ducats!

Tub. There came divers of Antonio's creditors
in my company to Venice that swear he can-
not choose but break.

Shy. I am very glad of it: I'll plague him;
I'll torture him: I am glad of it.

Tub. One of them showed me a ring that he 130 had of your daughter for a monkey.

Shy. Out upon her! Thou torturest me,
Tubal: it was my turquoise: I had it of

133. The special value of the "turquoise" was its supposed virtue