ACT III.

SCENE I.-A Street in Venice.

Enter SALARINO and SOLANIO, R.
Sol. Why, man, I saw Bassanio under sail;
With him is Gratiano gone along;
And in their ship, I am sure, Lorenzo is not.

Sala. The villain Jew with outcries raised the Duke,
Who went with him to search Bassanio's ship.

Sol. He came too late, the ship was under sail :
But there the Duke was given to understand,
That in a gondola were seen together
Lorenzo and his amorous Jessica:
Besides, Antonio certified the Duke,
They were not with Bassanio in his ship.

Sala. I never heard a passion so confused,
So strange, outrageous, and so variable,
As the dog Jew did utter in the streets :
My daughter !- Oh, my ducats !- Oh, my daughter !
Fled with a Christian !-Oh, my Christian ducats !-
Justice! the law ! my ducats, and my daughter !
Let good Antonio look he keep his day,
Or he shall pay for this.

Sol. Marry, well remembered :
I reasoned with a Frenchman yesterday; who told me,
that Antonio had a ship of rich lading wrecked on the
narrow seas; the Goodwin, 1 think they call the place; a
very dangerous flat, and fatal, where the carcasses of many
a tall ship lie buried, as they say, if my gossip report be
an honest woman of her word.

Sala. I would she were as lying a gossip in that as ever knapt ginger, or made her neighbours believe she wept for the death of a third husband: but it is true, that the good Antonio, the honest Antonio,-oh, that I had a title good enough to keep his name company !

Sol. Come, the full stop.
Sula. Why, the end is, he hath lost a ship.
Sol. I would it might prove the end of his losses !

Sala. Let me say Amen betiines, lest the devil cross thy prayer; for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew.

Enter SHYLOCK, L.
How now, Shylock; what news among the merchants ?

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

[Crosses, c. Sol. That's certain; I, for my part, knew the tailor that made the wings she flew withal.

Sala. 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.
Sol. (L.) That's certain, if the devil may be her judge.
Shy. (c.) My own flesh and blood to rebel!

[Crosses, R.
Sala. But tell us, do you hear whether Antonio have
had
any

loss at sea or no? Shy. There I have another bad match; a bankrupt, a prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on the Rialto;a beggar, that used to come 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. [Crosses, L,

Sol. 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 nothing else, it will feed my revenge. [Crosses, c. He hath disgraced me, and hindered me of half a million : laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated my enemies; and what's his reason ?-I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes ? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions ?-fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the sanue means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is ? If you prick is, 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 his humility ? revenge! If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example ? why, revenge ! (Crosses, L.)-The villainy you teach me, I will execute ! and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.

Sala, Here comes another of the tribe : a third cannot de matched, unless the devil himself turn Jew.

(Exeunt Solanio and Salarino, R.

Enter TUBAL, R. 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 gone, cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfort !

The curse never fell upon our nation 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 hearseil at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin! No news of them ?--why, so :--and I know not what's spent in 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 ill luck stirring, but what lights o' my shoulders; no sighs, but o' my breathing: no tears, but o my shedding

Tub. Yes, other men have ill luck too; Antonio, as I heard in Genoa,

Shy. What, what, what! ill luck ? ill luck ? ill luck?
Tub. Hath an argosy cast away, coming from Tripolis.
Shy. I thank God, I thank God !-Is it true? is it true?

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

Shy. I thank thee, good Tubal ?-Good news, good news: ha! ha!-Where? in Genoa ?

Tub. Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I heard, 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 cannot choose but break.

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

?'ub. One of them shewed me a ring, that he had of your daughter for a monkey.

1

gogue, Tubal.

Shy. Out

upon

her! Thou torturest me, Tubal! it was my torquoise; I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor: I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys.

[Crosses, L. Tub. But Antonio is certainly undone.

Shy. Nay, that's true, that's very true: go, Tubal, fee me an officer, bespeak 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 synagogue. (io, good Tubal; at our syna

Exeunt, Shylock, L., Tubal, R.
Scene II.-Portia's House at Belmont.— Three Caskets of

Gold, Silver, and Lead, laid out, c.
Portia and BASSANIO, L., Nerissa and GRATIANO, R.-

Singers, Musicians, Pages, and other Attendants, dis-
covered.
Bass. I am enjoined by oath to observe three things :
First, never to unfold to any one
Which casket 'twas I chose ; next, if I fail
Of the right casket, never in my

life
To woo a maid in way of marriage; lastly,
If I do fail in fortune of

my

choice, Immediately to leave you, and begone.

Por. To these injunctions every one doth swear, That comes to hazard for my worthless self.

Bass. And so have I addressed me.-Fortune uo'y
To
my

heart's hope !
Por. I pray you, tarry; pause a day or two
Before you hazard; for, in choosing wrong,
I lose your company; therefore, forbear a while:
There's something tells me, but it is not love,
I would not lose you: and you know yourself,
Hate counsels not in such a quality.
I could teach you
How to choose right, but then I am forsworn;
So will I never be : so may you miss me :
But if you do, you'll make me wish a sin,
That I had been forsworn.
I speak too long: but 'tis to peize the time;
To eko it, and to draw it out in length,
To stay you from election.

Bass. Let me choose ; For, as I am, I live upon the rack. Come, let me to my fortune and the caskets. Por. Away, then: [Crosses, L.] I am locked in one of

them; If

you do love me, you will find me out.Nerissa, and the rest, stand all aloof.- [They retire. Let music sound while he doth make his choice; Then, if he lose, he makes a swan-like end, Fading in music; that the comparison May stand more proper, my eyes shall be the stream, And wat’ry death-bed for him.

[Music whilst Bassanio comments on the caskets to him.