How much I was a braggart: When I told you,
My state was nothing, I fhould then have told you,
That I was worse than nothing. For, indeed,
I have engag'd myself to a dear friend,
Engag'd my friend to his meer enemy,
To feed my means. Here is a letter, lady,
The paper as the body of my friend,
And every word in it a gaping wound,
Iffuing life-blood. But is it true, Salanio?
Have all his ventures fail'd? what not one hit?
From Tripolis, from Mexico, from England,
From Lifbon, Barbary, and India?

And not one veffel 'fcap'd the dreadful touch
Of merchant-marring rocks?

Sal. Not one, my lord.

Befides, it fhould appear, that if he had
The prefent money to difcharge the Jew,
He would not take it. Never did I know
A creature, that did bear the the shape of man,
So keen and greedy to confound a man.
He plies the duke at morning, and at night.
And doth impeach the freedom of the state,
If they deny him juftice. Twenty merchants,
The duke himself and the magnificoes
Of greatest port, have all perfuaded with him;
But none can drive him from the envious plea
Of forfeiture, of juftice, and his bond.

Jef. When I was with him, I have heard him fwear,
To Tubal, and to Chus, his country-men,
That he would rather have Anthonio's flesh,
Than twenty times the value of the fum
That he did owe him: and I know, my lord,
If law, authority, and power deny not,
It will go hard with poor Anthonio.

Por. Is it your dear friend, that is thus in trouble?
Ball. The dearest friend to me; the kindest man,

The

The best condition'd:-an unweary'd fpirit
In doing courtefies; and one in whom
The ancient Roman honour more appears,
Than any that draws breath in Italy.
Por. What fum owes he the Jew?
Bal. For me, three thoufand ducats.
Por. What, no more?

Pay him fix thousand, and deface the bond
Double fix thoufand, and then treble that,
Before a friend of this defcription

Shall lofe a hair through my Baffanio's fault.
Firft, go with me to church, and call me wife,
And then away to Venice to your friend;
For never fhall you lie by Portia's fide
With an unquiet foul. You fhall have gold
Το pay the petty
debt twenty times over.
When it is paid, bring your true friend along:
My maid Neriffa and myfelf, mean time,
Will live as maids and widows. Come,-away!
For you shall hence upon your wedding-day.
Bid your friends welcome, fhew a merry cheer;
Since you are dear bought, I will love you dear.
-But let me hear the letter of your friend.
Baff. reads. SWEET Baffanio, my hips have all mif-
carry'd, my creditors grow cruel, my eftate
is very low, my bend to the Jew is forfeit; and fince, in
paying it, is impoffible I should live, all debts are cleared
between you and me, if I might but fee you at my death.
Notwithstanding, use your pleafure: if your love do nót
perfuade you to come, let not my letter.

5 The best condition'd AND unweary'd Spirit
In doing courtefies ;—]

To be read and pointed thus,

The best condition'd: AN unweary'd fpirit.

WARBURTON:

Per

Por. O love, difpatch all business, and be gone. Baff. Since I have your good leave to go away, I will make hafte: but, 'till I come again, No bed fhall e'er be guilty of my stay,

No reft be interpofer 'twixt us twain.

SCENE III.

Changes to a Street in Venice.

[Exeunt.

Enter Shylock, Solarino, Anthonio, and the Gaoler.

Shy. Gaoler, look to him;--Tell not me of mercy ;

This is the fool, that lent out money gratis ;-
Gaoler, look to him.

Anth. Hear me yet, good Shylock.

Sky. I'll have my bond; fpeak not against my bond: I have fworn an oath, that I will have my bond. Thou call'dft me dog, before thou had'st a cause; But, fince I am a dog, beware my fangs. The duke fhall grant me juftice. I do wonder, Thou naughty gaoler, that thou art fo fond To come abroad with him at his request. Anth. I pray thee, hear me fpeak.

6

Shy. I'll have my bond;--I will not hear thee speak:

I'll have my bond; and therefore speak no more.
I'll not be made a foft and dull-ey'd fool,
To shake the head, relent, and figh, and yield
To Chriftian interceffors. Follow not;

I'll have no speaking; I will have my bond.

Sola. It is the most impenetrable cur,

[Exit Shylock.

That ever kept with men.

fo fond,] i. e. fo foolif.

STEEVENS.

Anth

Anth. Let him alone;

I'll follow him no more with bootlefs prayers:

He seeks my life; his reafon well I know:
I oft deliver'd from his forfeitures

Many that have at times made moan to me.
Therefore he hates me.

Sola. I am fure, the duke

Will never grant this forfeiture to hold.

Anth. The duke cannot deny the course of law;? For the commodity that strangers have

With us in Venice, if it be deny'd,

Will much impeach the juftice of the ftate;
Since that the trade and profit of the city
Confifteth of all nations. Therefore go;
These griefs and loffes have fo 'bated me,
That I fhall hardly spare a pound of flesh
To-morrow to my bloody creditor.-

Well, gaoler, on-Pray God, Baffanio come
To fee me pay his debt, and then I care not! [Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

BELMONT.

Enter Portia, Nerissa, Lorenzo, Jeffica, and Balthazar.

Lor. Madam, although I fpeak it in your prefence, You have a noble and a true conceit

Of God-like amity; which appears most strongly
In bearing thus the abfence of your lord.
But if you knew to whom you fhew this honour,

? The duke cannot deny, &c.-] As the reafon here given feems a little perplexed, it may be proper to explain it. If, fays he, the duke ftop the courfe of law it will be attended with this inconvenience, that ftranger merchants, by whom the wealth and power of this city is fupported, will cry out of injuftice. For the known ftated law being their guide and fecurity, they will never bear to have the current of it stopped on any pretence of equity whatsoever. WARBURTON.

How

5

How true a gentleman you send relief,
How dear a lover of my lord your hufband,
I know, you would be prouder of the work,
Than cuftomary bounty can enforce you.

Por. I never did repent of doing good,
And shall not now: for in companions
That do converfe and waste the time together,
Whose fouls do bear an equal yoke of love,
There must needs be a like proportion

Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit;
Which makes me think, that this Anthonio,
Being the bofom-lover of my lord,

Muft needs be like my lord. If it be fo,

How little is the coft I have beftow'd,

Whofe fouls do bear an equal yoke, &c] The folio 1623, reads egal, which I believe in Shakespeare's time was commonly ufed for equal. So it was in Chaucer's.

"I will prefume hym fo to dignifie
"Yet be not egall."

So in Gorboduc:

Prol. to the Remedy of Love.

"Sith all as one do bear you egall faith." STEEVENS. 9 Of lineaments, of manners, &c.—] The wrong pointing has made this fine fentiment nonsense. As implying that friendship could not only make a fimilitude of manners, but of faces. The true fenfe is, lineaments of manners, i. e. form of the manners, which, fays the fpeaker, muft need be proportionate.

WARBURTON.

The poet only means to fay, that correfponding proportions of body and mind are neceffary for those who end their time together. Every one will allow that the friend of a toper should have a ftrong head, and the intimate of a fportsman fuch an athletic conftitution as will enable him to acquit himself with reputation in the exercises of the field. The word lineaments was ufed with great laxity by our ancient writers. In "The learned and true Affertion of the Original, Life, &c. of King Arthur, tranflated from the Latin of John Leland, 1582," it is ufed for the human frame in general. Speaking of the removal of that prince's bones, -he calls them Arthur's lineaments three times tranflated; and again, all the lineaments of them remaining in that most stately tomb, Javing the fhin bones of the king and queen, &c. STEEVENS.

VOL. III.

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