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appropriation to his own good parts, that he can shoe him himself: I am much afraid, my lady his mother played false with a smith.

NER. Then, is there the county Palatine".

POR. He doth nothing but frown; as who should say, An if you will not have me, choose: he hears merry tales, and smiles not: I fear, he will prove the weeping philosopher when he grows old, being so full of unmannerly sadness in his youth. I had rather be* married to a death's head with a bone in his mouth, than to either of these. God defend me from these two!

NER. How say you by the French lord, Monsieur Le Bon ?

POR. God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man. In truth, I know it is a sin to be a mocker; But, he! why, he hath a horse better than the Neapolitan's; a better bad habit of frowning than the count Palatine: he is every man in no man; if a throstle sing, he falls straight a caper

8

*First folio, to be.

the phrase used of an old man too juvenile, that he still retains his colt's tooth. See Henry VIII. Act I. Sc. III. See also Love's Labour's Lost, Act III. Sc. I. JOHNSON.

7 is there the county Palatine.] I am almost inclined to believe, that Shakspeare has more allusions to particular facts and persons than his readers commonly suppose. The count here mentioned was, perhaps, Albertus a Lasco, a Polish Palatine, who visited England in our author's life-time, was eagerly caressed, and splendidly entertained; but running in debt, at last stole away, and endeavoured to repair his fortune by enchantment.

JOHNSON. County and count in old language were synonymous.-The Count Alasco was in London in 1583. MALONE. 8 if a THROSTLE] Old copies-trassel. Corrected by Mr. Pope. The throstle is the thrush. The word occurs again in A Midsummer-Night's Dream:

MALONE.

"The throstle with his note so true." That the throstle is a distinct bird from the thrush, may be known from T. Newton's Herball to the Bible, quoted in a note on the foregoing passage in A Midsummer-Night's Dream, Act III. Sc. I.

STEEVENS.

ing; he will fence with his own shadow: if I should marry him, I should marry twenty husbands: If he would despise me, I would forgive him; for if he love me to madness, I shall never requite him.

*

NER. What say you then to Faulconbridge, the young baron of England ?

POR. You know, I say nothing to him; for he understands not me, nor I him: he hath neither Latin, French, nor Italian; and you will come into the court and swear, that I have a poor pennyworth in the English. He is a proper man's picture; But, alas! who can converse with a dumb show? How oddly he is suited! I think, he bought his doublet in Italy, his round hose in France, his bonnet in Germany, and his behaviour every where.

NER. What think you of the Scottish lord2, his neighbour?

POR. That he hath a neighbourly charity in him; for he borrowed a box of the ear of the Englishman, and swore he would pay him again, when he was able: I think, the Frenchman became his surety3, and sealed under for another.

9

*First folio, should.

he hath neither Latin, French, nor Italian ;] A satire on the ignorance of the young English travellers in our author's time. WARBURTON.

1 — a PROPER man's picture;] Proper is handsome. So, in Othello:

“This Ludovico is a proper man." STEEVENS. 2-SCOTTISH lord,] Scottish, which is in the quarto, was omitted in the first folio [and other printed instead of it] for fear of giving offence to King James's countrymen. THEOBALD.

3- I think, the Frenchman became his surety,] Alluding to the constant assistance, or rather constant promises of assistance, that the French gave the Scots in their quarrels with the English. This alliance is here humorously satirized. WARBURTON.

NER. How like you the young German, the duke of Saxony's nephew.

POR. Very vilely in the morning, when he is sober; and most vilely in the afternoon, when he is drunk: when he is best, he is a little worse than a man; and when he is worst, he is little better than a beast an the worst fall that ever fell, I hope, I shall make shift to go without him.

:

NER. If he should offer to choose, and choose the right casket, you should refuse to perform your father's will, if you should refuse to accept him.

POR. Therefore, for fear of the worst, I pray thee, set a deep glass of Rhenish wine on the contrary casket for, if the devil be within, and that temptation without, I know he will choose it. I will do any thing, Nerissa, ere I will be married to a spunge.

NER. You need not fear, lady, the having any of these lords; they have acquainted me with their determinations: which is indeed, to return to their home, and to trouble you with no more suit; unless you may be won by some other sort than your father's imposition, depending on the caskets.

POR. If I live to be as old as Sibylla, I will die as chaste as Diana, unless I be obtained by the manner of my father's will: I am glad this parcel of wooers are so reasonable; for there is not one among them but I dote on his very absence, and I wish them a fair departure".

NER. Do you not remember, lady, in your father's time, a Venetian, a scholar, and a soldier,

4 How like you the young German, &c.] In Shakspeare's time the Duke of Bavaria visited London, and was made Knight of the Garter.

Perhaps in this enumeration of Portia's suitors, there may be some covert allusion to those of Queen Elizabeth. JOHNSON. 5 I WISH them a fair departure.] So the first folio: the quartos, "I pray God grant them," &c. Boswell.

that came hither in company of the Marquis of Montferrat?

POR. Yes, yes, it was Bassanio; as I think, so was he called.

NER. True, madam; he, of all the men that ever my foolish eyes looked upon, was the best deserving a fair lady.

POR. I remember him well; and I remember him worthy of thy praise.-How now! what news?

Enter a Servant.

*

SERV. The four strangers seek for you, madam, to take their leave: and there is a fore-runner come from a fifth, the prince of Morocco; who brings word, the prince, his master, will be here to-night.

7

POR. If I could bid the fifth welcome with so good heart, as I can bid the other four farewell, I should be glad of his approach: if he have the condition of a saint, and the complexion of a devil, I had rather he should shrive me than wive me. Come, Nerissa.-Sirrah, go before.-Whiles we shut the gate upon one wooer, another knocks at the door. [Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Venice. A publick Place.

Enter BASSANIO and SHYLOCK®.

SHY. Three thousand ducats,-well.
BASS. Ay, sir, for three months.

*First folio omits for.

"How now! what news?] Omitted in the first folio. BOSWELL. 7- the CONDITION-] i. e. the temper, qualities. So, in Othello: "-and then, of so gentle a condition!" MALONE.

8 - Shylock.] Our author, as Dr. Farmer informs me, took the name of his Jew from an old pamphlet, entitled "Caleb

SHY. For three months,-well.

BASS. For the which, as I told you, Antonio shall be bound.

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.

Shillocke his prophecie," or the Jewes Prediction." printed for T. P. [Thomas Pavier,] no date. STEEVENS.

London,

If Shakspeare took the name of Shylock from the pamphlet mentioned by Dr. Farmer, it certainly was not printed by Thomas Pavier; to whom Mr. Steevens has ascribed it; for that prototype of Curl had not commenced a bookseller before 1598. The pamphlet in question, which was not in Dr. Farmer's collection, (nor do I know where it is to be found,) may have been printed for Thomas Purfoot. MALONE.

Mr. Bindley had a copy of this pamphlet, the date of which was 1607. Boswell.

9 Antonio is a GOOD man.] So, in Marston's Dutch Courtezan: "There's my bond for your plate-Your bill had been sufficient, y'are a good man!" MALONE.

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