Bassanio presently will go aboard;
I have sent twenty out to seek for you.

Gra. I am glad on't; I desire no more delight, Than to be under sail, and gone to-night.

nad on't; I desne to-night. Exeunt.

SCENE VII.

Belmont. A Room in Pontia's House.

Flourish of Cornets. Enter Portia, with the

Prince of Morocco, and both their Trains. Por. Go, draw aside the curtains, and discover The several caskets to this noble prince :Now make your choice. Mor. The first, of gold, who this inscription

bears ; Who chooseth me, shall gain what many * men desire. The second, silver, which this promise carries ;Who chooseth me, shall get as much as he deserves. This third, dull lead, with warning all as blunt ;Who chooseth me, must give and hazard all he

hath. How shall I know if I do choose the right? Por. The one of them contains my picture,

prince; If you choose that, then I am yours withal.

Mor. Some god direct my judgment! Let me see, I will survey the inscriptions back again : What says this leaden casket ? Who chooseth me, must give and hazard all he hath. Must give-For what ? for lead ? hazard for lead ? This casket threatens: Men, that hazard all, Do it in hope of fair advantages:

* First folio omits many. 8 — as blunt ;] That is, as gross as the dull metal.

JOHNSON

A golden mind stoops not to shows of dross;
I'll then nor give, nor hazard, aught for lead.
What says the silver, with her virgin hue ?
Who chooseth me, shall get as much as he deserves.
As much as he deserves ?—Pause there, Morocco,
And weigh thy value with an even hand :
If thou be'st rated by thy estimation,
Thou dost deserve enough; and yet enough
May not extend so far as to the lady ;
And yet to be afeard of my deserving,
Were but a weak disabling of myself.
As much as I deserve !—Why, that's the lady:
I do in birth deserve her, and in fortunes,
In graces, and in qualities of breeding;
But more than these, in love I do deserve.
What if I stray'd no further, but chose here?. .
Let's see once more this saying grav'd in gold :
Who chooseth me, shall gain what many men desire.
Why, that's the lady; all the world desires her:
From the four corners of the earth they come,
To kiss this shrine, this mortal breathing saint.
The Hyrcanian deserts, and the vasty wilds
Of wide Arabia, are as through-fares now,
For princes to come view fair Portia :
The watry kingdom, whose ambitious head
Spits in the face of heaven, is no bar
To stop the foreign spirits ; but they come,
As o'er a brook, to see fair Portia.
One of these three contains her heavenly picture.
Is't like, that lead contains her ? 'Twere damna-

tion,
To think so base a thought; it were too gross
To ribo her cerecloth in the obscure grave.

9 To RIB -] i. e. inclose, as the ribs inclose the viscera. So, in Cymbeline :

“ — ribb'd and paled in
“ With rocks unscaleable, and roaring waters."

STEEVENS.

and

Or shall I think, in silver she's immur'd,
Being ten times undervalued to try'd gold' ?
O sinful thought! Never so rich a gem
Was set in worse than gold. They have in Eng-

land
A coin, that bears the figure of an angel
Stamped * in gold; but that's insculp'd upon”;
But here an angel in a golden bed
Lies all within.—Deliver me the key;
Here do I choose, and thrive I as I may !

Por. There, take it, prince, and if my form lie

. there, Then I am yours. [He unlocks the golden casket.

O hell! what have we here?
A carrion death, within whose empty eye
There is a written scroll: I'll read the writing.

All that glisters is not gold,
Often have you heard that told :
Many a man his life hath sold,
But my outside to behold:
Gilded tombs do worms infold'.

Mor.

* First folio and quartos, stamp't. 1-UNDERValued to try'd gold?] If compared with try'd gold, so in p. 17:

“ Her name is Portia, nothing undervalued

“To Cato's daughter.” Boswell. 2 - INSCULP'd upon ;] To insculp is to engrave. So, in a comedy called A New Wonder, a Woman Never Vex’d, 1682:

- in golden text “ Shall be insculp'd —" STEEVENS. The meaning is, that the figure of the angel is raised or embossed on the coin, not engraved on it. Tutet.

3 Gilded tombs do worms infold.] In all the old editions this line is written thus :

“ Gilded timber do worms infold.” From which Mr. Rowe and all the following editors have made :

“ Gilded wood may worms infold.” A line not bad in itself, but not so applicable to the occasion as that which, I believe, Shakspeare wrote:

“ Gilded tombs do worms infold."

Had you been as wise as bold,
Young in limbs, in judgement old,
Your answer had not been inscroldt:

Fare you well ; your suit is cold.
Cold, indeed; and labour lost:

Then, farewell, heat; and, welcome, frost.
Portia, adieu! I have too griev'd a heart
To take a tedious leave: thus losers part. [Erit.
Por. A gentle riddance :--Draw the curtains,

go;Let all of his complexion choose me so “. [Ereunt.

A lomb is the proper repository of a death's-head. Johnson.

The thought might have been suggested by Sidney's Arcadia, book i.:

“ But gold can guild a rotten piece of wood.” STEEVENS. Dr. Johnson's emendation is supported by Shakspeare's 101st Sonnet :

“ — it lies in thee

“ To make thee much out-live a gilded tomb.” Malone, 4 Your answer had not been insCROL'D :] Since there is an answer inscrol'd or written in every casket, I believe for your we should read this. When the words were written y' and y', the mistake was easy. JOHNSON.

Your answer is the answer you have got ; namely, “Fare you well,” &c. Boswell.

s- choose me so.] The old quarto editions of 1600 have no distribution of Acts, but proceed from the beginning to the end in an unbroken tenour. This play, therefore, having been probably divided without authority by the publishers of the first folio, lies open to a new regulation, if any more commodious division can be proposed. The story is itself so wildly incredible, and the changes of the scene so frequent and capricious, that the probability of action does not deserve much care ; yet it may be proper to observe, that, by concluding the Second Act here, time is given for Bassanio's passage to Belmont. JOHNSON,

SCENE VIII.

Venice. A Street.

Enter SALARINO and SALANIO. SALAR. Why man, I saw Bassanio under sail ; With him is Gratiano gone along ; And in their ship, I am sure, Lorenzo is not. SALAN. The villain Jew with outcries rais'd the

duke; Who went with him to search Bassanio's ship. SALAR. 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 certify'd the duke,
They were not with Bassanio in his ship.

SALAN. I never heard a passion so confus'd,
So strange, outrageous, and so variable,
As the dog Jew did utter in the streets :
My daughter !-O my ducats !-O my daughter !
Fled with a Christian ?-0 my christian ducats !
Justice! the law ! my ducats, and my daughter!
A sealed bag, two sealed bags of ducats,
Of double ducats, stol'n from me by my daughter!
And jewels; two stones, two rich and precious

stones, Stol'n by my daughter !-- Justice! find the girl! She hath the stones upon her, and the ducats ! SALAR. Why, all the boys in Venice follow

him, Crying,—his stones, his daughter, and his ducats.

SALAv. Let good Antonio look he keep his day, Or he shall pay for this. SALAR.

Marry, well remember'd: