Enter NERISSA and a Servitor. Ner. Quick, quick, I pray thee, draw the cur

tain straight, The Prince of Arragon hath ta’en his oath, And comes to his election presently.

Enter ARRAGON and his train, with Portia.. Port. Behold, there stand the caskets. Arr. Fortune! bow To my heart's hope: gold, silver, and base lead

(44) In the last note the position of the duke's prototype in the moon was pointed out; and if the map be reversed so as turn thạt prototype upside down, such reverse of the duke will form what I conceive to be the prototype of the Prince of Arragon, as drawn in..

Fig. 113.

What says the golden chest: ha! let me see ; Who chooseth me shall gain what many men

desire. What many men desire; that many may be meant Of the fool multitude that choose by shew. Why then to thee, thou silver treasure-house! Who chooseth me, shall gain as much as he deAnd well said too; for who shall go about [serves. To cozen fortune, and he honourable Without the stamp of merit : let some presume To wear an undeserved dignity. Oh that estates, degrees, and offices, Were not derived corruptly! and that clear honour Were purchased by the merit of the wearer, Pick'd from the chaff and ruin of the times— I will assume desert: give me a key for this ; (45) What's here? the portrait of a blinking ideot (46)

(45) Observe the action of the Prince of Arragon in the moon, and in fig. 113.

(46) It appears from hence that the silver casket is to be referred to that portion of the moon which is occupied by the foolish face of Cerdon in Hudibras, now Gobbo. And, (to point out the position of the three caskets in one view) the golden one occupies the shadows which constitute Hudibras's person in the moon; the silver one, those that make up Ralph's person there; and the leaden one in the field of which lies the picture or prototype of Portia herself) is formed of the light space free from shadow, in the center of the moon.

Presenting me a schedule? I will read it:
How much unlike art thou to Portia!
How much unlike my hopes and my deservings !
Did I deserve no more than a fools heud ?

The fire seven times tried this,
Seven times tried that judgment is,
That did never choose amiss.
Some there be that shadows kiss ;
Such love but a shadow's bliss :
There be fools alive, I wis,
Silver'd o'er, and so was this:
Take what wife you will to bed,
I will never be your head:

So begone, sir, you are sped.
Still more fool I shall appear
By the time I linger here:
With one fool's head I came to woo,
But I go away with two...
Sweet, adieu, I'll keep my oath,
Patiently to bear my wrath.

Por. Thus hath the candle sing'd the moth,(47) Oh these deliberate fools, when they do choose, They have the wisdom by their wit to lose. Nerissa, draw the curtain,

(47) If the prototype of the Prince of Arragon in the moon be observed, the allusion to the candle and moth will be seen to be perfectly apposite.

Enter a Messenger.
'Mess. Madam, there is alighted at your gate
A young Venetian; yet I have not seen
So likely an embassador of love.

Port. Come, come, Nerissa, for I long to see
Quick Cupid's post.

Enter SALANIO and SOLARINO.
Sola. Now, what news on the Ryalto ?

Sal. Why yet it lives there uncheck'd, that Anthonio hath a ship of rich lading wreck’d on the narrow seas ; the Goodwins, I think, they call the place; a very dangerous flat, and fatal, where the carcasses of many a tall ship lie bury'd, as they say, if my gossip, Report, be an honest woman of her word.

Sola. 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 her third husband. But it is true, without any slips of prolixity, or crossing the plain highway of talk, that the good Anthonio, the honest Anthonio–O that I had a title good enough to keep his name company!

Sal. Come, the full stop. (48)
Sola. Why, the end is, he hath lost a ship.
Sal. I would it might prove the end of his losses.

Sola. Let me say Amen, betimes, lest the devil cross thy prayer; for here he comes, in the likeness of a Jew. How now, Shylock, what news among the merchants ?

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

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

Sola. 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 damn'd for it.
Sal. That's certain, if the devil may be her judge.
Shy. My own flesh and blood to rebel ! [years!
Sola. Out upon it, old carrion, rebels it, at these
Shy. I say, my daughter is my flesh and blood.

Sal. There is more difference between thy flesh and hers, than between jet and ivory; more be

(48) The full stop. This quaint expression 'is referable to the strong circular mark (as of a period or full stop) on the cheek of Salanio, who (as above stated) is the same as Crowdero in Hudibras.