The two principal incidents of this play are to be found feparately in a collection of odd ftories, which were very popular, at least five hundred years ago, under the title of Gefta Romanorum. The firft, Of the bond, is in ch. xlviii. of the copy which I chufe to refer to, as the completeft of any which I have yet feen. MS. Harl. n. 2270. A knight there borrows money of a merchant, upon condition of forfeiting all his flesh for non-payment. When the penalty is exacted before the judge; the knight's mistress, disguised, in forma viri veftimentis pretiofis induta, comes into court, and, by permiffion of the judge, endeavours to mollify the merchant. She first offers him his money, and then the double of it, &c. to all which his answer is-Conventionem meam volo habere.-Puella, cum hoc audiffet, ait coram omnibus, Domine mi judex, da rectum judicium fuper his quæ vobis dixero.-Vos fcitis quod miles nunquam fe obligabat ad aliud per literam nifi quod mercator habeat poteftatem carnes ab offibus fcindere, fine fanguinis effufione, de quo nihil erat prolocutum. Statim mittat manum in eum; fi vero fanguinem effuderit, Rex contra eum actionem habet. Mercator, cum hoc audiffet, ait; date mihi pecuniam & omnem actionem ei remitto. Ait puella, Amen dico tibi, nullum denarium habebis-pone ergo manum in eum, ita ut fanguinem non effundas. Mercator vero videns fe confufum abfceffit; & fic vita militis falvata eft, & nullum denarium dedit.

The other incident, of the cafkets, is in ch. xcix, of the fame collection. A king of Apulia fends his daughter to be married to the fon of an emperor of Rome. After fome adventures, (which are nothing to the prefent purpose,) fhe is brought before the emperor; who fays to her, "Puella, propter amorem filii mei multa adverfa fuftinuifti. Tamen fi digna fueris ut uxor ejus fis cito probabo. Et fecit fieri tria vafa. PRIMUM fuit de auro puriffimo & lapidibus pretiofis interius ex omni parte, & plenum offibus mor tuorum; & exterius erat fubfcriptio; Qui me elegerit, in me inveniet quid meruit. SECUNDUM vas erat de argento puro & gemmis pretiofis, plenum terra; & exterius erat fubfcriptio: Qui me elegerit, in me inveniet quod natura appetit. TERTIUM vas de plumbo plenum lapidibus pretiofis interius & gemmis nobiliffimis; & exterius erat fub. fcriptio talis: Qui me elegerit, in me inveniet quod deus difpofuit. Ifta tria oftendit puellæ, & dixit, fi unum ex iftis elegeris in quo commodum, & proficuum eft, filium meum habebis. Si vero elegeris quod nec tibi nec aliis eft commodum, ipfum non habebis." The young lady, after mature confideration of the veffels and their infcriptions, chufes the leaden, which being opened, and found to be full of gold and precious ftones, the emperor fays: "Bona puella, bene elegifti-ideo filium meum habebis.”

From this abitract of these two ftories, I think it appears fufficiently plain that they are the remote originals of the two incidents in this play. That of the cafkets Shakspeare might take from the

English Gefta Romanorum, as Dr. Farmer has obferved; and that of the bond might come to him from the Pecorone; but upon the whole I am rather inclined to fufpect, that he has followed fome hitherto unknown novellift, who had faved him the trouble of working up the two ftories into one. TYRWHITT.

This comedy, I believe, was written in the beginning of the year, 1598. Meres's book was not published till the end of that year. See An Attempt to afcertain the order of Shakspeare's plays, Vol. I. MALONE.

Duke of Venice.

Prince of Morocco,

Prince of Arragon,

} Suitors to Portia.

Antonio, the Merchant of Venice:

Baffanio, his friend.

Salanio,'

Salarino,

Gratiano,

Friends to Antonio and Baffanio.

Lorenzo, in love with Jeffica.

Shylock, a Jew:

Tubal, a Jew, his friend.

Launcelot Gobbo, a clown, fervant to Shylock.

Old Gobbo, father to Launcelot.

Salerio, a meffenger from Venice.

Leonardo, fervant to Baffanio.
Balthazar,

Stephano, Servants to Portia.

Portia, a rich heiress:

Neriffa, her waiting-maid.

Jeffica, daughter to Shylock.

Magnificoes of Venice, Officers of the Court of Justice, Jailer, Servants, and other Attendants.

SCENE, partly at Venice, and partly at Belmont, the Seat of Portia, on the Continent.

2 In the old editions in quarto, for J. Roberts, 1600, and in the old folio, 1623, there is no enumeration of the perfons. It was first made by Mr. Rowe. JOHNSON.

3 It is not eafy to determine the orthography of this name. In the old editions the owner of it is called, Salanio, Salino, and Solanio. STEEVENS.

4 This character I have restored to the Perfonæ Dramatis. The name appears in the firft folio: the defcription is taken from the quarto. STEEVENS.

MERCHANT OF VENICE.

ACT I. SCENE I.

Venice. A Street.

Enter ANTONIO, SALARINO, and SALANIO.

ANT. In footh, I know not why I am fo fad;
It wearies me; you fay, it wearies you;
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn;

And fuch a want-wit fadness makes of me,
That I have much ado to know myself.

SALAR. Your mind is toffing on the ocean;
There, where your argofies' with portly fail,-
Like figniors and rich burghers of the flood,"

5-argofies] A name given in our author's time to ships of great burthen, probably galleons, fuch as the Spaniards now use in their Weft India trade. JOHNSON.

In Ricaut's Maxims of Turkish Polity, ch. xiv. it is faid, "Thofe vaft carracks called argofies, which are fo much famed for the vaftness of their burthen and bulk, were corruptly fo denominated from Ragofies," i. e. fhips of Ragufa, a city and territory on the gulf of Venice, tributary to the Porte. If my memory does not fail me, the Ragufans lent their laft great fhip to the king of Spain for the Armada, and it was loft on the coaft of Ireland. Shakspeare, as Mr. Heath obferves, has given the name of Ragazine to the pirate in Measure for Meafure. STEEVENS.

6

burghers of the flood,] Both ancient and modern editors have hitherto been content to read-" burghers on the flood," though a parallel paffage in As you like it

"

native burghers of this defolate city," might have led to the prefent correction.

STEEVENS,

Or as it were the pageants of the fea,-
Do overpeer the petty traffickers,

That curt'fy to them, do them reverence,
As they fly by them with their woven wings.
SALAN. Believe me, fir, had I fuch venture forth,
The better part of my affections would

Be with my hopes abroad. I fhould be ftill
Plucking the grafs, to know where fits the wind;
Peering in maps, for ports, and piers, and roads;
And every object, that might make me fear
Misfortune to my ventures, out of doubt,
Would make me fad.

SALAR.
My wind, cooling my broth,
Would blow me to an ague, when I thought
What harm a wind too great might do at fea.
I should not fee the fandy hour-glafs run,
But I fhould think of fhallows and of flats;
And fee my wealthy Andrew dock'd in sand,'
Vailing her high-top lower than her ribs,'

s Plucking the grafs, &c.] By holding up the grafs, or any light body that will bend by a gentle blast, the direction of the wind is found.

"This way I used in shooting. When I was in the mydde way betwixt the markes, which was an open place, there I take a fethere, or a lyttle graffe, and fo learned how the wind ftood." Afcham.

6

JOHNSON.

Peering] Thus the old quarto printed by Hayes, that by Roberts, and the first folio. The quarto of 1637, a book of no authority, reads-prying. MALONE.

7

8

Andrew] The name of the fhip. JOHNSON.

dock'd in fand,] The old copies have-docks. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

9 Vailing her high top lower than her ribs,] In Bullokar's English Expofiter, 1616, to vail, is thus explained: "It means to put off the hat, to frike fail, to give fign of fubmiffion." So, in Stephen Goffon's book, called Playes confuted in feveral Actions :—

66

They might have vailed and bended to the king's idol.”