Achiev'd her mistress.

POR.

Is this true, Neriffa?

NER. Madam, it is, fo you ftand pleas'd withal. Bass. And do you, Gratiano, mean good faith? GRA. Yes, 'faith, my lord.

BASS. Our feaft fhall be much honour'd in your marriage.

GRA. We'll play with them, the first boy, for a thousand ducats.

NER. What, and stake down?

GRA. No; we fhall ne'er win at that sport, and ftake down.

But who comes here? Lorenzo, and his infidel? What, and my old Venetian friend, Salerio?

Enter LORENZO, JESSICA, and SALERIO.

BASS. Lorenzo, and Salerio, welcome hither; If that the youth of my new interest here Have power to bid you welcome:-By your leave, I bid my very friends and countrymen,

Sweet Portia, welcome.

POR.

So do I, my lord;

They are entirely welcome.

LOR. I thank your honour:-For my part, my

lord,

My purpose was not to have feen you here;

But meeting with Salerio by the way,

He did entreat me, paft all faying nay,

To come with him along.

SALE.
And I have reafon for it.
Commends him to you.

I did, my lord,
Signior Antonio
[Gives BASSANIO a letter.

Ere I ope his letter,

I pray you, tell me how my good friend doth.
SALE. Not fick, my lord, unless it be in mind
Nor well, unlefs in mind: his letter there
Will show you his estate.

GRA. Neriffa, cheer yon' ftranger; bid her wel

come.

Your hand, Salerio; What's the news from Venice?
How doth that royal merchant, good Antonio?...
I know, he will be glad of our fuccefs;

We are the Jafons, we have won the fleece.'

SALE. 'Would you had won the fleece that he hath : doft!

POR. There are fome fhrewd contents in yon fame paper,

That fteal the colour from Baffanio's cheek:
Some dear friend dead; elfe nothing in the world
Could turn fo much the conftitution

Of any constant man. What, worfe and worfe?-
With leave, Baffanio; I am half yourself,
And I muft, freely have the half of any thing.
That this fame paper brings you,

BASS.
O fweet Portia,
Here are a few of the unpleafant'ft words,
That ever blotted paper! Gentle lady,.
When I did first impart my love to you,
I freely told you, all the wealth I had
Ran in my veins, I was a gentleman;
And then I told you true: and yet, dear lady,

We are the Fafons, we have won the fleece.] So, in Abraham Fleming's Rythme Decafyllabicall, upon this last luckie voyage of worthie Capteine Frobisher, 1577".

"The golden fecce (like Jafon) hath he got,

"And rich return'd, faunce loffe or lucklefs lot."

STERVENS.

Rating myself at nothing, you shall fee

How much I was a braggart: When I told you
My state was nothing, I fhould then have told you
That I was worfe than nothing; for, indeed,
I have engag'd myself to a dear friend,
Engag'd my friend to his mere 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, Salerio?
Have all his ventures fail'd? What, not one hit?
From Tripolis, from Mexico, and England,
From Lisbon, Barbary, and India?

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

SALE.

Not one, my lord.
Befides, it should appear, that if he had
The prefent money to discharge the Jew,
He would not take it: Never did I know
A creature, that did bear 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 justice, and his bond.

JES. When I was with him, I have heard him. fwear,

• The paper as the body - -] I believe, the author wrote-is the body. The two words are frequently confounded in the old copies. So, in the first quarto edition of this play, Act IV : « Is dearly bought, as mine," &c. inftead of is mine. MALONE. The expreffion is fome what elliptical: "The paper as the body," means the paper refembles the body, is as the body. STEEVENS,

To Tubal, and to Chus, his countrymen,
That he would rather have Antonio'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 Antonio.

POR. Is it your dear friend, that is thus in trou-
ble?

BASS. The dearest friend to me, the kindeft man, The best condition'd and unwearied 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?

BASS. For me, three thoufand ducats.

POR.
What, no more?
Pay him fix thousand, and deface the bond;
Double fix thousand, and then treble that,
Before a friend of this defcription

Shall lofe a hair through Baffanio's fault.
First, 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
To pay the petty debt twenty times over;
When it is paid, bring your true friend along:
My maid Neriffa, and myself, mean time,
Will live as maids and widows. Come, away;
For you shall hence upon your wedding-day:
Bid your friends welcome, fhow a merry cheer;'
Since you are dear bought, I will love you dear.-
But let me hear the letter of your friend.

cheer;] i. e. countenance. So, in A Midfummer-Night's Dream, Vol. V. P. "That liv 161: "That liv'd, that lov'd, that lik'd, that look'd with cheer." See note on this paffage. STEEVENS.

BASS. [reads.] Sweet Bassanio, my ships have all mifcarried, my creditors grow cruel, my eftate is very low, my bond to the Jew is forfeit; and fince, in pay ing it, it is impoffible I should live, all debts are cleared between you and I, if I might but fee you at my death: notwithstanding, ufe your pleasure: if your love do not perfuade you to come, let not my letter.

POR. O love, despatch all business, and be gone. BASS. 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. [Exeunt.

Enter SHYLOCK, SALANIO, ANTONIO, and Gaoler.

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

mercy;

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

ANT.

Hear me yet, good Shylock.

SHY. 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'ft a cause:
But, fince I am a dog, beware my fangs :
The duke fhall grant me justice.—I do wonder,
Thou naughty gaoler, that thou art so fond'

6 and I,] This inaccuracy, I believe, was our author's. Mr. Pope reads and me. MALONE.

7 -fo fond -] i. e. fo foolish. So, in the old comedy of Mother Bombie, 1594, by Lyly: " that the youth feeing her fair checks, may be enamoured before they hear her fond fpeech.' STEEVENS.