Shakespeare's Comedy of the Merchant of Venice: With Preface, Glossary & C

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J.M. Dent and Company, 1897 - English drama - 131 pages

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Page 12 - Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice. His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff: you shall seek all day ere you find them ; and, when you have them, they are not worth the search.
Page 21 - Shylock, we would have moneys : " you say so, You, that did void your rheum upon my beard, And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur Over your threshold : moneys is your suit. What should I say to you ? Should I not say " Hath a dog money ? is it possible A cur can lend three thousand ducats...
Page 111 - The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark When neither is attended, and I think The nightingale, if she should sing by day, When every goose is cackling, would be thought No better a musician than the wren.
Page 89 - You have among you many a purchas'd slave, Which, like your asses and your dogs and mules, You use in abject and in slavish parts, Because you bought them. Shall I say to you, Let them be free, marry them to your heirs ? Why sweat they under burdens ? let their beds Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates Be season'd with such viands ? You will answer, The slaves are ours.
Page 12 - Let me play the Fool : With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come ; And let my liver rather heat with wine, Than my heart cool with mortifying groans. Why should a man, whose blood is warm within, Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster...
Page 93 - The quality of mercy is not strain'd, It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath : it is twice blest ; It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes...
Page 58 - If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility ? revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example ? why, revenge. The villany you teach me, I will execute ; and it shall go hard, but I will better the instruction.
Page 20 - Mark you this, Bassanio, The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. An evil soul, producing holy witness, Is like a villain with a smiling cheek ; A goodly apple rotten at the heart : O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath ! Shy.
Page 58 - He hath disgraced me, and hindered me half a million; laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?
Page 107 - In such a night as this, When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees, And they did make no noise ; in such a night, Troilus, methinks, mounted the Trojan walls, And sigh'd his soul toward the Grecian tents, Where Cressid lay that night.

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