How like a younger or a prodigall,
The skarfed Barke puts from her natiue bay,
Hugd and embraced by the ftrumpet winde,
How like the prodigall doth fhe returue
With ouer-wetherd ribs and ragged fayles,
Leane,rent,and beggerd by the ftrumpet wind?
Sal.Here comes Lorenzo,more of this hereafter.
Lo.Sweet friends,your patience for my long abode
Not I,but my affaires haue made you waite :
When you fhal please to play the theeues for wiues
Ile watch as long for you then: approch,
Here dwels my father Iew.Ho,whofe within
Ieffica abone.
Ielf. Who are you? tell me for more certainty,
Albeit Ile fweare that I do know your tongue.
Lor. Lorenzo and thy loue.
leff.Lorenzo certaine,and my loue indeed, For who loue I fo much? and now who knowes But you Lorenzo, whether I am yours?
Lo. Heauen & thy thoghts are witnes that thou art
Zeff.Here,catch this Casket, tis worth the paines,
I am glad tis night you do not looke on me,
For I am much afham'd of my exchange:
But loue is blinde,and louers cannot fee
The pretty follies that themfelues commit,
For if they could, Cupid himselfe would blufh
To fee ine thus transformed to a boy.
Lor.Defcend, for you must be my
you must be my torch-bearer, Ieff.What,muft I hold a Candle to my shames, They in themfelues goodfooth are too too light. Why tis an office of difcouery, Loue,
And I fhould be obscur'd.
Lor. So are you fweete,
Euen in the louely garnish of a boy,
But come at once, for the clofe night
Doth play the run-away,
And we are ftaid for at Bassanies feaft.
Ieff.I will make fast the doores, and guild any felfe
With fome mo ducats, and be with you ftraight.
Grat. Now by my hood,a Gentile and no lew.
Lor.Befhrew me but I loue her hartily,
For fhe is wife, if I can judge of her,
And faire fhe is,if that mine eyes be true,
And true he is,as the hath proo'ud herselfe,
And therefore like herfelfe,wife,faire and true,
Shall the be placed in my conftant foule.
Enter leffica.
What,art thou come? on gentlemen,away,
Our masking mates by this time for vs ftay. Exit.
Enter Anthonio.
Ant.Who's there?
Gra.Signior Anthonio.
Ant.Fie,fic Gratiano, where are all the reft?
Tis nine a clocke,our friends all ftay for you,
No maske to night, the winde is come abour,
Baffanie prefently will goe aboard,
I am glad on't, I defire no more delight
Then to be vnder fayle,& gone to night.
Enter Portia with Morrocho,and both their traines.
Por.Goe,draw afide the Curtaines, and discouer
The feuerall Caskets to this noble Prince:
Now make your choife.
Mor. The firft of gold,who this infcription beares,
Who chooseth me,fhall gaine what many men defire...
The fecond filuer,which this promife carries,
Who chooseth me,fhall get as much as he deferues.
This third, dull lead, with warning all as blunt,
Who chooseth me,must giue and hazard all he hath..
How fhall I know if I do choose the right ?.
Por. The one of them containes my picture Prince
If you choose that, then I am yours withall.
Mor.Some God direct my judgement,let me see,
I will furuay th'infcriptions backe againe,
What fayes this leaden Casket?
Who chooseth me,must giue and hazard all he hath,
Muft giue,for what? for lead,hazard for lead?
This Casket threatens men that hazard all,
Doe it in hope of faire aduantages:
A golden minde ftoopes not to fhowes of droffe,
Ile then nor giue nor hazard ought for lead.
What fayes the filuer with her virgine hue?
Who chooseth me,fhall get as much as he deferues.
As much as he deferues,pause there Morocho,
And weigh thy value with an ceuen hand,
If thou beeft rated by thy eftimation,
Thou doft deferue enough,and yet enough
May not extend so farre as to the Lady;
And yet to be afeard of my deferuing,
Were but a weake difabling of my felfe.
As much as I deferue, why that's the Lady,
I do in birth deferue her,and in fortunes,
In graces,and in qualities of breeding:
But more then these,in loue I do deferue.
What if I fraid no farther,but chose here?
Let's fee once more this faying grau'd in gold:
Who chooseth me,fhall gaine what many men defire:
Why that's the Lady,all the world defires her.
From the foure corners of the earth they come
To kiffe this fhrine,this mortall breathing Saint.
The Hircanion deferts,and the vafty wildes
Of wide Arabia, are as through-fares now
For Princes to come view faire Pertia.
The watry Kingdome, whofe ambitious head
Spets in the face of heauen,is no barre
Toftop the forraine fpirits,but they come
As ore a brooke to fee faire Portia.
One of these three containes her heauenly picture.
Is't like that leade containes her,t'were damnation
To thinke fo bafe a thought,it were too groffe
To rib her fere-cloth in the obfcure graue,
Or fhall I thinke in filuer fhee's immur'd,
Being ten times vnder-valewed to tride gold,
Ofinfull thought,neuer fo rich a Iem
Was fet in worse then gold. They haue in England
A coyne that beares the figure of an Angell
Stampt in gold,but that's infculpt vpon :
But heere an Angell in a golden bod
Lies all within. Deliuer me the key:
Heere do I choose, and thriue I as I may.
Por. There take it Prince, and if my forme lie there,
Then I am yours.
Mor.O hell! what haue we heere, a carrion death?
Within whofe empty eye there is a written fcroule,
Ile reade the writing.
All that glifters is not gold,
Often have you heard that told,
Many aman his life bath folde,
But my our fide to behold,
Guilded timber do wormes infold:
Had you bene as wife as bold,
Young in limbes, in iudgement old,
Tour anfwere had not beene inferolde,
Fare you well, your fute is cold.
Mor.Cold indeed,and labour loft,
Then farwell heate,and welcome froft:
Portia adiew, I haue too greeu'd a heart
To take a tedious leaue; thus lofers part.
Per.A gentle riddance,draw the curtaines,goe, Let all of his complection choose me fo.
Enter Salarino and Salanie.
Salar. Why man, I faw Bassanie vader fayle, With him is Gratiano gone along;
And in their fhip Ime fure Lorenzo is not.
Salan. The villaine Jew with outcries raifde the Duke, Who went with him to fearch Ballanies hip..
Salar.He came too late, the ship was vnder faile,
But there the Duke was giuen to ynderstand,
That in a Gondylo were feene together
Lorenza and his armorous Ieffica.
Befides Anthonio certified the Duke,
They were not with Baffanie in his fhip.
Salan.I neuer heard a paffion fo confused,
ftrange,outragious,and fo variable,
As the Dog Iew did vtter in the ftreetes,
My daughter, O my ducats, O my daughter,
Fled with a Chriftian, O my chriftian ducats.
Juftice,the law,my ducats,and my daughter.
A fealed bag,two fealed bags of ducats,
Of double ducats,ftolne from me by my daughter,
And iewels,two ftones,two rich & precious ftones,
Stolne by my daughter: iuftice,finde the gyrle,
She hath the ftones vpon her,and the ducats.
Salar. Why all the boyes in Venice follow him,
Crying his ftones,his daughter,and his ducats.
Salan. Let good Anthonio looke he keep his day,
Or he shall pay for this.
Salar. Marry well remembred,
I reafon'd with a Frenchman yesterday,
Who told me,in the narrow feas that part
The French and English,there mifcarried
A veffell of our country richly fraught:
I thought vpon Anthonio when he told me,
And wifht in filence that it were not his.
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