table, serve in the meat, and we will come in to dinner.

Laun. For the table, sir, it shall be served in: for the meat, sir, it shall be covered; for your coming in to dinner, sir, why, let it be as humours and conceits shall govern. [Exit LAUNCElot. Lor. O dear discretion, how his words are suited 4! The fool hath planted in his memory

An army of good words: And I do know
A many fools, that stand in better place,
Garnish'd like him, that for a tricksy word
Defy the matter. How cheer'st thou, Jessica?
And now, good sweet, say thy opinion,
How dost thou like the lord Bassanio's wife?
Jes. Past all expressing: It is very meet,
The lord Bassanio live an upright life;
For, having such a blessing in his lady,
He finds the joys of heaven here on earth;
And, if on earth he do not mean it, it

Is reason he should never come to heaven.
Why, if two gods should play some heavenly match,
And on the wager lay two earthly women,
And Portia one, there must be something else
Pawn'd with the other; for the poor rude world
Hath not her fellow.

Lor.

Even such a husband

Hast thou of me, as she is for a wife.

Jes. Nay, but ask my opinion too of that. Lor. I will anon; first let us go to dinner. Jes. Nay, let me praise you, while I have a stomach. Lor. No, pray thee let it serve for table-talk; Then, howsoe'er thou speak'st, 'mong other things I shall digest it.

Jes.

Well, I'll set you forth. [Exeunt

4 i. e. suited or fitted to each other, arranged.

ACT IV.

SCENE I. Venice. A Court of Justice.

Enter the Duke, the Magnificoes; ANTONIO, BASSANIO, GRATIANO, SALARINO, SALANIO, and others.

Duke. What, is Antonio here?

Ant. Ready, so please your grace.

Duke. I am sorry for thee; thou art come to answer A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch Uncapable of pity, void and empty From any dram of mercy.

Ant.

I have heard,

Your grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify

His rigorous course; but since he stands obdurate,
And that no lawful means can carry me
Out of his envy's1 reach, I do oppose
My patience to his fury; and am arm'd
To suffer, with a quietness of spirit,
The very tyranny and rage of his.

Duke. Go one, and call the Jew into the court.
Salan. He's ready at the door: he comes, my lord.

Enter SHYLOCK.

Duke. Make room, and let him stand before our face.

Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too,
That thou but lead'st this fashion of thy malice
To the last hour of act; and then, 'tis thought,

1 Envy in this place means hatred or malice. So in God's Revenge against Murder, 1621 :

he never looks on her (his wife) with affection, but envy.'

Thou❜lt show thy mercy, and remorse, more strange Than is thy strange apparent cruelty:

4

3

And where thou now exact'st the penalty,

(Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh,) Thou wilt not only lose the forfeiture,

But touch'd with human gentleness and love,
Forgive a moiety of the principal;

Glancing an eye of pity on his losses,
That have of late so huddled on his back;
Enough to press a royal5 merchant down,
And pluck commiseration of his state
From brassy bosoms, and rough hearts of flint,
From stubborn Turks, and Tartars, never train'd
To offices of tender courtesy.

We all expect a gentle answer, Jew.

Shy. I have possess'd your grace of what I purpose;
And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn,
To have the due and forfeit of my bond:
If you deny it, let the danger light

Upon your charter, and your city's freedom.
You'll ask me, why I rather choose to have
A weight of carrion flesh, than to receive
Three thousand ducats: I'll not answer that 6:

2 Remorse in Shakspeare's time generally signified pity, tenderness. So in Othello:

'And to obey shall be in me remorse.'

4 Whereas.

3 i. e. seeming, not real. 5 Royal merchant is not merely a ranting epithet as applied to merchants, for such were to be found at Venice in the Sanudo's, the Giustiniani, the Grimaldi, &c. This epithet was

striking and well understood in Shakspeare's time, when Gresham was dignified with the title of the royal merchant, both from his wealth, and because he constantly transacted the mercantile business of Queen Elizabeth.

6 The Jew being asked a question which the law does not require him to answer, stands upon his right and refuses; but afterwards gratifies his own malignity by such answers as he knows will aggravate the pain of the inquirer. I will not answer, says he, as to a legal question; but, since you want an answer, will this serve you?

But, say, it is

What if my

my humour7; Is it answer'd?
house be troubled with a rat,

And I be pleas'd to give ten thousand ducats
To have it baned? What, are you answer'd yet?
Some men there are love not a gaping pig3;
Some, that are mad, if they behold a cat;
And others, when the bag-pipe sings i' the nose,
Cannot contain their urine; For affection 9,
Master of passion, sways it to the mood

7 The worthy Corporal Nym hath this apology usually at his fingers' ends, and Shylock condescends to excuse his extravagant cruelty as a humour, or irresistible propensity of the mind. The word humour is not used in its modern signification, but for a peculiar quality which sways and masters the individual through all his actions. In Rowland's Epigrams, No. 27 amply illus

trates this phrase:

'Aske Humors, why a fether he doth weare?

It is his humour (by the Lord) heele sweare,' &c. The reader should know that this note is from the pen of Sir Walter Scott. See vol. i. p. 211, note 10.

8 A pig prepared for the table is most probably meant, for in that state is the epithet gaping most applicable to this animal. So in Fletcher's Elder Brother:

And they stand gaping like a roasted pig.'

And in Nashe's Peirce Pennylesse his Supplication to the Devil, 1592, the following passage may serve to confirm the conjecture. 'The causes conducting unto wrath are as diverse as the actions of a man's life. Some will take on like a madman if they see a pig come to the table. Sotericus the surgeon was cholerick at the sight of a sturgeon,' &c.

9 Affection stands here for tendency, disposition; Appetitus animi. On this very difficult passage, who shall decide among the contending opinions of the commentators? Even to state them requires more space than I can spare. The reading I have adopted requires no very violent alteration of the old copy, the change is merely in the punctuation of one line, and the omission of s at the end of master's. I think it right to place below the original reading of all the old copies that the reader may judge for himself:

'And others when the bag-pipe sings i' th' nose
Cannot contain their urine for affection.

Masters of passion sways it to the mood
Of what it likes or loathes.'

Of what it likes, or loaths: Now, for your answer:
As there is no firm reason to be render'd,
Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;
Why he, a harmless necessary cat;
Why he, a woollen 10 bag-pipe; but of force
Must yield to such inevitable shame,
As to offend, himself being offended;
So can I give no reason, nor I will not,
More than a lodg'd hate, and a certain loathing
I bear Antonio, that I follow thus

A losing suit against him.

Are you answer'd?
thou unfeeling man,

Bass. This is no answer,
To excuse the current of thy cruelty.
Shy. I am not bound to please thee with

Bass. Do all men kill the things they do not love? Shy. Hates any man the thing he would not kill? Bass. Every offence is not a hate at first.

Shy. What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice?

Ant. I pray you, think you question 11 with the Jew: You may as well go stand upon the beach, And bid the main flood bate his usual height; You may as well use question with the wolf, Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb; You may as well forbid the mountain pines To wag their high tops, and to make no noise, When they are fretted with the gusts of heaven 12; You may as well do any thing most hard,

10 It was usual to cover with woollen cloth the bag of this instrument. The old copies read woollen, the conjectural reading swollen was proposed by Sir J. Hawkins.

11 Converse.

12 This image seems to have been caught from Golding's version of Ovid, 1587, book xv. p. 196:

Such noise as pine-trees make, what time the heady easterne winde

Doth whizz amongst them.'