BASS.-Shylock, do you hear?

SHY.-I am debating of my present store; And by the near guess of my memory,

I cannot instantly raise up the gross

Of full three thousand ducats. What of that?
Tubal, a wealthy Hebrew of my tribe,

Will furnish me.

Do you desire?

But soft, how many months

Rest you fair, good signior;

[To Antonio.]

Your worship was the last man in our mouths.

ANT.-Shylock, albeit I neither lend nor borrow,

By taking nor by giving of excess,

Yet, to supply the ripe wants of my friend,

I'll break a custom. Is he yet possessed
How much you would?

SHY.-Ay, ay, three thousand ducats.
ANT. And for three months?

SHY.-I had forgot,-three months; you told me so.
Well then, your bond; and let me see,—But hear you:
Methought you said you neither lend nor borrow
Upon advantage.

ANT. I do never use it.

SHY.-Three thousand ducats; 'tis a good round sum. Three months from twelve, then let me see the rate. ANT.-Well, Shylock, shall we be beholden to you? SHY.-Signior Antonio, many a time and oft,

In the Rialto you have rated me

About my moneys and my usances;

Still have I borne it with a patient shrug,
For sufferance is the badge of all our tribe:
You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,

And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine,

And all for use of that which is mine own.

Well then, it now appears, you need my help.
Go to, then; you come to me, and you say,
"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?" or
Shall I bend low, and in a bondman's key,
With bated breath, and whispering humbleness,
Say this:-

"Fair sir, you spat on me on Wednesday last;
You spurned me such a day; another time.
You called me dog; and for these courtesies
I'll lend you thus much moneys."

ANT.-I am as like to call thee so again,
To spit on thee again, to spurn thee too.
If thou wilt lend this money, lend it not

As to thy friends: for when did friendship take
A breed for barren metal of his friend?

But lend it rather to thine enemy;

Who, if he break, thou may'st with better face
Exact the penalty.

I would be friends with

SHY.-Why, look you, how you storm! you, and have your love, Forget the shames that you have stained me with, Supply your present wants, and take no doit

Of usance for my moneys, and you'll not hear me. This is kind I offer.

ANT. This were kindness.

SHY.-This kindness will I show.

Go with me to a notary, seal me there

Your single bond; and in a merry sport,
If you repay me not on such a day,
In such a place, such sum or sums as are
Expressed in the condition, let the forfeit
Be nominated for an equal pound

Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken
In what part of your body pleaseth me.

ANT.- Content, in faith, I'll seal to such a bond,
And say there is much kindness in the Jew.

BASS.-You shall not seal to such a bond for me;
I'll rather dwell in my necessity.

ANT.-Why, fear not, man; I will not forfeit it;
Within these two months, that's a month
Before this bond expires, I do expect return
Of thrice three times the value of this bond.

SHY.-O, father Abraham! what these Christians are, Whose own hard dealing teaches them suspect The thoughts of others! Pray you, tell me this; If he should break his day, what should I gain

By the exaction of the forfeiture?

A pound of man's flesh, taken from a man,

Is not so estimable, profitable neither,
As flesh of muttons, beefs, or goats. I say,
To buy his favor, I extend this friendship;
If he will take it, so; if not, adieu;

And for my love, I pray you, wrong me not.
ANT. Yes, Shylock, I will seal unto this bond.
SHY.--Then meet me forthwith at the notary's;
Give him direction for this merry bond,

And I will go and purse the ducats straight;
See to my house, left in the fearful guard

Of an unthrifty knave, and presently

I will be with you.

[Exit.

ANT.-Hie thee, gentle Jew.

The Hebrew will turn Christian; he grows kind.
BASS.-I like not fair terms, and a villain's mind.
ANT.---Come on;
in this there can be no dismay,

My ships come home a month before the day.

[Exeunt.

XC.-DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.

1. When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

2. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness.

3. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when a long train of abuses and

usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security.

4. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies, and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the. present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having, in direct object, the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world:

5. He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

6. He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature; a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

7. He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing, with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining, in the meantime, exposed to all the danger of invasion from without, and convulsions within.