Of woman in me: now from head to foot, I am marble-constant: now the fleeting * moon Cleopatra's Speech on applying the Serpent to her breast. Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have To praise my noble act: I hear him mock I give to baser life.—So,—have you done? Casar's Comments on the Death of Cleopatra. She hath pursu'd conclusions infinite And bear her women from the monument: Brought them to be lamented. Our army shall In solemn show, attend this funeral; ; And then to Rome. Come, Dolabella, see * Changeable. Tried experiments. + Be quick. Enclose. MERCHANT OF VENICE. Shylock, a rich Jew of Venice, has advanced on loan three thousand ducats to Antonio, the Merchant of Venice, an agreement being signed by which, if the borrowed money be not repaid by a certain period, Shylock is to claim a pound of flesh to be cut from the merchant's body. Antonio, owing to sudden and unforeseen losses, forfeits the bond, and is cited before the Duke and magnificoes of Venice to pay the incurred penalty. The Duke tries to persuade Shylock to accept the money, which is now ready to be paid, but, influenced by a feeling of rancorous hatred, he insists on having the pound of flesh. In the meantime, Portia, a rich heiress, just married to Bassanio, an intimate friend of Antonio's, disguises herself as a doctor of laws, and attends the court where the Duke is sitting in judgment. The cause is left to Portia to arbitrate on; she admits the justice of Shylock's claim, but urges him to accept payment of the loan in money; this he refuses to do, and she then proceeds to pronounce sentence, explaining to the Jew that the bond gives him "no jot of blood,” the words being "expressly a pound of flesh." Thus baffled, he agrees to take the money, but Portia further shows him that by the laws of Venice, he, being an alien, having sought the destruction of a citizen, has placed his life at the mercy of the Duke. The Duke pardons the Jew on condition that he turns Christian and "records a gift of all he dies possessed" to Lorenzo, a Christian gentleman, to whom his daughter Jessica is wedded. The loves of Bassanio and Portia, and Gratiano and Nerissa, form an agreeable episode, and the clown, Launcelot Gobbo, Shylock's servant, excites much amusement in the various scenes in which he appears. Acr I. The true Value of the World. I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano ; A stage where every man must play a part. Cheerfulness. Let me play the fool: With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come; Sleep when he wakes? and creep into the jaundice Affected gravity. I tell thee what, Antonio,— I love thee, and it is my love that speaks; Loquacity. 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. Mediocrity. For aught I see, they are as sick that surfeit with too much, as they that starve with nothing: it is no mean happiness, therefore, to be seated in the mean; superfluity comes sooner by white hairs, but competency lives longer. Speculation more easy than Practice. If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces. It is a good divine that follows his own instructions: I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching. The brain may devise laws for the blood; but a hot temper leaps over a cold decree ; such a hare is madness the youth, to skip o'er the meshes of good counsel the cripple. Shylock's Malice towards Antonio. How like a fawning publican he looks! He lends out money gratis, and brings down Hypocrisy. 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 ; Shylock's remonstrance with Antonio. In the Rialto you have rated me And all for use of that which is mine own. Shylock, we would have monies:" you say so; A cur can lend three thousand ducats?" or «Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last : ACT II. Shylock's injunctions to his Daughter. Lock up my doors; and when you hear the drum, And the vile squeaking of the wry-neck'd fife, |