Of woman in me: now from head to foot,

I am marble-constant: now the fleeting * moon
No planet is of mine.

Cleopatra's Speech on applying the Serpent to her breast.

Give me my robe, put on my crown; I have
Immortal longings in me: now no more
The juice of Egypt's grape shall moist this lip :
Yare, yare,† good Iras; quick-Methinks I hear
Antony call; I see him rouse himself

To praise my noble act: I hear him mock
The luck of Cæsar, which the gods give men
To excuse their after-wrath: Husband, I come :
Now to that name my courage prove my title!
I am fire and air; my other elements

I give to baser life.—So,—have you done?
Come then, and take the last warmth of my lips,
Farewell, kind Charmian ;-Iris, long farewell.

Casar's Comments on the Death of Cleopatra.
Her physician tells me,

She hath pursu'd conclusions infinite
Of easy ways to die. Take up her bed;

And bear her women from the monument:
She shall be buried by her Antony:
No grave upon the earth shall clip§ in it
A pair so famous, High events as these
Strike those that make them; and their story is
No less in pity, than his glory which

Brought them to be lamented.

Our army shall

In solemn show, attend this funeral;

;

And then to Rome. Come, Dolabella, see
High order in this great solemnity.

* 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;
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?

Sleep when he wakes? and creep into the jaundice
By being peevish ?

Affected gravity.

I tell thee what, Antonio,—

I love thee, and it is my love that speaks;
There are a sort of men, whose visages
Do cream and mantle like a standing pond;
And do a wilful stillness entertain,
With purpose to be dress'd in an opinion
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit;
As who should say, “I am Sir Oracle,
And, when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!"
O, my Antonio, I do know of these,
That therefore only are reputed wise,
For saying nothing.

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!
I hate him, for he is a Christian :
But more for that, in low simplicity,

He lends out money gratis, and brings down
The rate of usance here with us in Venice.
If I can catch him once upon the hip,
I will feed fat the ancient grudge I bear him.
He hates our sacred nation, and he rails,
Even there where merchants most do congregate,
On me, my bargains, and my well won thrift,
Which he calls interest. Cursed be my tribe,
If I forgive him.

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 ;
O, what a goodly outside falsehood hath!

Shylock's remonstrance with Antonio.
Signior Antonio, many a time and oft,

In the Rialto you have rated me
About my monies 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 monies:" you say so;
You that did void your rheum upon my beard,
And foot me as you spurn a stranger cur
Over your threshold; monies 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 spit on me on Wednesday last :
You spurn'd me such a day; another time
You call'd me-dog; and for these courtesies
I'll lend you thus much monies ?"

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,