4 It will go hard with poor Anthonio. Por. Is it your dear friend, that is trouble? Bass. The dearest friend to me, th man, The best condition'd and unweary'd s Por. What sum owes he the Jew Pay him six thousand, and deface the 5 The best condition'd, &c.] He mean that he was "unweary'd" in the exercise of a courtesy, and made them acts of true court is -pleasing to the receiver; for that, pro being "well-condition'd in doing courtesie weary'd should be taken as a superlative by standing most before it. CAPELL. By expressing most, and omitting the co the line would be much improved. E. 6 Shall lose a hair through Bassanio's fau render the measure in this line complete, it necessary that either hair or through be pro as a dissyllable, thorough. The second fo First, go with me to church, and call me wife; For never shall you lie by Portia's side Since you are dear bought, I will love you dear.-8 modern editors down to Johnson inclusive read 66 -my Bassanio's fault," Bass. which it is most likely, was intended by Shakspeare. 7 E. -shew a merry cheer;] Cheer-Air of the countenance. JOHNSON'S DICT. 8 Since you are dear bought, &c.] Portia could not possibly intend by these words ungenerously to remind Bassanio of the benefits she had conferred upon him: They must, I think, relate to that anxiety and distress of mind which she had undergone during the time that his fate was in suspense; possibly too to the grief she was now about to suffer in his absence. Sir T. Hanmer rejects this and the preceding line from the text, and only allows them a place in the margin, and, indeed, the speech sustains no great loss by the omission of them. E. But let me hear the letter of your friend. Bass. [reads.] Sweet Bassanio, my ships have all miscarry'd, my creditors grow cruel, my estate is very low, my bond to the Jew is forfeit; and since, in paying it, it is impossi ble I should live, all debts are cleared between you and me, if I might but see you at my death: notwithstanding, use your pleasure; if your love do not persuade you to come, let not my letter. Por. O love, dispatch all business and be gone. Bass. 9 But let me hear the letter of your friend.] Notwithstanding what is here said, the circumstance of Portia's name not being prefixed, in the second quarto, to the exclamation that follows the letter, and the omission in every quarto and folio too, of the direction for Bassanio to read, create a suspicion that she herself is the reader, having had the letter put into her hands by him who found himself incapable of obeying her command: Persons of feeling will be apt to think, that there is in this a propriety, as well as a good dramatic effect; and her instant exclamation upon having read the letter, does most certainly follow more naturally, and with better grace, than at present. CAPell. Bass. Since I have your good leave to go away, I will make haste: but, 'till I come again, No bed shall e'er be guilty of my stay, No rest be interposer 'twixt us twain. I [Exeunt. No rest be interposer, &c.] In one of the according to Mr. Capell, and in some modern editions it is- "Nor rest be interposer," quartos, &c. E. This Scene is distinguished no less, perhaps, by dignity of moral sentiment, than by the graces of poetical embellishment, at the same time that the transports of successful passion are so naturally expressed in it, that every youthful breast must, in perusing it, throb with the most lively emotions, and those even, whose bosoms, in the moments of declining life, retain yet any traces of the impressions once made by beauty's powerful charm, glow with, at least, a transitory ardour, and, in the language of Mr. Dryden, feel, 66 -heat new bend their slacken'd nerves again, "And a short youth run warm through ev'ry vein." E. SCENE SCENE III.* Venice. A Street. Enter Shylock, Salanio, Anthonio, Shy. Gaoler, look too him ;--Tell not me of mercy; This is the fool that lent out money gratis;— Gaoler, look to him. Anth. Hear me yet, good Shylock. Shy. I'll have my bond; speak not against my bond; I have sworn an oath, that I will have my bond: Thou call'dst me dog, before thou had'st a cause; But, since I am a dog, beware my fangs: The duke shall grant me justice-I do wonder, Thou * SCENE III.-Should be considered as making a part of the same day with the foregoing and that in the morning. Portia tells Bassanio, in Act the 5th, that she "set forth as soon as he," and appeals to Lorenzo for the truth of her declaration; this, however, must not be understood with a literal strictness, since, in the Scene following this, we find her still at Belmont. The present, being assigned to the afternoon, might well have been postponed, and made the last of this Act. E. |