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Thou naughty gaoler, that thou art so fond
To come abroad with him at his request.
Anth. I pray thee, hear me speak.

Shy. I'll have my bond; I will not hear thee speak:

I'll have my bond; and therefore speak no

more.

I'll not be made a soft and dull-ey'd fool,2
To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield
To Christian intercessors. Follow not;
I'll have no speaking; I will have my bond.
[Exit Shylock.
Sal. It is the most impenetrable cur,

That ever kept with men.

Anth.

Let him alone;

I'll follow him no more with bootless prayers.
He seeks my life; his reason well I know;
I oft deliver'd from his forfeitures

Many that at times made moan to me;
Therefore he hates me.

Sala.

I am sure, the duke

Will never grant this forfeiture to hold.

I

Anth.

-so fond] i. e. so foolish. So, in the comedy of Mother Bombie, 1594, by Lyly:

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-that the youth seeing her fair cheeks, may "be enamoured before they hear her fond speech.' STEEVENS.

2 dull-ey'd fool,] This epithet dull-ey'd is bestowed on melancholy, in Pericles Prince of Tyre.

STEEVENS.

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For the commodity that strangers hav With us in Venice: if it be deny'd, 'Twill much impeach the justice of t

Accordin

3 The duke cannot deny, &c.] division and reading of this passage that ha to been admitted, a colon or semicolon bein at law, the nominative to impeach isdity; which, whatever sense may be p cannot rationally be said to impeach a state The relative it in the third line of the sp obviously its proper reference to the terms by the verb deny in the first, i. e. cours which it seems not to have under the punctu fore mentioned: These are such objectio punctuation and the former reading of line "much impeach," &c. that I do not see can be maintained: The minute alteratio have made in both, remove these object also develope the speaker's reasoning w clearness. For in line 2, has its comm of-by reason of; and commodity isdious privileges: and the words in which declares his reason why a denial of the cour would impeach the state's justice, implystate was bound to let the law have its co all nations, as its profits arose out of all.

4 For the commodity that strangers have With us in Venice, if it be denied, &c.] i. denial of those rights to strangers, whic their abode at Venice so commodious and to them, would much impeach the justice of The consequence would be, that strangers reside or carry on traffic here; and the w

Since that the trade and profit of the city
Consisteth of all nations. Therefore, go:
These griefs and losses have so 'bated me,4
That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh
To-morrow to my bloody creditor.-

Well, gaoler, on:Pray God, Bassanio

come

To see me pay his debt, and then I care not!

[Exeunt.

strength of the state would be diminished. In The Historye of Italye, by W. Thomas, quarto, 1567, there is a section On the libertee of straungers at Venice. MALONE.

Mr. Malone evidently supposes it in the words "if it be denied" to relate to commodity, which latter, if considered apart, cannot certainly, with any propriety, be said to " impeach the justice," &c. but being combined with those other words just now cited, they may, perhaps, in conjunction, bear the sense which he assigns to them. His explanation, therefore, of the passage may be right; I have notwithstanding ventured to follow the punctuation and reading of Mr. Capell. E.

-have so 'bated me,] Here 'bated is used for abated, signifying in this place-wasted, i. e. by dejection and depression of mind. E.

VOL. I.

M

SCENE

SCENE IV.*

Belmont. A Room in Portia's House.

Enter Portia, Nerissa, Lorenzo,

Jessica, and Balthazar.

Lor. Madam, although I speak it in your presence,

You have a noble and a true conceit

Of god-like amity; which appears most strongly

In bearing thus the absence of your lord.
But, if you knew to whom you shew this

honour,

How

* SCENE IV.-Is the same day continued, and not far advanced. No inconsiderable portion of it, however, must have been consumed in the business of choosing the casket, and the celebration of the marriage ceremony. From Anthonio's complaint in the preceding Scene, expressed in these words

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These griefs and losses have so 'bated me, "That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh "To-morrow to my bloody creditor ;"

it appears that he expected to have his cause brought to trial the following day; whatever intervenes at Belmont should, therefore, be conceived as happening on the same day in which those words were spoken. It is somewhat strange that Salerio should defer his visit to the last mentioned place till the very day before his friend's life was to be put to the haz ard; but the Jew might possibly not have openly avowed his resolution to proceed to such extremities, till it could no longer be concealed. E.

How true a gentleman you send relief,1 How dear a lover of my lord your husband, I know, you would be prouder of the work, Than customary bounty can enforce you.2

Por. I never did repent for doing good,3 Nor shall not now: for in companions That do converse and waste the time together, Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love, There must needs be a like proportion Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit ;4

I

Which

-you send relief,] Mr. Rowe, and most of those who followed him, conceiving, probably, that the phrase was defective, have added the sign of the dative- you send relief to," but perhaps unnecessarily. E.

2 Than customary bounty can enforce you.] Than such common acts of bounty as you are in the continual habit of performing can incline you to be. E.

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3 I never did repent for doing good, &c.] Is thus modernized in Mr. Pope, and his successors, to Johnson, inclusively,

"I never did repent of doing good,
"And shall not now." E.

4 Of lineaments, of manners, &c.] The wrong pointing has made this fine sentiment nonsense. As implying that friendship could not only make a similitude of manners, but of faces. The true sense is, "lineaments of manners," i. e. form of the manners, which, says the speaker, must need be proportionate. WARBURTON.

The poet only means to say, " that corresponding "proportions of body and mind are necessary for "those who spend their time together." So, in

M 2

King

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