Por. A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine; The court awards it, and the law doth give it. Shy. Most rightful judge! Por. And you must cut this flesh from off his breast ; The law allows it, and the court awards it. Shy. Most learned judge!A sentence; come, prepare. Por. Tarry a little ;-there is something else. This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood; The words expressly are, a pound of flesh: Then take thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh; But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate Gra. O upright judge!-Mark, Jew;—O Shy. Is that the law? Por. Thyself shalt see the act: For. small trespass; which, the nature and circumstances of the piece considered, may be pardoned even by the severest. CAPELL. For, as thou urgest justice, be assu Thou shalt have justice, more th desir'st. Gra. O learned judge!—Mark, learned judge! Shy. I take this offer then ;8-pay He shall have nothing but the penalt Gra. O Jew! an upright judge, a judge! Por. Therefore, prepare thee to c flesh.9 8 I take this offer then;] I have intro the text, as a new correction, his offer the supposed doctor being now out of fa him, he utters with marks of signal disp tone, action, and look. IDEM. It is observable that, in recommending emendatory change, Mr. Ritson refers h Bassanio, and Mr. Capell to Portia. E. He means, I think, to say "I take "that has been made me." Bassanio had first but twice the sum, but Portia had gone Shylock there's thrice thy money," &c. naturally insists on the larger sum. ΜΑ 9 Therefore prepare thee to cut off the fles judgment is related by Gracian, the Shed thou no blood; nor cut thou less, nor more,i But 66 66 Spanish jesuit, in his Hero, with a reflexion at the conclusion of it. 66 -Compite con la del Salomon "la promptitud de aquel gran Turco. Pretendia un Judio cortar una onza de carne a un Christiano, 66 pena sobre usura. Insistia en ello con igual terquera a su Principe, que perfidia a su Dios. Man"do el gran Juez traer peso, y cuchillo; cominole "el deguello si cortava mas ni menos. Y fue dar agudo corte a la lid, y al mundo milagro del ingenio." El Heroe de Lorenzo Gracian. Primor. 3. Thus rendered by Sir John Skeffington, 1652. "The vivacity of that great Turke enters in competition with that of Solomon: a Jew pretended "to cut an ounce of the flesh of a Christian upon "a penalty of usury; he urged it to the prince, "with as much obstinacy, as perfidiousness towards "God. The great judge commanded a pair of "scales to be brought, threatening the Jew with "death if he cut either more or less: And this was "to give a sharp decision to a malicious process, "and to the world a miracle of subtilty." Heroe, p. 24. The Gregorio Leti, in his Life of Sixtus v. has a similar story. The papacy of Sixtus began in 1583. He died Aug. 29, 1590. The reader will find an extract from Farnworth's Translation, at the conclusion of the play. STEEVENS. I nor cut thou less, nor more, &c.] I cannot discover any thing like reason or propriety in this decision, by which he is made to incur the punishment afterwards mentioned for taking "less "than a just pound." It surely is not founded in natural equity, and it is impossible that any positive law could ever have been framed expressly provid ing But just a pound of flesh; if thou tak'st more, Or less, than a just pound, be it but so much turn But in the estimation of a hair, Thou diest, and all thy goods are con fiscate. Gra. ing for the circumstances of such a particular case, as no man could conceive it possible should ever happen. The merchant would sustain an injury by his cutting more than the just pound; but if he had a right to that, he unquestionably had an equal right to a smaller portion, and in cutting less he certainly did him a kindness. It is otherwise with regard to the threat held out respecting the blood; upon the principle of its being ordained by the Venetian law so highly penal for a Jew to shed the blood of a Christian it was an ingenious salvo, and a fair`advantage taken. E. 2 Ör the division of the twentieth part, &c.] It is not easy to make sense of this which is the reading of the original copies; that which has been here admitted into the text has been copied from Mr. Theobald, (whom Dr. Warburton and Mr. Capell have likewise followed) and must, I think, be explained in this manner-] -By means, or in consequence of the twentieth part, &c. being divided, which operation must be supposed to be performed for the purpose of ascertaining the exact quantity of the overplus or deficiency; in either way the form of expression is obscure. E.. Gra. A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew! Now, infidel, I have thee on the hip. Por. Why doth the Jew pause? take thy forfeiture. Shy. Give me my principal, and let me go. Bass. I have it ready for thee; here it is. Por. He hath refùs'd it in the open court; He shall have merely justice, and his bond. Gra. A Daniel, still say I; a second Daniel! I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word. Shy. Shall I not have barely my principal? Por. Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture, To be so taken at thy peril, Jew. Shy. Why then the devil give him good of it! I'll stay no longer question. Por. Tarry, Jew; The party, 'gainst the which he doth contrive, |