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Clamber not you up to the casements then,
Nor thrust your head into the publick street,
To gaze on Christian fools with varnish'd faces:
But stop my house's ears, I mean my casements;
Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter
My sober house.-By Jacob's staff, I swear,
I have no mind of feasting forth to-night:
But I will go.-Go you before me, sirrah;
Say, I will come.

LAUN

I will go before, sir.Mistress, look out at window, for all this;

There will come a Christian by,
Will be worth a Jewess' eye. [Exit LAUN
SHY. What says that fool of Hagar's offspring, ha?
JES. His words were, Farewell, mistress; no-
thing else.

SHY. The patch is kind enough"; but a huge
feeder,

Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day

More than the wild cat; drones hive not with me;
Therefore I part with him; and part with him
To one that I would have him help to waste
His borrow'd purse.-Well, Jessica, go in;
Perhaps I will return immediately;

Do, as I bid you,

Shut doors' after you: Fast bind, fast find;
A proverb never stale in thrifty mind.

[Exit.

*First folio, but.

5 There will come a Christian by,

Will be WORTH A JEWESS' EYE.] It's worth a Jew's eye, is a proverbial phrase. WHALLEY.

6 The PATCH is kind enough:] Any low fellow that wore or was likely to wear a patched coat was thus termed. So, in A Woman Will Have Her Will (written in 1598,) the speaker addressing a post who had brought him letters: "Get home, you patch; cannot you suffer gentlemen to jest with you?" MALONE. 7 Shut DOORS] Doors is here used as a dissyllable.

MALONE.

JES. Farewell; and if my fortune be not crost, I have a father, you a daughter, lost.

SCENE VI.

The same.

[Exit.

Enter GRATIANO and SALARINO, masqued.

GRA. This is the pent-house, under which Lo

renzo

Desir'd us to make stand *8.

SALAR.

His hour is almost past.

GRA. And it is marvel he out-dwells his hour, For lovers ever run before the clock.

SALAR. O, ten times faster Venus' pigeons fly' To seal love's bonds new-made, than they are wont, To keep obliged faith unforfeited!

GRA. That ever holds: Who riseth from a feast, With that keen appetite that he sits down? Where is the horse that doth untread again His tedious measures with the unbated fire That he did pace them first? All things that are,

*First folio, a stand.

Desir'd us TO MAKE stand.] Desir'd us stand, in ancient elliptical language, signifies-desired us to stand. The words— to make, are an evident interpolation, and consequently spoil the measure. STEEVENS.

9 O, ten times faster Venus' PIGEONS fly-] Lovers have in poetry been always called turtles or doves, which in lower language may be pigeons. JOHNSON.

Thus, Chapman, in his version of Homer's Catalogue of Ships, Iliad the second:

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Thisbe, that for pigeons doth surpasse Mr. Pope, in more elegant language:

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-Thisbe, fam'd for silver doves

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STEEVENS.

Venus' pigeons, I apprehend, mean the doves by which her chariot is drawn: Venus drawn by doves is much more prompt to seal new bonds, &c. BoswELL.

Are with more spirit chased than enjoy'd.
How like a younker', or a prodigal,

The scarfed bark2 puts from her native bay,
Hugg'd and embraced by the strumpet wind3!
How like the * prodigal doth she return *;
With over-weather'd ribs, and ragged sails,
Lean, rent, and beggar'd by the strumpet wind!

I

Enter LoRenzo.

SALAR. Here comes Lorenzo;-more of this hereafter.

* First folio, a.

—a YOUNKER,] All the old copies read-a younger.

But Rowe's emendation may be justified by Falstaff's question in The First Part of King Henry IV.: -“I'll not pay a denier. What will you make a younker of me?' STEEVENS.

"How like a younker, or a prodigal,

"The scarfed bark puts from her native bay, &c." Mr. Gray (dropping the particularity of allusion to the parable of the prodigal,) seems to have caught from this passage the imagery of the following:

"Fair laughs the morn, and soft the zephyr blows,
"While proudly riding o'er the azure reaĺm

"In gallant trim the gilded vessel goes;

"Youth on the prow, and Pleasure at the helm ;
"Regardless of the sweeping whirlwind's sway,

"That hush'd in grim repose, expects his evening-prey." The grim-repose, however, was suggested by Thomson'sdeep fermenting tempest brew'd

2

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"In the grim evening sky."

HENLEY.

SCARFED bark-] i. e. the vessel decorated with flags. So, in All's Well that Ends Well: "Yet the scarfs and the bannerets about thee, did manifoldly dissuade me from believing thee a vessel of too great burden." STEEVENS.

3 - embraced by the strumpet wind!] So, in Othello:

"The bawdy wind, that kisses all it meets." MALONE. 4- doth SHE return ;] Surely the bark ought to be of the masculine gender, otherwise the allusion wants somewhat of propriety. This indiscriminate use of the personal for the neuter, at least obscures the passage. A ship, however, is commonly spoken of in the feminine gender. STEEVENS.

5 With over-WEATHER'D ribs,] Thus both the quartos. The folio has over-wither'd. MALONE.

LOR. Sweet friends, your patience for my long

abode;

Not I, but my affairs have made you wait;
When you shall please to play the thieves for wives,
I'll watch as long for you then.-Approach;
Here dwells my father Jew:-Ho! who's within?

Enter JESSICA above, in boy's clothes.

JES. Who are you? Tell me, for more certainty, Albeit I'll swear that I do know your tongue.

LOR. Lorenzo, and thy love.

JES. Lorenzo, certain; and my love, indeed; For who love I so much? And now who knows, But you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours?

LOR. Heaven, and thy thoughts, are witness that thou art.

JES. Here, catch this casket; it is worth the

pains.

I am glad 'tis night, you do not look on me,
For I am much asham'd of my exchange :
But love is blind, and lovers cannot see
The pretty follies that themselves commit;
For if they could, Cupid himself would blush
To see me thus transformed to a boy.

LOR. Descend, for you must be my torch-bearer. JES. What, must I hold a candle to my shames? They in themselves, good sooth, are too too light. Why, 'tis an office of discovery, love;

And I should be obscur'd.

LOR.

So are you*, sweet,

Even in the lovely garnish of a boy.

But come at once;

*First folio, you are.

I'll watch as long for you then.-Approach ;] Read, with a

slight variation from Sir T. Hanmer :

"I'll watch as long for you. Come then, approach."

RITSON.

For the close night doth play the run-away,
And we are staid for at Bassanio's feast.

JES. I will make fast the doors, and gild myself With some more ducats, and be with you straight. [Exit, from above.

GRA. Now, by my hood, a Gentile *, and no Jew'. LOR. Beshrew me, but I love her heartily:

For she is wise, if I can judge of her;

And fair she is, if that mine eyes be true;
And true she is, as she hath prov'd herself;
And therefore, like herself, wise, fair, and true,
Shall she be placed in my constant soul.

Enter JESSICA, below.

What, art thou come ?-On, gentlemen, away; Our masquing mates by this time for us stay. [Exit with JESSica and Salarino.

Enter ANTONIO.

ANT. Who's there?

GRA. Signior Antonio?

ANT. Fye, fye, Gratiano! where are all the rest? 'Tis nine o'clock; our friends all stay for you :— No masque to-night; the wind is come about,

*First folio, and quarto H. gentle.

Now, by my HOOD, a GENTILE, and no Jew.] A jest arising from the ambiguity of Gentile, which signifies both a Heather, and one well born. JOHNSON.

So, at the conclusion of the first part of Jeronimo, &c. 1605: So, good night kind gentles,

66

"For I hope there's never a Jew among you

Again, in Swetnam Arraign'd, 1620:

66

Joseph the Jew was a better Gentile far.”

all."

STEEVENS.

Dr. Johnson rightly explains this. There is an old book by one Ellis, entitled: "The Gentile Sinner, or England's brave Gentleman." FARMER.

To understand Gratiano's oath, it should be recollected that he is in a masqued habit, to which it is probable that formerly, as at present, a large cape or hood was affixed. MALONE.

Gratiano alludes to the practice of friars, who frequently swore by this part of their habit. STEEVENS.

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