BASS. Madam, you have bereft me of all words, Only my blood speaks to you in my veins: And there is such confusion in my powers, As, after some oration fairly spoke By a beloved prince, there doth appear Among the buzzing pleased multitude; Where every something, being blent together, Turns to a wild of nothing, save of joy, Express'd, and not express'd: But when this ring Parts from this finger, then parts life from hence; O, then be bold to say, Bassanio's dead. NER. My lord and lady, it is now our time, That have stood by, and seen our wishes prosper, To cry, good joy; Good joy, my lord, and lady! GRA. My lord Bassanio, and my gentle lady, I wish you all the joy that you can wish; For, I am sure, you can wish none from me': And, when your honours mean to solemnize The bargain of your faith, I do beseech you, Even at that time I may be married too. BASS. With all my heart, so thou can'st get a wife. GRA. I thank your lordship; you have got me one. My eyes, my lord, can look as swift as yours: 8 9 being BLENT together,] i. e. blended. STEEVENS. you can wish none from me:] That is, none away from me; none that I shall lose, if you gain it. JOHNSON. for INTERMISSION -] Intermission is pause, intervening time, delay. So, in Macbeth : 66 66 gentle heaven Cut short all intermission!" STEEVENS. And swearing, till my very roof was dry To have her love, provided that your fortune POR. Is this true, Nerissa? Nɛr. Madam, it is, so you stand pleas'd withal. BASS. And do you, Gratiano, mean good faith? GRA. Yes, 'faith, my lord. BASS. Our feast shall be much honour'd in your marriage. GRA. We'll play with them, the first boy for a thousand ducats. NER. What, and stake down? GRA. No; we shall ne'er win at that sport, and But who comes here? Lorenzo, and his infidel? Enter LORENZO, JESSICA, and SALERIO. BASS. Lorenzo, and Salerio, welcome hither; If that the youth of my new interest here Have power to bid you welcome :-By your leave, I bid my very friends and countrymen, Sweet Portia, welcome. POR. They are entirely welcome. So do I, my lord; LOR. I thank your honour:-For my part, my lord, My purpose was not to have seen you here; But meeting with Salerio by the way, He did entreat me, past all saying nay, To come with him along. SALE. And I have reason for it. BASS. I did, my lord, I pray you, tell me how my good friend doth. SALE. Not sick, my lord, unless it be in mind; Nor well, unless in mind: his letter there Will show you his estate. GRA. Nerissa, cheer yon' stranger; bid her wel come. Your hand, Salerio; What's the news from Venice ? We are the Jasons, we have won the fleece 2. POR. There are some shrewd contents in yon' same paper, That steal the colour from Bassanio's cheek: Some dear friend dead; else nothing in the world Could turn so much the constitution Of any constant man. What, worse and worse?— With leave, Bassanio; I am half yourself, And I must freely have the half of any thing That this same paper brings you. O sweet Portia, BASS. We are the Jasons, we have won the fleece.] So, in Abraham Fleming's Rythme Decasyllabicall, upon this last luckie Voyage of worthie Capteine Frobisher, 1577: 66 The golden fleece (like Jason) hath he got, "And rich'd return'd, saunce losse or luckless lot." Again, in the old play of King Leir, 1605: I will returne seyz'd of as rich a prize "As Jason, when he wanne the golden fleece.” It appears, from the registers of the Stationer's Company, that we seem to have had a version of Valerius Flaccus in 1565. In this year (whether in verse or prose is unknown,) was entered to J. Purfoote: The story of Jason, howe he gotte the golden flece, and howe he did begyle Media [Medea,] out of Laten into Englishe, by Nycholas Whyte." STEEVENS. 66 I freely told you, all the wealth I had And then I told you true: and yet, dear lady, How much I was a braggart: When I told you 3 And every word in it a gaping wound, Issuing life-blood.-But is it true, Salerio? Have all his ventures fail'd? What, not one hit? From Tripolis, from Mexico, and England, From Lisbon, Barbary, and India? And not one vessel 'scape the dreadful touch Sale. Not one, my lord. Besides, it should appear, that if he had The present money to discharge the Jew, He would not take it: Never did I know A creature, that did bear the shape of man, So keen and greedy to confound a man : He plies the duke at morning, and at night: And doth impeach the freedom of the state, If they deny him justice: twenty merchants, The duke himself, and the magnificoes Of greatest port, have all persuaded with him; 3 The paper as the body-] I believe, the author wrote-is the body. The two words are frequently confounded in the old copies. So, in the first quarto edition of this play, Act IV.: "Is dearly bought, as mine," &c. instead of—is mine. MALONE. The expression is somewhat elliptical: "The paper as the body," means-the paper resembles the body, is as the body. STEEVENS. But none can drive him from the envious plea JES. When I was with him, I have heard him swear, To Tubal, and to Chus, his countrymen, It will go hard with poor Antonio. POR. Is it your dear friend, that is thus in trouble ? BASS. The dearest friend to me, the kindest man, The best condition'd and unwearied spirit In doing courtesies; and one in whom The ancient Roman honour more appears, Than any that draws breath in Italy. What, no more? POR. What sum owes he the Jew? Should* lose a hair1 through Bassanio's fault. *So folio, and quarto, H.; shall, quarto, R. 4 Should lose a HAIR.] Hair is here used as a dissyllable. MALONE. |