Who, then conceiving, did in eaning time
Fall party-colour'd lambs, and those were Jacob's.*
This was a way to thrive, and he was blest;
And thrift is blessing, if men steal it not.

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ANT. This was a venture, sir, that Jacob serv'd

for;

A thing not in his power to bring to pass,
But sway'd, and fashion'd, by the hand of heaven.
Was this inserted to make interest good?

Or is your gold and silver, ewes and rams?

SHY. I cannot tell; I make it breed as fast :7But note me, signior.

ANT.

Mark you this, Bassanio, The devil can cite scripture for his purpose.* An evil soul, producing holy witness,

Minsheu supposes it to mean nauseous in so high a degree as to excite vomiting. MALONE.

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and those were Jacob's.] See Genesis, xxx. 37, &c.

STEEVENS.

• This was a way to thrive, &c.] So, in the ancient song of

Gernutus the Jew of Venice:

"His wife must lend a shilling,

"For every weeke a penny,

"Yet bring a pledge that is double worth,

"If that you will have any.

And see, likewise, you keepe your day,

"Or else you lose it all:

"This was the living of the wife,

"Her cow she did it call."

Her cotó, &c. seems to have suggested to Shakspeare Shylock's argument for usury. PERCY.

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Adonis:

Í make it breed as fast :] So, in our author's Venus and

"Foul cank'ring rust the hidden treasure frets ;
"But gold that's put to use more gold begets.'

MALONE.

The devil can cite scripture &c.] See St. Matthew, iv. 6.

HENLEY.

Is like a villain with a smiling cheek;
A goodly apple rotten at the heart;

O, what a goodly outside falshood hath!'

SHY. Three thousand ducats,-'tis a good round

sum.

Three months from twelve, then let me see the rate. ANT. Well, Shylock, shall we be beholden tó

you?

SHY. Signior Antonio, many a time and oft,
In the Rialto you have rated me
About my monies, and my usances:1

9 O, what a goodly outside falshood hath !] Falshood, which as truth means honesty, is taken here for treachery and knavery, does not stand for falshood in general, but for the dishonesty now operating. JOHNSON.

1

my usances:] Use and usance are both words anciently employ'd for usury, both in its favourable and unfavourable sense. So, in The English Traveller, 1633:

Again:

"Give me my use, give me my principal."

"A toy; the main about five hundred pounds,
"And the use fifty." STEEVENs.

Mr. Ritson asks, whether Mr. Steevens is not mistaken in saying that use and usance, were accidentally employed for usury. "Use and usance, (he adds) mean nothing more than interest; and the former word is still used by country people in the same sense." That Mr. Steevens, however, is right respecting the word in the text, will appear from the following quotation: "I knowe a gentleman borne to five hundred pounde lande, did never receyve above a thousand pound of nete money, and within certeyne yeres ronnynge still upon usurie and double usurie, the merchants termyng it usance and double usance, by a more clenly name he did owe to master usurer five thousand pound at the last, borowyng but one thousande pounde at first, so that his land was clean gone, beynge five hundred poundes inherytance, for one thousand pound in money, and the usurie of the same money for so fewe yeres; and the man now beggeth." Wylson on Usurye, 1572, p. 32. REED.

Usance, in our author's time, I believe, signified interest of money. It has been already used in this play in that sense:

Still have I borne it with a patient shrug;2
For sufference is the badge of all our tribe:
You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,
And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine,

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And all for use of that which is mine own.
Well then, it now appears, you need my help:
Go to then; you come to me, and you say,
Shylock, we would have monies; You say so;
You, that did void your rheum upon my beard,
And foot me, as you spurn a stranger cur
Over
your threshold; monies is your suit.
What should I say to you? Should I not say,
Hath a dog money? is it possible,

A cur can lend three thousand ducats? or
Shall I bend low, and in a bondman's key,
With 'bated breath, and whispering humbleness,
Say this,

"He lends out money gratis, and brings down "The rate of usance with us here in Venice." Again, in a subsequent part, he says, he will take "no doit of usance for his monies." Here it must mean interest.

MALONE.

Still have I borne it with a patient shrug;] So, in Marlowe's Jew of Malta, (written and acted before 1593,) printed in 1633:

"I learn'd in Florence how to kiss my hand,
"Heave up my shoulders when they call me dogge."

MALONE.

And spit-] The old copies always read spet, which spelling is followed by Milton:

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"Of Stygian darkness spets her thickest gloom."

STEEVENS.

Shylock,] Our author, as Dr. Farmer informs me, took the name of his Jew from an old pamphlet entitled: Caleb Shillocke, kis Prophesie; or the Jewes Prediction. London, printed for T. P. (Thomas Pavyer.) No date. STEEVENS.

VOL. VII.

S

Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last;
You spurn'd me such a day; another time
You call'd me-dog; and for these courtesies
I'll lend you thus much monies.

f

ANT. I am as like to call thee so again, To spit on thee again, to spurn thee too. If thou wilt lend this money, lend it not As to thy friends; (for when did friendship take A breed for barren metal of his friend?) But lend it rather to thine enemy;

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Who if he break, thou may'st with better face
Exact the penalty.

Why, look

SHY. you, how you storm! I would be friends with you, and have your love, Forget the shames that you have stain'd me with, Supply your present wants, and take no doit

Of usance for my monies, and you'll not hear me : This is kind I offer.

ANT. This were kindness.

SHY

This kindness will I show:-

* A breed for barren metal of his friend?] A breed, that is interest money bred from the principal. By the epithet barren, the author would instruct us in the argument on which the advocates against usury went, which is this; that money is a barren thing, and cannot, like corn and cattle, multiply itself. And to set off the absurdity of this kind of usury, he put breed and barren in opposition. WARBURTON.

Dr. Warburton very truly interprets this passage. Old Meres says, "Usurie and encrease by gold and silver is unlawful, because against nature; nature hath made them sterill and barren, usurie makes them procreative." FARMER.

The honour of starting this conceit belongs to Aristotle. See De Repub. Lib. I. HOLT WHITE.

Thus both the quarto printed by Roberts, and that by Heyes, in 1600. The folio has-a breed of MALOne.

Go with me to a notary, seal me there
Your single bond; and, in a merry sport,
If you repay me not on such a day,

In such a place, such sum, or sums, as are
Express'd in the condition, let the forfeit
Be nominated for an equal pound

Of your fair flesh, to be cut off and taken
In what part of your body pleaseth me.

ANT. Content, in faith; I'll seal to such a bond, And say, there is much kindness in the Jew.

BASS. You shall not seal to such a bond for me, I'll rather dwell in my necessity."

ANT. Why, fear not, man; I will not forfeit it; Within these two months, that's a month before This bond expires, I do expect return

Of thrice three times the value of this bond.

SHY. O father Abraham, what these Christians

are;

Whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect
The thoughts of others! Pray you, tell me this;
If he should break his day, what should I gain
By the exaction of the forfeiture ?

A pound of man's flesh, taken from a man,
Is not so estimable, profitable neither,
As flesh of muttons, beefs, or goats. I say,
To buy his favour, I extend this friendship:
If he will take it, so; if not, adieu;

And, for my love, I pray you, wrong me not.
ANT. Yes, Shylock, I will seal unto this bond.

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dwell in my necessity.] To dwell seems in this place to mean the same as to continue. To abide has both the senses of habitation and continuance. JOHNSON.

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