Per. I thank you for your wish, and am well pleas'd To wish it back on you: fare you well, Jeffica.

Now, Balthazar,

[Exeunt JESSICA and LORENZO,

As I have ever found thee honeft, true,

So let me find thee ftill: Take this fame letter,
And use thou all the endeavour of a man,

In fpeed to Padua; fee thou render this
Into my coufin's hand, doctor Bellario;

And, look, what notes and garments he doth give thee,
Bring them, I pray thee, with imagin'd speed
Unto the tranect, to the common ferry

Which trades to Venice :-waste no time in words,
But get thee gone; I fhall be there before thee.

Balth. Madam, I go with all convenient speed.
Por. Come on, Neriffa; I have work in hand,
That you yet know not of: we'll fee our husbands
Before they think of us.

Ner.

Shall they fee us?
Por. They fhall, Neriffa; but in fuch a habit,
That they fhall think we are accomplished
With what we lack. I'll hold thee any wager,
When we are both accouter'd like young men,
I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two,
And wear my dagger with the braver grace;
And fpeak, between the change of man and boy,
With a reed voice; and turn two mincing steps
Into a manly ftride; and speak of frays,
Like a fine bragging youth and tell quaint lies,
How honourable ladies fought my love,
Which I denying, they fell fick and died;
I could not do with all ;-then I'll repent,
And wish, for all that, that I had not kill'd them:
And twenty of these puny lies I'll tell,

That men fhall fwear, I have discontinued fchool
Above a twelvemonth :-I have within my mind
A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks,
Which I will practise.

Ner.

Why, fhall we turn to men? Por. Fie! what a question's that,

[Exit

If

If thou wert near a lewd interpreter ?
But come, I'll tell thee all my whole device
When I am in my coach, which stays for us
At the park gate; and therefore hafte away,
For we must measure twenty miles to-day.

SCENE V.

The fame. A Garden.

Enter LAUNCELOT and JESSICA.

[Exeunt.

Laun. Yes, truly :-for, look you, the fins of the father, are to be laid upon the children; therefore, I promise you, I fear you. I was always plain with you, and fo now I fpeak my agitation of the matter: Therefore be of good cheer; for, truly, I think, you are damn'd. There is but one hope in it that can do you any good; and that is but a kind of baftard hope neither.

Jef. And what hope is that, I pray thee?

Laun, Marry, you may partly hope that your father gos you not, that you are not the Jew's daughter.

Jef. That were a kind of baftard hope, indeed; fo the fins of my mother should be vifited upon me.

Laun. Truly then I fear you are damn'd both by father and mother: thus when I fhun Scylla, your father, I fall into Charybdis, your mother: well, you are gone both ways.

T4

8 Originally from the Alexandreis of Philippe Gualtier; but several tranflations of this adage were obvious to Shakspeare. Among other places, it is found in an ancient poem, entitled "A Dialogue between Cuftam and Veritie, concerning the use and abuse of Dauncing and Minfttelfie." bl. 1. no date:

"While Silla they do feem to fhun,,

"In Charibd they do fall." &c..

Philip Gualtier de Chatillon (afterwards Bishop of Megala) was born towards the latter end of the 12th Century. In the fifth book of his heroic Poem, Darius (who escaping from Alexander, fell into the hands of Beffus) is thus apoftrophized:

Nactus equum Darius, rorantia cæde fuorum

Retrogrado fugit arva gradu. Quo tendis inertem
Rex periture fugam? nefcis, heu! perdite, nefcis
Quem fugias, hoftes incurris dum fugis hoftem:
Incidis in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charibdim. STEEVENS,

Jef. I fhall be faved by my hufband; 9 he hath made me a Chriftian.

Laun. Truly, the more to blame he: we were Chriftians enough before; e'en as many as could well live, one by another: This making of Chriftians will raise the price of hogs; if we grow all to be pork-eaters, we fhall not shortly have a rafher on the coals for money.

Enter LORENZO.

Jef. I'll tell my husband, Launcelot, what you fay; here he comes.

Lor. I fhall grow jealous of you fhortly, Launcelot, if you thus get my wife into corners.

Jef. Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo; Launcelot and I are out: he tells me flatly, there is no mercy for me in heaven, because I am a Jew's daughter: and he says, you are no good member of the commonwealth; for, in converting Jews to Chriftians, you raise the price of pork.

Lor. I fhall anfwer that better to the commonwealth, than you can the getting up of the negro's helly: the Moor is with child by you, Launcelot.

Laun. It is much, that the Moor fhould be more than reafon but if the be lefs than an honest woman, she is, indeed, more than I took her for.

Lor. How every fool can play upon the word! I think the best grace of wit will fhortly turn into filence; and dicourfe grow commendable in none only but parrots.—Go in, firrah; bid them prepare for dinner.

Laun. That is done, fir; they have all ftomach.

Lor, Goodly lord, what a wit-fnapper are you! then bid them prepare dinner.

Laun. That is done too, fir; only, cover is the word.
Lor. Will you cover then, fir?

Laun. Not fo, fir, neither; I know my duty.

Lor. Yet more quarrelling with occafion! Wilt thou show the whole wealth of thy wit in an instant? I pray thee, under

I fhall be faved by my bufband,] From St. Paul:

"The unbelieving wife is fanctified by the husband.”

ftand

HENLEY.

ftand a plain man in his plain meaning: go to thy fellows; bid them cover the table, ferve in the meat, and we will come in to dinner.

Laun. For the table, fir, it shall be ferved in; for the
meat, fir, it shall be covered; for your coming in to din-
ner, fir, why, let it be as humours and conceits thall govern.
[Exit LAUNCELOT.
Lor. O dear difcretion, how his words are fuited! *
The fool hatli planted in his memory
An army of good words; And I do know
A many fools, that stand in better place,
Garnish'd like him, that for a trickfy word
Defy the matter. How cheer'ft thou, Jeffica?
And now, good fweet, fay thy opinion,
How doft thou like the lord Baffanio's wife?
Jef. Paft all expreffing: It is very meet,
The lord Baffanio live an upright life;
For, having fuch a bleffing in his lady,
He finds the joys of heaven here on earth;
And, if on earth he do not mean it, it

Is reafon he should never come to heaven.
Why, if two gods fhould play fome heavenly match,
And on the wager lay two earthly women,
And Portia one, there must be foinething elfe
Pawn'd with the other; for the poor rude world
Hath not her fellow.

Lor.

Even fuch a husband

Haft thou of me, as fhe is for a wife.

Jef. Nay, but afk-my opinion too of that.
Lor. I will anon; firit, let us go to dinner.

Jef. Nay, let me praife you, while I have a stomach.
Lor. No, pray thee, let it ferve for table-talk;

T5

Then

2 I believe the meaning is-What a series or fuite of words he has independent of meaning; how one word draws on another without relation to the matter. JOHNSON.

I cannot think either that the word fuited is derived from the word fuite, as Johnfon fuppofes, as that, I believe, was introduced into our language long fince the time of Shakspeare; or that Launcelot's words were independent of meaning. Lorenzo expreffes his fun prize that a fool fhould apply them to properly. M. MASON.

Then, how foe'er thou fpeak'ft, 'mong other things

I fhall digeft it.
Jes.

Well, I'll fet you forth.

[Exeunt.

ACT IV. - SCENE 1.

Venice. A Court of Justice.

Enter the Duke, the Magnificoes; ANTONIO, BASSANIO, GRATIANO, SALARINO, SALANIO, and others.

Duke. What, is Antonio here?
Ant. Ready, fo please your grace.

Duke. I am forry for thee, thou art come to answer
A ftony adverfary, an inhuman wretch

Uncapable of pity, void and empty

From any dram of mercy.

Ant.

I have heard,

Your grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify

His rigorous course; but fince he stands obdurate,
And that no lawful means can carry me

Out of his envy's reach,+ I do oppofe

My patience to his fury; and am arm'd
To fuffer, with a quietnefs of fpirit,
The very tyranny and rage of his.

Duke. Go one, and call the Jew into the court.
Salan. He's ready at the door: he comes my lord.

Enter SHYLOCK.

Duke. Make room, and let him ftand before our face.Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too, That thou but lead'ft this fashion of thy malice To the last hour of act; and then, 'tis thou ht, Thou'lt show thy mercy, and remorfe, more strange Than is thy ftrange apparent 5 cruelty:

4 Enny in this place means hatred or malice. STEEVENS. That is, feeming; not real. JOHNSON..

And,