Anth. Thou know'ft, that all my fortunes are at fea; Nor have I money, nor commodity To raise a prefent fum: Therefore go forth; SCENE II. [Exeunts A room in PORTIA's house at Belmont. Enter PORTIA and NERISSA. Por. By my troth, Neriffa, my little body is aweary of this great world. Ner. You would be, fweet madam, if your miferies were in the fame abundance as your good fortunes are: And yet, for aught I fee, they are as fick that furfeit with too much, as they that starve with nothing: It is no mean happiness, therefore, to be feated in the mean; fuperfluity comes fooner by white hairs, but competency lives longer. Por. Good fentences, and well pronounc'd. Ner. They would be better, if well follow'd. Por. If to do, were as eafy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages, princes' palaces. It is a good divine that follows his own inftructions: I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow my own teaching. The brain may devise laws for the blood; but a hot temper leaps o'er a cold decree : fuch a hare is madness the youth, to skip o'er the meshes of good counfel the cripple. But this reasoning is not in fashion to choose me a husband :-O me, the word choofe! I may neither choose whom I would, nor refuse whom I diflike; fo is the will of a living daughter curb'd by the will of a dead father.-Is it not hard, Neriffa, that I cannot choose one, nor refuse none? Ner. Your father was ever virtuous; and holy men, at their death, have good infpirations: therefore, the lottery, that he hath devised in thefe three chefts of gold, filver, and lead, (whereof who chooses his meaning,. chooses you,) will, no doubt, never be chosen by any rightly, but one who you fhall rightly love. But what warmth is there in your affection towards any of these princely fuitors that are already come? Por. I pray thee, over-name them; and as thou nam'ft them, I will defcribe them; and, according to my defcription, level at my affection. Ner. Firft, there is the Neapolitan prince. Por. Ay, that's a colt,[9] indeed, for he doth nothing but talk of his horfe; and he makes it a great appropriation to his own good parts, that he can fhoe him himfelf: I am much afraid my lady, his mother, play'd false with a smith. Ner. Then, there is the county Palatine. Por. He doth nothing but frown; as who should say, An' if you will not have me, choose: He hears merry tales, and fmiles not: I fear, he will prove the weeping philof opher when he grows old, being fo full of unmannerly fadness in his youth. I had rather be married to a death's head with a bone in his mouth, than to either of these. God defend me from thefe two! man. Ner. How fay you by the French lord, monfieur Le Bon? Por. God made him, and therefore let him pass for a In truth, I know it is a fin to be a mocker; but, he! why, he hath a horse better than the Neapolitan's ; a better bad habit of frowning than the count Palatine: he is every man in no man if a throftle fing, he falls ftraight a capering; he will fence with his own shadow: If I thould marry him, I should marry twenty husbands: If he would despise me, I would forgive him; for if he love me to madness, I fhall never requite him. Ner. What fay you then to Faulconbridge, the young baron of England? Por. You know, I fay nothing to him; for he understands not me, nor I him: he hath neither Latin, French, nor Italian ;[1] and you will come into the court, and fwear that I have a poor pennyworth in the English. He is a proper man's picture; but, alas! who can converse with a dumb fhow? How oddly he is fuited! I think, he bought his doublet in Italy, his round hofe in France, his bonnet in Germany, and his behaviour every where. [9] Colt is ufed for a witlefs, heady, gay youngfter, whence the phrafe ufed of an old man too juvenile, that he ftill retains his colt's tooth." See Hen. VIII. JOHNS. [1] A fatire on the ignorance of the young English travellers in our author's time. VOL. II. WARB. B Ner. What think you of the Scottish lord, his neighbour? Por. That he hath a neighbourly charity in him, for he borrowed a box of the ear of the Englishman, and fwore he would pay him again when he was able: I think the Frenchman became his furety,[2] and feal'd under for another. Ner. How like you the young German,[3] the duke of Savoy's nephew? Por. Very vilely in the morning, when he is fober: and most vilely in the afternoon, when he is drunk: when he is beft, he is a little worfe than a man; and when he is worft, he is little better than a beast: An' the worft fall that ever fell, I hope I fhall make fhift to go without him. Ner. If he should offer to choose, and choose the right casket, you should refuse to perform your father's will, if you should refufe to accept him. Por. Therefore, for fear of the worst, I pray thee fet a deep glafs of Rhenish wine on the contrary casket; for, if the devil be within, and that temptation without, I know he will choose it: I will do any thing, Nerissa, ere I will be marry'd to a sponge. Ner. You need not fear, lady, the having any of thefe lords: they have acquainted me with their determinations; which is, indeed, to return to their home, and to trouble you with no more fuit, unlefs you may be won by fome other fort than your father's impofition, depending on the caskets. Por. If I live to be as old as Sibylla, I will die as chafte as Diana, unless I be obtained by the manner of my father's will: I am glad this parcel of wooers are so very reasonable; for there is not one among them but I dote on his very absence, and pray God grant them a fair departure. Ner. Do you not remember, lady, in your father's time, a Venetian, a scholar and a foldier, that came hither in company of the Marquis of Montferrat ? [2] Alluding to the conftant affiftance, or rather conftant promises of affiftance, that the French gave the Scots in their quarrels with the English. This alliance is here humorously satirized. WARB. [3] In Shakespeare's time the duke of Bavaria visited London, and was made knight of the garter. Perhaps in this enumeration of Portia's fuitors, there may be fome covert állufion to those of Queen Elizabeth. JOHNS. Por. Yes, yes, it was Bassanio; as I think, he was fo call'd. Ner. True, madam. He, of all the men that ever my foolish eyes look'd upon, was the best deserving a fair lady. Por. I remember him well; and I remember him worthy of thy praise.-How now! what news? Enter a Servant. Ser. The four strangers seek for you, madam, to take their leave and there is a fore-runner come from a fifth, the prince of Morocco; who brings word, the prince, his master, will be here to-night. Por. If I could bid the fifth welcome with fo good heart as I can bid the other four farewel, I fhould be glad of his approach: if he have the condition of a faint, and the complexion of a devil, I had rather he should fhrive me than wive me. Come, Neriffa.-Sirrah, go before. -While we shut the gate upon one wooer, another knocks at the door. [Exeunt. SCENE III. A public Place in Venice. Enter BASSANIO and SHYLOCK. Shy. For three months :-well. Baf.For the which, as I told you, Anthonio shall be bound. Shy. Anthonio fhall become bound :-well. Ba. May you ftead me? Will you pleasure me? Shall I know your answer? Shy. Three thousand ducats for three months, and Anthonio bound? Baff. Your answer to that. Shy. Anthonió is a good man. Baf. Have you heard any imputation to the contrary? Shy. Ho, no, no, no, no ;-my meaning, in saying he is a good man, is, to have you understand me, that he is fufficient: Yet his means are in fuppofition: he hath an argofy bound to Tripolis, another to the Indies; I understand, moreover, upon the Rialto, he hath a third at Mexico, a fourth for England; and other ventures he hath fquander'd abroad: But ships are but boards, failors but men: there be land rats and water rats, water thieves and land thieves; I mean pirates; and then, there is the peril of waters, winds, and rocks: The man is, notwithftanding, fufficient.-Three thousand ducats!. I may take his bond. Baff. Be affur'd, you may. -I think Shy. I will be affur'd, I may; and, that I may be affur'd, I will bethink me: May I fpeak with Anthonio? Baff. If it please you to dine with us. Shy. Yes, to fmell pork; to eat of the habitation which your prophet the Nazarite conjur'd the devil into: I will buy with you, fell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and fo following; but I will not eat with you, drink with you, nor pray with you. What news on the Rialto -Who is he comes here?" Enter ANTHONIO. Bal. This is fignior Anthonio. Shy. [Afide.] How like a fawning publican he looks! I hate him, for he is a Christian : But more, for that, in low fimplicity, He lends out money gratis, and brings down Baff. Shylock, do you hear? Shy. I am debating of my present store ; And, by the near guess of my memory, I cannot inftantly raife up the grofs Of full three thousand ducats: What of that? Tubal, a wealthy Hebrew of my tribe, Will furnish me: But foft; how many months Do you defire?-Reft you fair, good fignior; [To ANTH. Your worship was the laft man in our mouths. Anth. Shylock, albeit I neither lend nor borrow By taking nor by giving of excefs, Yet, to fupply the ripe wants of my friend, Shy. Ay, ay, three thousand ducats. [5] A phrase taken from the practice of wrestlers. JOHNS. |