Enter PORTIA, dressed like a doctor of laws.

Give me your hand: Came you from old Bellario? POR. I did, my lord.

DUKE.

You are welcome: take your place. Are you acquainted with the difference

That holds this present question in the court?

POR. I am informed throughly of the cause. Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew? DUKE. Antonio and old Shylock, both stand forth. POR. Is your name Shylock?

SHY.

Shylock is my name. POR. Of a strange nature is the suit you follow ; Yet in such rule, that the Venetian law Cannot impugn you', as you do proceed.You stand within his danger, do you not?

[TO ANTONIO.

Cannot IMPUGN you,] To impugn, is to oppose, to controvert. So, in the Tragedy of Darius, 1603:

"Yet though my heart would fain impugn my word." Again :

"If any press t' impugn what I impart." STEEVENS.

2 You stand WITHIN HIS DANGER,] i. e. within his reach or control. This phrase originates from another in the lowest Latin, that often occurs in monastic records. Thus, (as Mr. Tyrwhitt has observed on a passage in Chaucer,) See Hist. Abbat. Pipwell. ap. Monast. Angl. t. i. p. 815: Nec audebant Abbates eidem resistere, quia aut pro denariis aut pro bladis semper fuerunt Abbates in dangerio dicti Officialis." Thus, also, in the Corvysor's Play, among the collection of Whitsun Mysteries, represented at Chester. See MS. Harl. 1013, p. 106:

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Two detters some tyme there were

Oughten money to an usurere,

"The one was in his daungere

"Fyve hundred poundes tolde." STEEVENS.

There are frequent instances in The Paston Letters of the use of this phrase in the same sense; whence it is obvious, from the common language of the time, that to be in debt and to be in danger, were synonymous terms. HENLEY.

Again, in Powel's History of Wales, 1587 :

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laying for his

excuse that he had offended manie noblemen of England, and therefore would not come in their danger."

POR.

Do you confess the bond?

Then must the Jew be merciful.
SHY. On what compulsion must I? tell me that.
POR. The quality of mercy is not strain'd3;
It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice bless'd;
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His scepter shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this scepter'd sway,

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;

And earthly power doth then show likest God's,
When mercy seasons justice.

Again, in our poet's Venus and Adonis :

Therefore, Jew,

"Come not within his danger by your will." MALONE.

3 The quality of mercy is not strain'd; &c.] In composing these beautiful lines, it is probable that Shakspeare recollected the following verse in Ecclesiasticus, xxxv. 20: "Mercy is seasonable in the time of affliction, as clouds of rain in the time of drought." DOUCE.

4 And earthly power doth then show likest God's,

When mercy seasons justice.] So, in King Edward III. a tragedy, 1596:

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And kings approach the nearest unto God,

By giving life and safety unto men."

So Sir J. Harrington, as quoted in England's Parnassus, under the head Mercie :

"Doth chiefly make a man so rare and od, "As in that one, he most resembleth God." So also, Thomas Achely quoted at the same place: "Then come we nearest to the Gods on hie, "When we are farthest from extremetie, "Giving forthe sentence of our lawes with mercie."

MALONE.

Though justice be thy plea, consider this,-
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much,
To mitigate the justice of thy plea ;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant

there.

6

*

SHY. My deeds upon my head! I crave the law, The penalty and forfeit of my bond.

POR. Is he not able to discharge the money? BASS. Yes, here I tender it for him in the court;

Yea, twice the sum7: if that will not suffice,

I will be bound to pay it ten times o'er,
On forfeit of my hands, my head, my heart:
If this will not suffice, it must appear

That malice bears down truth. And I beseech you,

*So quartos; folio, course.

There is something extremely like this in the petition of the Convocation to Queen Elizabeth, in 1580, praying her to pardon Archbishop Grindal. "Nihil est tam populare quam bonitas: atque principes ad præpotentem Deum nulla re propius accedunt quam offensionibus deponendis et obliviscendis injuriis." Fuller Ch. Hist. sub ann. BLACKEWAY.

5 in the course of justice, none of us

Should see salvation:] Portia referring the Jew to the Christian doctrine of salvation, and the Lord's Prayer, is a little out of character. BLACKSTONE.

6 My deeds upon my head!] An imprecation adopted from that of the Jews to Pilate: His blood be on us, and our children!

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HENLEY.

7 Yea, TWICE the sum:] We should read-thrice the sum.Portia, a few lines below, says

Shylock, there's thrice thy money offer'd thee.”

And Shylock himself supports the emendation:

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"I take his offer then ;-pay the bond thrice."

The editions, indeed, read-this offer; but Mr. Steevens has already proposed the alteration we ought to adopt.

8

RITSON.

malice bears down truth.] Malice oppresses honesty; a

Wrest once the law to your authority :
To do a great right, do a little wrong;
And curb this cruel devil of his will.

POR. It must not be; there is no power in Venice Can alter a decree established:

"Twill be recorded for a precedent;

And many an error, by the same example,

Will rush into the state: it cannot be.

SHY. A Daniel come to judgment! yea, a Daniel!

O wise young judge, how do I * honour thee!
POR. I pray you, let me look upon the bond.
SHY. Here 'tis, most reverend doctor, here it is.
POR. Shylock, there's thrice thy money offer'd
thee.

SHY. An oath, an oath, I have an oath in heaven: Shall I lay perjury upon my soul?

No, not for Venice.

POR.

Why, this bond is forfeit ;

And lawfully by this the Jew may claim
A pound of flesh, to be by him cut off

Nearest the merchant's heart :-Be merciful;
Take thrice thy money; bid me tear the bond.
SHY. When it is paid according to the tenour.-
It doth appear, you are a worthy judge;
You know the law, your exposition

Hath been most sound: I charge you by the law,
Whereof you are a well-deserving pillar,
Proceed to judgment: by my soul I swear,
There is no power in the tongue of man
To alter me: I stay here on my bond.
ANT. Most heartily I do beseech the court
To give the judgment.

POR.

Why then, thus it is:

* Quarto, I do.

true man in old language is an honest man. We now call the jury good men and true.

JOHNSON.

You must prepare your bosom for his knife.

SHY. O noble judge! O excellent young man! POR. For the intent and purpose of the law, Hath full relation to the penalty,

Which here appeareth due upon the bond.

SHY. 'Tis very true: O wise and upright judge! How much more elder art thou than thy looks! POR. Therefore, lay bare your bosom.

SHY. Ay, his breast: So says the bond ;-Doth it not, noble judge?— Nearest his heart, those are the very words. POR. It is so. Are there balance here, to weigh

The flesh.

SHY. I have them ready.

POR. Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your

charge,

To stop his wounds, lest he do* bleed to death. SHY. Is it so nominated in the bond?

POR. It is not so express'd; But what of that? "Twere good you do so much for charity.

SHY. I cannot find it; 'tis not in the bond. POR. Come, merchant, have you any thing to say?

ANT. But little; I am arm'd, and well prepar'd.

Give me your hand, Bassanio; fare you well!
Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you;
For herein fortune shows herself more kind
Than is her custom: it is still her use,

To let the wretched man out-live his wealth,
To view with hollow eye, and wrinkled brow,
An age of poverty: from which lingering penance
Of such misery" doth she cut me off.

*So quartos ; folio, should. + So folio; quartos, you.

9 Of such a misery-] The first folio destroys the measure by omitting the particle-a; which, nevertheless, is found in the corrected second folio, 1632. STEEVENS.