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Snail-slow in profit,] and he sleeps by day

40 More than the wild cat :] drones hive not with me; Therefore I part with him; and part with him

To one that I would have him help to waste

His borrow'd purse.--Well, Jessica, go in ;
Perhaps, I will return immediately;

45 Do as I bid you,

Shut doors after you; Fast bind, fast find;

A proverb never stale in thrifty mind.

[Exit.

Jess. Farewell; and) if my fortune be not cross'd,

I have a father,) you a daughter, lost.)

[Exit.

5

SCENE VI.-The same.

Enter GRATIANO and SALARINO, masqued.

Gra. This is the pent-house, under which Lorenzo
Desir'd us to make stand.

His hour is almost past.

Salar.
Gra. And it is marvel he out-dwells his hour,
For lovers ever run before the clock.

Salar. O, ten times faster Venus' pigeons fly
To seal love's bonds new made, than they are wont
To keep obliged faith unforfeited!

Gra. That ever holds who riseth from a feast
With that keen appetite that he sits down?
10 Where is the horse that doth untread again
His tedious measures with the unbated fire

That he did pace them first? All things) that are, |
Are with more spirit chased) than enjoy'd.]

How like a younger, or a prodigal,

15 The scarfed bark puts from her native bay, Hugg'd and embraced by the strumpet wind!| How like a prodigal doth she return ;

Scene VI.-8. Obliged faith.-The given word, the pledged fidelity, in Latin fides obligata. To oblige, from the Latin obligure, is to bind or pledge.

9. That he sits down, scil. with.

A

loose use of the relative. So also in line 12.

11. Untread, i.e., pace back again.

15. Scarfed bark, i.e., vessel dressed with flags.

20

With over-weather'd ribs, and ragged sails,
Lean, rent, and beggar'd by the strumpet wind !|

Enter LORENZO.

Salar. Here comes Lorenzo ; -more of this hereafter.
Lor. Sweet friends, your patience for my long abode :]
Not I, but my affairs, have made you wait :|

When you shall please to play the thieves for wives,
I'll watch as long for you then.-Approach;
25 Here dwells my father Jew :-Ho! who's within ?
Enter JESSICA, above, in boy's clothes.

Jess. Who are you? Tell me, for more certainty,
Albeit I'll swear that I do know your tongue.

Lor. Lorenzo, and thy love.

Jess. Lorenzo, certain; and my love, indeed; 30 For who love I so much? and now who knows

But you, Lorenzo, whether I am yours?

Lor. Heaven, and thy thoughts, are witness that thou art.
Jess. Here, catch this casket; it is worth the pains.

I am glad 'tis night, you do not look on me, |
35 For I am much asham'd of my exchange ;|
But love is blind, | and lovers cannot see
The pretty follies that themselves commit; |
For) if they could,] Cupid himself would blush
To see me thus transformed to a boy.)

40

45

Lor. Descend, for you must be my torchbearer.
Jess. What, must I hold a candle to my shames ?
They in themselves, good sooth, are too too light.
Why, 'tis an office of discovery, love;

And I should be obscur'd.

Lor.

18. Overweathered, i.e, weather-beaten. 19. Lean, i.e., with the rigging gone or damaged.

21. Abode is here an abstract noun, meaning delay.

30. Who for whom, as I for me (Act III. 2) are grammatical irregularities.

So you are, sweet,

34. You do not look on me.-That or so that understood, a strong instance of the omission of the conjunction.

42. They in themselves, &c.-I am but too conscious of them, even in the dark.

50

Even in the lovely garnish of a boy.

But come at once;

For the close night doth play the runaway
And we are stay'd for at Bassanio's feast.

Jess. I will make fast the door, and gild myself
With some more ducats, and be with you straight.

[Exit, from above. Gra. Now, by my hood, a Gentile and no Jew. Lor. Beshrew me, but I love her heartily: For she is wise, if I can judge of her ; 55 And fair she is, if that mine eyes be true;

And true she is, as she hath prov'd herself;
And therefore, like herself, wise, fair, and true,
Shall she be placed in my constant soul.

Enter JESSICA, below.

What, art thou come ?-On, gentlemen, away; 60 Our masquing mates by this time for us stay. Exit, with JESS. and SALAR.

Enter ANTONIO.

Ant. Who's there?

Gra. Signior Antonio?

Ant. Fie, fie, Gratiano! where are all the rest? 'Tis nine o'clock: our friends all stay for you : 65 No masque to-night; the wind is come about; Bassanio presently will go aboard :

I have sent twenty out to seek for you.

Gra. I am glad on't; I desire no more delight
Than to be under sail and gone to-night.

52. By my hood.-A form of adjuration, probably employed by monks. Equivalent to by my vows.

52. Jew.-There is a tendency in the English language to drop the feminine terminations of nouns, and to use the masculine form for both genders. See Trench, English Past and Present, p. 151. There is no reason why the word Jewess should not be used here.

[Exeunt.

53. Beshrew me.-Shrew means to curse. Shakspere elsewhere uses shrewd, in the sense of bad, ill-omened. The change of such a term from a bad into a good meaning is not uncommon. Compare devós in Greek, monstrous good, and a terrible fellow, in English.

55. If that. See page 8, note 4.

Bassanio and Gratiano, Lorenzo and Jessica, all hasten to set sail, and appear next at Belmont. Scene VII. represents the Prince of Morocco making his choice out of the three caskets, which are to seal the fate of Portia. Having selected the wrong one, he is dismissed by her with the words,— "A gentle riddance :-draw the curtains, go;—

Let all of his complexion choose me so.'

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In the next scene we shall learn from Solanio how the Jew bore his daughter's treachery.

SCENE VIII.

Venice. A Street.

Enter SALARINO and SOLANIO.

Salar. Why, man, I saw Bassanio under sail;
With him is Gratiano gone along ;

And in their ship,) I am sure, | Lorenzo is not.)

Solan. The villain Jew with outcries rais'd the duke:

5 Who went with him to search Bassanio's ship.

Salar. He came too late, the ship was under sail :|
But there the duke was given to understand, |
That in a gondola were seen together
Lorenzo and his amorous Jessica |

:

10 Besides, Antonio certified the duke,
They were not with Bassanio in his ship. |
Solan. I never heard a passion so confus'd,
So strange, outrageous, and so variable, |

15

As the dog Jew did utter in the streets : |

66

My daughter!-O my ducats! O my daughter!
Fled with a Christian -O my Christian dúcats!-
Justice! the law! my ducats, and my daughter!
A sealed bag, two sealed bags of ducats,

Of double ducats, stol'n from me by my daughter!
20 And jewels; two stones, two rich and precious stones,
Stol'n by my daughter!-Justice! find the girl!
She hath the stones upon her, and the ducats!"
Salar. Why, all the boys in Venice follow him,
Crying, his stones, his daughter, and his ducats!

K

25

Solan. Let good Antonio look] he keep his day, |
Or he shall pay for this. |

Salar

Marry, well remember'd:]

I reason'd with a Frenchman yesterday. [

Who told me,— in the narrow seas) that part
The French and English, there miscarried

30 A vessel of our country, richly fraught :)
I thought upon Antonio when he told me,

35

And wish'd in silence that it were not his.

Solan. You were best to tell Antonio what you hear : | Yet do not suddenly, for it may grieve him.

Salar. A kinder gentleman treads not the earth.

I saw Bassanio and Antonio part :

Bassanio told him he would make some speed
Of his return; he answer'd—“ Do not so,
Slubber not business for my sake, Bassanio,
40 But stay the very riping of the time ;

And for the Jew's bond,] which he hath of me, |
Let it not enter in your mind of love :|
Be merry and employ your chiefest thoughts
To courtship, and such fair ostents of love
45 As shall conveniently become you there :"
And even there, his eye being big with tears,
Turning his face, he put his hand behind him,
And with affection wondrous sensible

50

He wrung Bassanio's hand, and so they parted.
Solan. I think he only loves the world for him.
I pray thee, let us go and find him out,

And quicken his embraced heaviness
With some delight or other.
Salar.

Do we so.

[Exeunt.

26. He shall pay.-The Future Tense, with shall in the third person. See Act I, Scene 3, 83, note.

27. Marry-An oath, corrupted from an invocation of the Virgin Mary.

27. Reasoned.-In the sense of talking or discoursing.

39. Slubber, i.e., to do a thing hastily and imperfectly.

44. Ostents, i.c., manifestations.

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