I have tow'rd heav'n breath'd a fecret vow,
To live in prayer and contemplation,
Only attended by Neriffa here,

Until her husband and my Lord's return.
There is a monaftery two miles off,

And there we will abide.

I do defire you,

Not to deny this Imposition:

The which my love and fome neceffity

Now lays upon you.

Lor. Madam, with all my heart;

I fhall obey you in all fair commands.

Por. My people do already know my mind,
And will acknowledge you and Jeffica
In place of lord Bassanio and myself.

So fare you well, 'till we fhall meet again.

Lor. Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you! Jef. I wish your ladyship all heart's content.

Por. I thank you for your wifh, and am well pleafed

To wish it back on you: fare you well, Jeffica.

Now, Balthazar,

[Exeunt Jeffica and Lorenzo.

As I have ever found thee honeft, true,

So let me find thee ftill: take this fame letter,
And ufe thou all th' 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 Traject, to the common ferry

Which trades to Venice: wafte no time in words,
But get thee gone; I fhall be there before thee.
Bal. Madam, I go with all convenient speed. [Exit.
Por. Come on, Neriffa; I have work in hand,
That you yet know not of: we'll see our husbands,
Before they think of us.

Ner. Shall they see us?

Por. They fhall, Nerissa; but in such a habit,

That

That they fhall think we are accomplished
With what we lack. I'll hold thee any wager,
When we are both apparell'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 fteps
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 dy'd,
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 thefe puny lies I'll tell ;

That men fhall fwear, I've difcontinued school
Above a twelve-month. I have in my mind
A thousand raw tricks of these bragging jacks,
Which I will practise.

Ner. Shall we turn to men?

Por. Fie, what a question's that,

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. [Exeunt.

SCENE VI.

Enter Launcelot and Jeffica.

Laun. Y father are to be laid upon the children; ES, truly: for look you, the fins of the 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.

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

Laun. Marry, you may partly hope that your father got 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 fhould be vifited upon me.

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

Jef. I fhall be faved by my husband; he hath made me a chriftian.

Laun. Truly, the more to blame he; we were christians enough before, e'en as many as could well live one by another: this making of chriftians will raife the price of hogs; if we grow all to be porkeaters, we shall not fhortly 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 shortly, 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 heav'n, 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 raife the price of pork.

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

Laun. It is much, that the Moor fhould be more than reafon but if she be less than an honest woman, fhe 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 shortly turn into filence, and discourse grow commendable in none

but

but parrots. Go, in, firrah, bid them prepare for dinner.

Laun. That is done, Sir; they have all ftomachs. Lor. Good lord, what a wit-fnapper are you! then bid them prepare dinner.

Laun. That is done too, Sir; only, cover is the word.

Lor. Will you cover then, Sir?

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

Lor. Yet more quarrelling with occafion! will thou shew the whole wealth of thy wit in an inftant? I pray thee understand 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, Sir, it fhall be ferv'd in; for
the meat, Sir, it fhall be covered; for your coming
in to dinner, Sir, why, let it be as humours and con-
ceits fhall govern.
[Exit Laun.
Lor. O dear difcretion, how his words are fuited!
The fool hath planted in his memory
An army of good words; and I do know
A many fools that ftand in better place,
Garnish'd like him, that for a tricksy word
Defy the matter: how far'ft thou, Jessica?
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 merit it,

In reafon he fhould never come to heav'n.
Why, if two Gods fhould play some heav'nly match,
And on the wager lay two earthly women,
And Portia one, there must be something else
Pawn'd with the other; for the poor rude world
Hath not her fellow.

Lor.

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: firft, let us go to dinner.

Jef. Nay, let me praise you, while I have a fto

mach.

Lor. No, pray thee, let it ferve for table-talk;

Then, howfoe'er thou speak'st, 'mong other things, I fhall digeft it.

Jef. Well, I'll fet you forth.

[Exeunt.

АСТ IV. SCENE I.

The Senate-Houfe in VENICE.

Enter the Duke, the Senators; Anthonio, Baffanio, and Gratiano, at the Bar.

DUKE.

HAT, is Anthonio here?

Anth. Ready, fo please your Grace. Duke. I'm 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.

Anth. I have heard,

Your Grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify

His rig'rous 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 quietness of fpirit,
The very tyranny and rage of his.

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

Enter