That I fhall hardly fpare a pound of flesh
To-morrow to my bloody creditor.

Well, goaler, on; pray God, Baffanio come

To fee me pay his debt, and then I care not! [Exeunt.

SCENE changes to Belmont.

Enter Portia, Neriffa, Lorenzo, Jeffica, and Balthazar.

Lor.

Adam, although I speak it in your prefence,
You have a noble and a true conceit

Of God-like amity; which appears more strongly
In bearing thus the abfence of your lord.
But if you knew to whom you fhew this honour,
How true a gentleman you send relief to,
How dear a lover of my lord your hufband;
I know, you would be prouder of the work.
Than customary bounty can enforce you.
Por. I never did repent of doing good,
And fhall not now; for in companions
That do converse and waste the time together,
Whofe fouls do bear an equal yoke of love,
There must be needs a like proportion
Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit;
Which makes me think, that this Anthonio,
Being the bofom-lover of my lord,
Muft needs be like my lord. If it be fo,
How little is the coft I have beftowed,
In purchafing the femblance of my foul
From out the state of hellish cruelty?
This comes too near the praifing of myself; (21)
Therefore, no more of it: hear other things.-
Lorenzo, I commit into your hands

(21) This comes too near the praifing of myself;

Therefore no more of it: here other things,

Lorenzo, I commit, &c.] Thus has this paffage been writ and pointed, but abfurdly, thro' all the editions. Portia finding the reflections she had made came too near felf-praise, begins to chide herself for it: fays, fhe'll fay no more of that fort; but call a new subject. The regulation I have made in the text was likewife prefcrib'd by Dr. Thirlby.

The

The husbandry and manage of my house,
Until my lord's return. For mine own part,

I have tow'rd heaven 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 impofition:

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 Jelica

In place of lord Bajanio and myself.

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

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

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

Now, Balthazar,

[Exeunt Jef. and Lor.

As I have ever found thee honeft, true,

So let me find thee ftill: take this fame letter,
And use thou all th' endeavour of a man,

In fpeed to Padua; fee thou render this (22)
Into my cousin's hand, Doctor Bellario;

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

Which trades to Venice: wafte no time in words,
thee gone; I fhall be there before thee.

But get

(22) In Speed to Mantua ;] Thus all the old copies; and thus all the modern editors implicitly after them. But 'tis evident to any diligent reader, that we muft reftore, as I have done, In fpeed to Padua: For it was there, and not at Mantua, Bellario liv'd. So afterwards;-Ameffenger, with letters from the Doctor, new come from Padua And again, Came you from Padua, from Bellario?---And again, It comes from Padua, from Bellario.--Befides, Padua, not Mantua, is the place of education for the civil law in Italy.

Bal

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

Ner. Shall they fee us?

Por. They fhall, Neriffa; but in such a habit,
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 speak 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 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 these 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 thefe 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.

Enter Launcelot and Jeffica.

[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 speak 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 should be visited upon me.

Laun. Truly, then, I fear, you are damn'd both by father and mother; thus when you fhun Scylla, (23) your father, you fall into Charybdis, your mother: well, you both ways.

are gone

Jef. I fhall be faved by my husband; 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 raife the price of hogs; if we grow all to be pork-eaters, we shall not fhortly have a rafher on the coals for money.

Enter Lorenzo.

Fef. 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 heav'n, because I am a Jew's daughter: and he fays, you are no good member of the common wealth; for, in converting Jews to chriftians, you raise the price of pork.

(23) Thus when you fhun Scylla, your father,] By the allufion which Launcelor makes here, 'tis evident, Shakespeare was no ftranger to this Hexameter, nor the application of it;

Incidit in Scyllam, cupiens vitare Charybdim.

Era mus, in his Adagies, quotes this verfe as one very much in vogue with the Latines; but fays, he does not remember its author. I prefume, it might have been founded upon the Greek proverbial fentence, likewife quoted by him, Τὴν Χάρυβδιν ἐκφυγὼν τῆ Σκύλλῃ περιέπεσον. This is one of thofe Iambics, he tells us, which were call'd, Dimetri ἀκέφαλοι For my own part, (throwing out this cramp definition) I think it might have been a plain Iambic, as most of the proverbial Gnomes were, and only difmounted from its numbers by the unneceffary infertion of the articles. I would read it;

Σκύλλη περιέπεσον, Χάρυβδιν ἐκφυγών.

Lor.

Lor. I fhall answer that better to the common-wealth, 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 fhe be less than an honeft 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 difcourfe grow commendable in none but parrots. Go in, firrah, bid them prepare for dinner.

Laun. That is done, Sir; they have all stomachs. 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! wilt thou fhew 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 shall be serv'd in; for the meat, Sir, it shall be covered; for your coming in to dinner, Sir, why, let it be as humours and conceits 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, Jelica ? 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 Bafanio 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 should never come to heav'n.

Why, if two Gods should play some heav'nly match,

And