Imatges de pàgina
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ACT III.

SCENE I. Venice. A Street.

Enter SOLANIO and SALARINO.

Solan. Now, what news on the Rialto?

Salar. Why, yet it lives there uncheck'd, that Antonio hath a ship of rich lading wreck'd on the narrow seas; the Goodwins, I think they call the place; a very dangerous flat and fatal, where the carcasses of many a tall ship lie buried, as they say, if my gossip Report be an honest woman of 2 her word.

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Solan. I would she were as lying a gossip in that as ever knapp'd 3 ginger, or made her neighbours believe she wept for the death of a third husband. But it is true, without any slips of prolixity, or crossing the plain highway of talk, that the good Antonio, the honest Antonio, -O, that I had a title good enough to keep his name company!Salar. Come, the full stop.5

Solan. Ha, - what sayest thou? - Why, the end is, he hath lost a ship.

Salar. I would it might prove the end of his losses.

1 The Goodwin Sands, as they were called, lay off the eastern coast of Kent. The name was supposed to have been derived from Earl Godwin, whose lands were said to have been swallowed up there in the year 1100. In King John, v. 5, it is said that the supplies expected by the French": are cast away and sunk on Goodwin Sands."

2 Here, as often, of is equivalent to in respect of.

3 To knap is to snap, or to break into small pieces. So in 46th Psalm of The Psalter: "He knappeth the spear in sunder."

4 The presumption being that by that time she has got so used to the thing as not to mind it much.

5 That is, finish the sentence; or "say on till you come to a period."

Solan. Let me say amen betimes, lest the Devil cross my prayer; for here he comes in the likeness of a Jew. –

Enter SHYLOCK.

How now, Shylock! what news among the merchants? Shy. You knew, none so well, none so well as you, of my daughter's flight.

Salar. That's certain: I, for my part, knew the tailor that made the wings she flew withal.6

Solan. And Shylock, for his own part, knew the bird was fledged; and then it is the complexion 7 of them all to leave the dam.

Shy. She is damn'd for it.

Salar. That's certain, if the Devil may be her judge.
Shy. My own flesh and blood to rebel !

Solan. Out upon it, old carrion! rebels it at these years?
Shy. I say my daughter is my flesh and blood.

Salar. There is more difference between thy flesh and hers than between jet and ivory; more between your bloods than there is between red wine and Rhenish. But tell us, do you hear whether Antonio have had any loss at sea or no?

Shy. There I have another bad match: a bankrupt, a prodigal, who dare scarce show his head on the Rialto; a beggar, that was used to come so smug9 upon the mart. Let him look to his bond: he was wont to call me usurer;

6 A sly allusion, probably, to the dress in which Jessica eloped.

7 Complexion was much used for nature, natural disposition, or temperament. So, in the old tale upon which Hamlet was partly founded, the hero is spoken of as being a “Saturnist by complexion."

8 Rhenish wines are called white wines; named from the river Rhine. 9 Smug is brisk, gay, or spruce; applied both to persons and things. Thus in King Lear, iv. 6: "I will die bravely, like a smug bridegroom: what, I will be jovial." And in 1 Henry IV., iii. 1: “Here the smug and silver Trent shall run in a new channel, fair and evenly."

let him look to his bond: he was wont to lend money for a Christian courtesy ; — let him look to his bond.

Salar. Why, I am sure, if he forfeit, thou wilt not take his flesh what's that good for?

Shy. To bait fish withal: if it will feed nothing else, it will feed my revenge. He hath disgraced me, and hinder'd me half a million; 10 laugh'd at my losses, mock'd at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated mine enemies; and what's his reason? I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same Winter and Summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? if we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? revenge: if a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? why, revenge. The villainy you teach me, I will execute; and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.11

Enter a Servant.

Serv. Gentlemen, my master Antonio is at his house, and desires to speak with you both.

Salar. We have been up and down to seek him.

Solan. Here comes another of the tribe: a third cannot

be match'd, unless the Devil himself turn Jew.

[Exeunt SOLANIO, SALARINO, and Servant.

Enter TUBAL.

10" 'Hinder'd me to the extent of half a million;" ducats, of course.

11 "I will work mighty hard rather than fail to surpass my teachers." See vol. ii., page 225, note II.

Shy. How now, Tubal! what news from Genoa? hast thou found my daughter?

Tub. I often came where I did hear of her, but cannot find her.

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Shy. Why, there, there, there, there! a diamond gone, cost me two thousand ducats in Frankfort! The curse never fell upon our nation till now; I never felt it till now: thousand ducats in that; and other precious, precious jewels. — I would my daughter were dead at my foot, and the jewels in her ear! would she were hearsed at my foot, and the ducats in her coffin! No news of them? - Why, so : — and I know not what's spent in the search: why, thou loss upon loss! the thief gone with so much, and so much to find the thief; and no satisfaction, no revenge: nor no ill luck stirring but what lights o' my shoulders; no sighs but o' my breathing; no tears but o' my shedding.

Tub. Yes, other men have ill luck too: Antonio, as I heard in Genoa,

Shy. What, what, what? ill luck, ill luck?

Tub. hath an argosy cast away, coming from Tripolis. Shy. I thank God, I thank God!— Is it true, is it true? Tub. I spoke with some of the sailors that escaped the wreck.

Shy. I thank thee, good Tubal: good news, good news! ha, ha! - where? in Genoa?

Tub. Your daughter spent in Genoa, as I heard, one night fourscore ducats.

Shy. Thou stick'st a dagger in me: I shall never see my gold again: fourscore ducats at a sitting! fourscore ducats! Tub. There came divers of Antonio's creditors in my company to Venice, that swear he cannot choose but break.

Shy. I am very glad of it: I'll plague him; I'll torture him I am glad of it.

Tub. One of them showed me a ring that he had of your daughter for a monkey.

Shy. Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: it was my turquoise ; 12 I had it of Leah when I was a bachelor: I would not have given it for a wilderness of monkeys.

Tub. But Antonio is certainly undone.

Shy. Nay, that's true, that's very true. Go, Tubal, fee me an officer;13 bespeak him a fortnight before. I will have the heart of him, if he forfeit; for, were he out of Venice, I can make what merchandise I will. Go, Tubal, and meet me at our synagogue; go, good Tubal; at our synagogue, Tubal. [Exeunt.

SCENE II. Belmont. A Room in PORTIA'S House.

Enter BASSANIO, PORTIA, GRATIANO, NERISSA, and Attendants.

Por. I pray you, tarry; pause a day or two
Before you hazard; for, in choosing wrong,
I lose your company: therefore forbear awhile.
There's something tells me but it is not love -
I would not lose you; and you know yourself,
Hate counsels not in such a quality.
But, lest you should not understand me well,
And yet a maiden hath no tongue but thought,
I would detain you here some month or two
Before you venture for me. I could teach you
How to choose right, but then I am forsworn ;
So will I never be so may you miss me;
But, if you do, you'll make me wish a sin,

12 The turquoise was held precious not only for its rarity and beauty, but for the magical properties ascribed to it. Among other virtues, it was supposed to have the power of reconciling man and wife, and of forewarning the wearer, if any danger approached him. It was also thought to be a very compassionate stone; changing its colour, and looking pale and dim, if the wearer were ill.

18 To fee an officer, or a lawyer, is to engage him by paying for his services in advance. Acceptance of such payment binds him.

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