IV. THE MOOR OF VENICE.

In the story just treated of, the commentators on Shakespeare considered it certain he was not acquainted with the original, because there were translations in English from which he might have derived his materials: but in the present instance, as no translation of the story can be produced so old as Shakespeare's time, recourse is had to the supposition that such a translation may have been extant, and have been since lost. Probably, it is said, there was only one edition, that this was borrowed from the French translation of the story of Cinthio made by Gabriel Chapuys, which appeared in Paris in 1584. And all these conjectures are only for the sake of persisting more conveniently in the supposition that Shakespeare was wholly ignorant of languages;1 as if it had not been a mere recreation for such a genius to acquire such languages as Italian and French.

In the edition already cited of the stories of Cinthio, the one quoted is the seventh of the third decade. The name of Othello does not occur in it, any more than that of Iago; but, according to Steevens, they may both be found in a story in "God's revenge against Adultery," which may have been known to Shakespeare. As this relation, like the play,

1 M. Simrock here places the opinions of the commentators in somewhat too positive a light. It is quite consonant with what we know to have been Shakespeare's usage in other instances, to regard the probability of his having used the translations, and the possibility of his having employed the originals. It is not concluded that Shakespeare could not read Italian, merely because in most instances he read English versions ; but this is the fallacy in many arguments on the subject.-ED.

2 The "Revenge against Adultery" was first added, I believe, to the sixth edition of Reynolds' "Triumphs of God's Revenge against Murder,"

treats of jealousy, the borrowing of the names, which are common ones, is probable enough.

It is probable that the relation of Cinthio was founded on an historical fact, as on a popular story. According to an assertion of the late Wilhelm Waiblinger, in the Taschenbuch Penelope for 1831, there is an Italian ballad on this subject: we have looked for this in vain in Wolff's Egeria. At all events, the cast of the story renders it not improbable that it is derived from a popular romance, such as itinerant minstrels sing before painted tables. This story is certainly among the best of Cinthio's, whose merits as a narrator we cannot rate very highly. The popular story of Othello, if such a one must be supposed to exist, would belong, from its subject, to the cycle of which we shall have to treat more at length in considering the tale of Cymbeline.

fol., Lond., 1679, edited by S. Pordage, who dedicates the work to the Earl of Shaftesbury. I do not quite understand whether Reynolds was also the author of the additional stories; for, although written in the same style, his name does not appear on the second title-page, nor does Pordage absolutely affirm that they were written by him, though he may wish to imply as much. In the tale to which Steevens alludes, which is the eighth history of the additional book, and called "an Italian history," Jocelina, Countess of Chiety, marries Don Iago, who turns out false, and is beheaded by the Countess. She afterwards marries Othello, "an old German soldier," who discovers her infidelity, and “leaves her in discontent." Beyond the identity of these names, I can trace no similarity between this story and the play.—ED.

V. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE.

Eschenburg commences his dissertation upon this piece with a consideration of the three unities, and the neglect of the unity of action in the pieces of Shakespeare; a neglect, says he, which is rather a merit than a defect, inasmuch as he knew how to weave in the episode with the main story, that the latter suffers nothing by the introduction of the other, but rather seems to be first set in its full light by it. This seems, also, he proceeds to say, to be the case in this piece. Both actions, the cruelty of the Jew and the love of Bassanio, have been most happily united in one event; and this merit is so much the greater, as in all probability he has made use of two stories, and has united their very different contents in one piece.

This part of Eschenburg's treatise must have been written before he gave the story here quoted of Giovanni Fiorentino,1 for the real source of Shakespeare's drama, as the English critics had previously done; for here he seems to suppose that Shakespeare had been the first to combine the story of Bassanio's love with that of the merchant brought to judgment, when this combination finds a place in Il Pecorone, and, as we shall see, in a still older production. Shakespeare kept most closely to the already existing story, and only changed the test by which Gianetto must gain the lady of Belmonte, with another, more apt for the purpose, which he

1 The Adventures of Gianetto are reprinted, with an English translation, in Mr. Collier's Shakespeare's Library, vol. ii. An abridged translation of it is given by Dr. Johnson, and is found in the variorum editions of Shakespeare.-ED.

also borrowed from a story, the second of those here quoted. We say this, not to lessen the merit of the poet, but to show wherein it consists; in the treatment, not the invention of the material, which, as we have seen, had been put into his hands. Shakespeare has frequently shown his genius in the combination of different materials; we are far from doubting it: but Eschenburg's dissertation would have been more appropriately prefixed to another of his pieces-“ King Lear,” for example, or "The Taming of the Shrew"-than to the "Merchant of Venice."

The Pecorone of Ser Giovanni Fiorentino was written in 1378: the first edition was printed at Milan in 1558.1 Our story is the first of the fourth day. Giovanni again probably borrowed from the well-known Gesta Romanorum, from the English version of which the second quoted novel, “The Three Caskets," is borrowed. Eschenburg has taken the narrative belonging to this from a German translation, printed in 1538. In this story, a knight at the court of the Emperor Lucius in Rome has fallen in love with his daughter: he twice buys for a thousand marks the privilege of passing a night with her, but each time falls asleep without having obtained his desire. The third time, he has to borrow the money from a merchant, pledging all his flesh for the repayment, and giving him at the same time a bond written in his blood. But this time a wise philosopher (Virgilius, in the English translation) warns him, and teaches him to overcome the enchantment which had held him bound in sleep in the two first nights. The rest of the story agrees with that of Giovanni, to whom belongs little more than the invention that a friend of the needy man borrows the money for him, under that terrible condition, by which the narrative certainly gains much interest. It is thus taken into the list of stories of friendship, to which it did not originally belong; and it This is not quite correct. A copy dated 1554 is in the Douce ColIt is reprinted in the Novelliero Italiano, 1754.-Ed.

lection.

closely approaches to the Greek form of the story, as Schiller has treated it in Die Bürgschaft (The Suretyship). Shakespeare has laid great stress upon this circumstance, and his play is a true code of friendship in all its degrees.

From the story of the English Gesta Romanorum appears to have arisen a play which was established on the English boards before Shakespeare's time. Stephen Gosson mentions it in his "School of Abuse," under the title of "The Jew," which, he says, was played at the Bull Theatre, and “represented the greedinesse of worldly chusers, and the bloody minds of usurers." Gosson praises this piece, and Steevens conjectures that Shakespeare has remodelled it, or taken it as the groundwork of his own play. On the other hand, from the story of Giovanni Fiorentino has arisen the old ballad of Gernutus, the Jew of Venice, which Dr. Percy has preserved in his Relics of Ancient English Poetry, and Eschenburg has translated; the ballad itself at least claims an Italian origin.2 This ballad, however, confines itself to the single circumstance of pledging a pound of flesh, and omits every thing relating to the love of the friend for whom the money has been borrowed. The age of this ballad cannot be distinctly ascertained; it is concluded that Shakespeare was acquainted with it, from the incident of the whetting of the knife. This incident, however, occurs in "Blue Beard" and "Poor Henry," and may be considered as an element of popular fiction.

1 The coincidence between the subject of the play of "The Jew," as mentioned by Gosson, and Shakespeare's play, is so remarkable, that I am inclined to believe the story was the same. I do not think it has been remarked, in connexion with the subject, that Shakespeare's play was also called the Jew of Venice. This fact appears from the entry made by Roberts on the Stationers' Register for 1598.-Ed.

2 The ballad itself says, 66 as Italian writers tell;" but balladists were not always the promulgators of truth, and no ballads of the time are good evidence in such matters.-ED.