For half thy wealth, it is Antonio's ;
The other half comes to the general state,
Which humbleness may drive unto a fine.

POR. Ay, for the state; not for Antonio.
SHY. Nay, take my life and all; pardon not
that:

You take my house, when you do take the prop That doth sustain my house; you take my life, When you do take the means whereby I live.

POR. What mercy can you render him, Antonio? GRA. A halter gratis; nothing else, for God's sake!

ANT. So please my lord the duke, and all the

court,

To quit the fine for one half of his goods;

I am content, so he will let me have

The other half in use,(4) to render it,
Upon his death, unto the gentleman
That lately stole his daughter;

Two things provided more,—that for this favour,
He presently become a Christian;

The other, that he do record a gift,

Here in the court, of all he dies possess'd,
Unto his son Lorenzo and his daughter.

DUKE. He shall do this; or else I do recant

The pardon that I late pronounced here.

POR. Art thou contented, Jew? what dost thou say?

BASS. Most worthy gentleman, I, and my friend, Have by your wisdom been this day acquitted Of grievous penalties; in lieu whereof, Three thousand ducats, due unto the Jew, We freely cope your courteous pains withal. ANT. And stand indebted, over and above, In love and service to you evermore.

POR. He is well paid that is well satisfied :
And I, delivering you, am satisfied,
And therein do account myself well paid;
My mind was never yet more mercenary.
I pray you, know me, when we meet again ;
I wish you well, and so I take my leave.
BASS. Dear sir, of force I must attempt you
further:

Take some remembrance of us, as a tribute,
Not as fee: grant me two things, I pray you,
Not to deny me, and to pardon me.

POR. You press me far, and therefore I will

you:

Do not draw back your hand; I'll take no more ; And you in love shall not deny me this.

BASS. This ring, good sir?-alas it is a trifle; I will not shame myself to give you this.

POR. I will have nothing else but only this;
And now, methinks, I have a mind to it.
BASS. There's more depends on this than on
the value.

The dearest ring in Venice will I give you,
And find it out by proclamation;
Only for this I pray you pardon me.

POR. I see, sir, you are liberal in offers :
You taught me first to beg; and now, methinks,
You teach me how a beggar should be answer`d.

BASS. Good sir, this ring was given me by my

wife:

And, when she put it on, she made me vow
That I should neither sell, nor give, nor lose it.
POR. That 'scuse serves many men to save their
gifts.

An if your wife be not a mad woman,
And know how well I have deserv'd this ring,
She would not hold out enemy for ever,
For giving it to me. Well, peace be with you!
[Exeunt PORTIA and NERISSA.
ANT. My lord Bassanio, let him have the ring,
Let his deservings, and my love withal,

LOR. He is not, nor we have not heard from him.

But go we in, I pray thee, Jessica,
And ceremoniously let us prepare

Some welcome for the mistress of the house.

Enter LAUNCELOT.

LAUN. Sola, sola! wo ha, ho! sola, sola!
LOR. Who calls?

LAUN. Sola! Did you see master Lorenzo, and mistress Lorenzo? sola, sola!

LOR. Leave hollaing, man; here.
LAUN. Sola! Where? where?
LOR. Here.

LAUN. Tell him there's a post come from my master, with his horn full of good news; my master will be here ere morning.

[Exit.

LOR. Sweet soul, let's in, and there expect their coming;

And yet no matter:-Why should we go in?
My friend Stepháno, signify, I pray you,
Within the house, your mistress is at hand:
And bring your music forth into the air.

[Exit STEPHANO.
How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon this bank!
Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears; soft stillness, and the night,
Become the touches of sweet harmony.
Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines + of bright gold.
There's not the smallest orb which thou behold'st,
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins: b
Such harmony is in immortal souls ;(2)
But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.—

Enter Musicians.

Come, ho! and wake Diana with a hymn;
With sweetest touches pierce your mistress' ear,
And draw her home with music.
[Music.

JES. I am never merry when I hear sweet music.

LOR. The reason is, your spirits are attentive:

(*) First folio omits, I, and for Stephano, reads, Stephen.
(†) First folio, pattens.
(1) First folio, in it.

a Sola, sola! wo ha, ho! sola, sola!] Launcelot is imitating the horn of the courier, or "post," as he was called, who always wore that appendage suspended from his neck. Thus, in "The Untrussing of The Humourous Poet: "

"The King will hang a horn about thy neck,
And make a Post of thee."

So, also, in Ben Jonson's "Silent Woman," Act II. Sc. 2:-
"Enter Truewit with his horn.

I had no other way to get in but by feigning to be a post."

b Cherubins:] This, and not cherubims, (or, properly, cherubim,) was the frequent orthography in Shakespeare's time.

[loud,

For do but note a wild and wanton herd,
Or race of youthful and unhandled colts,
Fetching mad bounds, bellowing, and neighing
Which is the hot condition of their blood,
If they but hear, perchance, a trumpet sound,
Or any air of music touch their ears,
You shall perceive them make a mutual stand,
Their savage eyes turn'd to a modest gaze,
By the sweet power of music. Therefore, the
[floods;
Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and
Since nought so stockish, hard, and full of rage,
But music for the* time doth change his nature.
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus:

poet

Let no such man be trusted.-Mark the music.

Enter PORTIA and NERISSA at a distance.

POR. That light we see is burning in my hall: How far that little candle throws his beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

NER. When the moon shone, we did not see the candle.

POR. So doth the greater glory dim the less: A substitute shines brightly as a king, Until a king be by; and then his state Empties itself, as doth an inland brook Into the main of waters. Music! hark! NER. It is your music, madam, of the house. POR. Nothing is good, I see, without respect; Methinks it sounds much sweeter than by day.

NER. Silence bestows that virtue on it, madam. POR. The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark,

When neither is attended; and, I think,
The nightingale, if she should sing by day,
When every goose is cackling, would be thought
No better a musician than the wren.
How many things by season season'd are
To their right praise, and true perfection !—
Peace, ho! the moon sleeps with Endymion,
And would not be awak'd!
[Music ceases.

(*) First folio omits, the.

d

e Nothing is good, I see, without respect;] By respect, in this place, is meant, regard, attention, consideration. When the mind is pre-engaged, it is influenced but little by the beautiful in nature or in art :

"The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark,
When neither is attended."

d Peace, ho! the moon sleeps with Endymion,-] All the old copies read,

"Peace! how the moon sleeps," &c.

The emendation is Malone's; and, after the examples of this exclamation which he has cited from other plays, can hardly be disputed.

FF 2

BASS. We should hold day with the Antipodes, If you would walk in absence of the sun.

POR. Let me give light, but let me not be light;

For a light wife doth make a heavy husband,
And never be Bassanio so for me:

But God sort all!-You are welcome home, my lord.

BASS. I thank you, madam: give welcome to my friend.

This is the man, this is Antonio,
To whom I am so infinitely bound.

POR. You should in all sense be much bound to him,

For, as I hear, he was much bound for you.

ANT. No more than I am well acquitted of. POR. Sir, you are very welcome to our house: It must appear in other ways than words, Therefore, I scant this breathing courtesy. GRA. [TO NERISSA.] By yonder moon, I swear you do me wrong;

A tucket- A tucket meant a flourish on a trumpet, perhaps from the Italian toccata, or the Spanish tocár; tocár trompeta, to sound a trumpet.

b I hear his trumpet:] In the time of Shakespeare it was customary for persons of distinction, when visiting, to be accompanied by a trumpeter, who announced their approach by a flourish on his instrument. To this practice we often find allusions in contemporary writers.

In faith, I gave it to the judge's clerk :
Would he were gelt that had it, for my part,
Since you do take it, love, so much at heart.
POR. A quarrel, ho, already! what's the
matter?

GRA. About a hoop of gold, a paltry ring
That she did give me; whose poesy was
For all the world, like cutlers' poetry
Upon a knife, Love me, and leave me not !*

NER. What talk you of the poesy, or the value?
You swore to me, when I did give it you,
That you would wear it till your* hour of death;
And that it should lie with you in your grave:
Though not for me, yet for your vehement oaths,
You should have been respective, and have kept it.
Gave it a judge's clerk !-no, God's my judge!*
The clerk will ne'er wear hair on's face that
had it.

GRA. He will, an if he live to be a man.
NER. Ay, if a woman live to be a man.
GRA. Now, by this hand, I gave it to a youth,—
A kind of boy; a little scrubbed boy,

No higher than thyself, the judge's clerk ;
A prating boy, that begg'd it as a fee;
I could not for my heart deny it him.

[you,

POR. You were to blame, I must be plain with To part so slightly with your wife's first gift; A thing stuck on with oaths upon your finger, And riveted sot with faith unto your flesh.

I

gave my love a ring, and made him swear Never to part with it; and here he stands,-I dare be sworn for him, he would not leave it, Nor pluck it from his finger, for the wealth That the world masters. Now, in faith, Gratiano, You give your wife too unkind a cause of grief; An't were to me, I should be mad at it.

BASS. Why, I were best to cut my left hand off,

And swear, I lost the ring defending it.

[Aside.

GRA. My lord Bassanio gave his ring away
Unto the judge that begg'd it, and, indeed,
Deserv'd it too; and then the boy, his clerk,
That took some pains in writing, he begg'd mine:
And neither man, nor master, would take aught
But the two rings.
POR.
What ring gave you, my lord?
Not that, I hope, which you receiv'd of me.
BASS. If I could add a lie unto a fault,

I would deny it; but you see, my finger
Hath not the ring upon it, it is gone.
POR. Even so void is your false heart of truth.