Do you desire? - Rest you fair, good signior: [ΤΟ ΑΝΤΟΝΙΟ. Your worship was the last man in our mouths. By taking, nor by giving of excess, Yet, to supply the ripe wants of my friend3, I'll break a custom : - Is he yet possess'd 4, How much you would? Shy. Ay, ay, three thousand ducats. Ant. And for three months. Shy. I had forgot, - three months, you told me so. Well then, your bond; and, let me see, - But hear you; Methought, you said, you neither lend, nor borrow, Upon advantage. Shy. When Jacob graz'd his uncle Laban's sheep, This Jacob from our holy Abraham was (As his wise mother wrought in his behalf,) The third possessor; ay, he was the third. Ant. And what of him? did he take interest? Shy. No, not take interest; not, as you would say, Directly interest: mark what Jacob did. He stuck them up before the fulsome ewes; 3 the ripe wants of my friend, Ripe wants are wants come to 4 the height, wants that can have no longer delay. -possess'd,] i. e. acquainted, informed. 5 the eanlings-] Lambs just dropt: from ean, eniti. G of kind,] i. e. of nature. Who, then conceiving, did in eaning time Ant. This was a venture, sir, that Jacob serv'd for; A thing not in his power to bring to pass, Shy. I cannot tell; I make it breed as fast: But note me, signior. Ant. Mark you this, Bassanio, The devil can cite scripture for his purpose. An evil soul, producing holy witness, Is like a villain with a smiling cheek; A goodly apple rotten at the heart; O, what a goodly outside falshood hath ! Shy. Three thousand ducats, - 'tis a good round sum. Three months from twelve, then let me see the rate. In the Rialto you have rated me And all for use of that which is mine own. 7 + "This thrift." MALONE. my usances:] Use and usance are both words anciently employ'd for usury, both in its favourable and unfavourable sense. But Mr. Ritson says, that Use and usance, mean nothing more than interest; and the former word is still used by country people in the same sense. Shylock, we would have monies; You say so; A cur can lend three thousand ducats? or Shall I bend low, and in a bondman's key, Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last : Ant. I am as like to call thee so again, Who if he break, thou may'st with better face Shy. Why, look you, how you storm ! * Shylock,] Our author, as Dr. Farmer informs me, took the name of his Jew from an old pamphlet entitled: Caleb Shillocke, his Prophesie: or the Jewes Prediction. London, printed for T. P. (Thomas Pavyer.) No date. Steevens. 9 A breed for barren metal of his friend?] A breed, that is interest money bred from the principal. By the epithet barren, the author would instruct us in the argument on which the advocates against usury went, which is this; that money is a barren thing, and cannot, like corn and cattle, multiply itself. And to set off the absurdity of this kind of usury, he put breed and barren in opposition. WARBURTON. This kindness will I show: Ant. This were kindness. Shy. Go with me to a notary, seal me there Your single bond; and, in a merry sport, If you repay me not on such a day, In such a place, such sum, or sums, as are Ant. Content, in faith; I'll seal to such a bond, Bass. You shall not seal to such a bond for me, I'll rather dwell in my necessity. Ant. Why, fear not, man; I will not forfeit it; Within these two months, that's a month before This bond expires, I do expect return Of thrice three times the value of this bond. Shy. O father Abraham, what these Christians are; And, for my love, I pray you, wrong me not. 1 left in the fearful guard, &c.] Fearful guard, is a guard that is not to be trusted, but gives cause of fear. To fear was anciently to give as well as feel terrours. JOHNSON. [Exit. Of an unthrifty knave; and presently I will be with you. Ant. Hie thee, gentle Jew. This Hebrew will turn Christian; he grows kind. Bass. I like not fair terms, and a villain's mind. Ant. Come on; in this there can be no dismay, My ships come home a month before the day. [Exeunt. ACT II. SCENE I. Belmont. A Room in Portia's House. Flourish of Cornets. Enter the Prince of Morocco, and his Train; PORTIA, NERISSA, and other of her Attend ants. Mor. Mislike me not for my complexion, * To prove whose blood is reddest, his, or mine.] To understand how the tawny prince, whose savage dignity is very well supported, means to recommend himself by this challenge, it must be remembered that red blood is a traditionary sign of courage: Thus Macbeth calls one of his frighted soldiers, a lily-liver'd boy; again, in this play, cowards are said to have livers as white as milk; and an effeminate and timorous man is termed a milksop. JOHNSON. 3 Hath fear'd the valiant,] i. e. terrify'd. To fear is often used by our old writers, in this sense. |