Shylock

Ay, his breast:

So says the bond; - Doth it not, noble judge?—
Nearest his heart: those are the very words.

Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge, To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death. Shylock

Is it so nominated in the bond?

It is not so expressed: But what of that? "Twere good you do so much for charity. Shylock

I cannot find it; 'tis not in the bond. Portia

Come, merchant, have you anything to say? Antonio

But little; I am armed, and well prepared. —
Give me your hand, Bassanio; fare you well!
Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you;
For herein fortune shows herself more kind
Than is her custom: it is still her use,

To let the wretched man outlive his wealth,

To view with hollow eye, and wrinkled brow,
An age of poverty; from which lingering penance
Of such a misery doth she cut me off.
Commend me to your honorable wife:
Tell her the process of Antonio's end,

Say, how I loved you, speak me fair in death;
And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge,
Whether Bassanio had not once a love.
Repent not you that you shall lose your friend,
And he repents not that he pays your debt;
For, if the Jew do cut but deep enough,
I'll pay it instantly with all my heart.

Bassanio

Antonio, I am married to a wife,
Which is as dear to me as life itself;

But life itself, my wife, and all the world,
Are not with me esteemed above thy life:
I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all
Here to this devil, to deliver you.

Portia

Your wife would give you little thanks for that, If she were by, to hear you make the offer. Gratiano

I have a wife, whom, I protest, I love;

I would she were in heaven, so she could Entreat some power to change this currish Jew. Nerissa

"Tis well you offer it behind her back;

The wish would make else an unquiet house.

Shylock

These be the Christian husbands: I have a daughter;
'Would, any of the stock of Barrabas

Had been her husband, rather than a Christian! [Aside.
We trifle time; I pray thee, pursue sentence.

Portia

A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine; The court awards it, and the law doth give it. Shylock

Most rightful judge!

Portia

And you must cut this flesh from off his breast;
The law allows it, and the court awards it.

Shylock

Most learned judge!- A sentence; come, prepare. Portia

Tarry a little; there is something else.

This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood;

The words expressly are a pound of flesh:

Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh;

But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed

One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods
Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate

Unto the state of Venice.

Gratiano

O upright judge! — Mark, Jew; - O learned judge! Shylock

Portia

Is that the law?

Thyself shall see the act:

For, as thou urgest justice, be assured,

Thou shalt have justice more than thou desir'st. Gratiano

O learned judge! - Mark, Jew;-a learned judge! Shylock

I take this offer then; - pay the bond thrice,

And let the Christian go.

Bassanio
Portia-

Here is the money.

Soft;

The Jew shall have all justice; - soft!-no haste ; –
He shall have nothing but the penalty.

O Jew! an upright judge, a learned judge!
Portia-

Therefore, prepare thee to cut off the flesh.
Shed thou no blood; nor cut thou less, nor more,
But just a pound of flesh: if thou tak'st more,
Or less, than a just pound,- be it but so much
As makes it light, or heavy, in the substance,
Or the division of the twentieth part
Of one poor scruple; nay, if the scale do turn
But in the estimation of a hair, -
Thou diest, and all thy goods are confiscate.
Gratiano-

A second Daniel! a Daniel, Jew!
Now, infidel, I have thee on the hip.

Portia

Why doth the Jew pause? take thy forfeiture. Shylock

Give me my principal, and let me go. Bassanio

I have it ready for thee; here it is.
Portia-

He hath refused it in the open court;
He shall have merely justice and his bond.
Gratiano

A Daniel, still say I; a second Daniel

I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word. Shylock

Portia

Shall I not have barely my principal?

Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture,
To be so taken at thy peril, Jew.

Shylock

Portia

Why then the devil give him good of it!
I'll stay no longer question.

-

Tarry, Jew;

The law hath yet another hold on you.
It is enacted in the laws of Venice, -
If it be proved against an alien,
That by direct, or indirect attempts,

He seek the life of any citizen,

The party, 'gainst the which he doth contrive,
Shall seize one half his goods; the other half
Comes to the privy coffer of the state;
And the offender's life lies in the mercy
Of the duke only, 'gainst all other voice.
In which predicament, I say, thou stand'st:
For it appears by manifest proceeding,
That indirectly, and directly too,
Thou hast contrived against the very life
Of the defendant: and thou hast incurred
The danger formerly by me rehearsed.
Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the duke

Thou seest we are not all alone unhappy:

This wide and universal theater

Presents more woeful pageants than the scene
Wherein we play in.

Jaques

All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,

With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness and mere oblivion,

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

CORIN and TOUCHSTONE.

Corin-And how like you this shepherd's life, Master Touchstone? Touchstone-Truly, shepherd, in respect of itself, it is a good life; but in respect that it is a shepherd's life, it is naught. In respect that it is solitary, I like it very well; but in respect that it is private, it is a very vile life. Now, in respect it is in the fields, it pleaseth me well; but in respect it is not in the court, it is tedious. As it is a spare life, look you, it fits my humor well; but as there is no more plenty in it, it goes much against my stomach. Hast any philosophy in thee, shepherd?

Corin -No more but that I know the more one sickens the worse at ease he is; and that he that wants money, means, and content is without three good friends; that the property of rain is to wet and fire to burn; that good pasture makes fat sheep, and that a great cause of the night is lack of the sun; that he that hath learned no wit by nature nor art may complain of good breeding or comes of a very dull kindred.

Touchstone - Such a one is a natural philosopher. Wast ever in court, shepherd?

Corin-No, truly.

Touchstone - Then thou art damned.

Corin-Nay, I hope.

Touchstone - Truly, thou art damned, like an ill-roasted egg, all on one side.

Corin For not being at court? Your reason.

Touchstone-Why, if thou never wast at court, thou never sawest good manners; if thou never sawest good manners, then thy manners must be wicked; and wickedness is sin, and sin is damnation. Thou art in a parlous state, shepherd.

Corin - Not a whit, Touchstone: those that are good manners at the court are as ridiculous in the country as the behavior of the country is most mockable at the court. You told me you salute not at the court, but you kiss your hands: that courtesy would be uncleanly, if courtiers were shepherds.

Touchstone-Instance, briefly; come, instance.

VOL XII.-25