Por. I thank you for your wish, and am well pleas'd To wish it back on you: fare you well, Jessica. [Exeunt JESSICA and LORENZO. Now, Balthazar, As I have ever found thee honest, true, So let me find thee still. Take this same letter, In speed to Padua: see thou render this And, look, what notes and garments he doth give thee, Bring them, I pray thee, with imagin'd speed Which trades to Venice. Waste no time in words, .[Exit. Por. Come on, Nerissa: I have work in hand That you yet know not of. We'll see our husbands, Before they think of us. Ner. Shall they see us? Por. They shall, Nerissa; but in such a habit, Which I denying, they fell sick and died; And wish, for all that, that I had not kill'd them. That men shall swear, I have discontinued school Ner. Why, shall we turn to men? Por, Fie! what a question's that, If thou wert near a lewd interpreter ! But come: I'll tell thee all my whole device [Exeunt. SCENE V. The Same. A Garden. Enter LAUNCELOT and JESSICA. Laun. Yes, truly; for, look you, the sins of the father are to be laid upon the children; therefore, I promise you, I fear you. I was always plain with you, and so now I speak my agitation of the matter: therefore, be of good cheer; for, truly, I think, you are damn'd. There is but one hope in it that can do you any good, and that is but a kind of bastard hope, neither. Jes. And what hope is that, I pray thee? Laun. Marry, you may partly hope that your father got you not; that you are not the Jew's daughter. Jes. That were a kind of bastard hope, indeed: so the sins of my mother should be visited upon me. Laun. Truly, then, I fear you are damned both by father and mother: thus when I shun Scylla, your father, I fall into Charybdis, your mother. Well, you are gone both ways. Jes. I shall be sav'd by my husband; he hath made me a Christian. Laun. Truly, the more to blame he: we were Christians enow before; e'en as many as could well live one by another. This making of Christians will raise the price of hogs: if we grow all to be porkeaters, we shall not shortly have a rasher on the coals for money. Enter LORENZO. Jes. I'll tell my husband, Launcelot, what you say here he comes. Lor. I shall grow jealous of you, shortly, Launcelot, if you thus get my wife into corners. Jes. Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo: Launcelot and I are out. He tells me flatly, there is no mercy for me in Heaven, because I am a Jew's daughter; and he says, you are no good member of the commonwealth, for in converting Jews to Christians you raise the price of pork. Lor. I shall answer that better to the commonwealth, than you can the getting up of the negro's belly: the Moor is with child by you, Launcelot. Laun. It is much, that the Moor should be more than reason; but if she be less than an honest woman, she is, indeed, more than I took her for. Lor. How every fool can play upon the word! I think, the best grace of wit will shortly turn into silence, and discourse grow commendable in none only but parrots. Go in, sirrah: bid them prepare for dinner. Laun. That is done, sir; they have all stomachs. Lor. Goodly lord, what a wit-snapper are you! then, bid them prepare dinner. Laun. That is done too, sir; only, cover is the word. Lor. Will you cover then, sir? Wilt Laun. Not so, sir, neither; I know my duty. Lor. Yet more quarrelling with occasion? thou shew the whole wealth of thy wit in an instant? I pray thee, understand a plain man in his plain meaning: go to thy fellows, bid them cover the table, serve in the meat, and we will come in to dinner. Laun. For the table, sir, it shall be serv'd in; for the meat, sir, it shall be covered; for your coming in to dinner, sir, why, let it be as humours and conceits shall govern. [Exit LAUNCELOT. Lor. O, dear discretion, how his words are suited! The fool hath planted in his memory An army of good words; and I do know He finds the joys of Heaven here on Earth; Is reason he should never come to Heaven. Why, if two gods should play some heavenly match, And Portia one, there must be something else Lor. Even such a husband Hast thou of me, as she is for a wife. Jes. Nay, but ask my opinion, too, of that. Lor. No, pray thee, let it serve for table-talk; Then, howsoe'er thou speak'st, 'mong other things I shall digest it. Jes. Well, I'll set you forth. [Exeunt. ACT IV. SCENE I.. Venice. A Court of Justice. Enter the DUKE, the Magnificoes, ANTONIO, BASSANIO, GRATIANO, SALARINO, SALANIO, and others. DUKE. HAT, is Antonio here?. W Ant. Ready, so please your Grace. Duke. I am sorry for thee: thou art come to an swer A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch Uncapable of pity, void and empty Ant. I have heard, Your Grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify His rigorous course; but since he stands obdurate, And that no lawful means can carry me of his envy's reach, I do oppose |