you and me, if I might but see you at my death. Not"withstanding use yonr pleasure: if your love do not per"suade you to come, let not my letter."

Por. O love! dispatch all business, and be gone.
Bass. Since I have your good leave to go away,
I will make haste; but 'till I come again,

No bed shall e'er be guilty of my stay;
No rest be interposer 'twixt us twain.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV. Changes to a street in Venice.
Enter Shylock, Solarino, Anthonio, and the Gaoler,
SHY. Gaoler, look to him-Tell not me of mercy-
This is the fool, that lent out money gratis-
Gaoler, look to him.

ANTH. Hear me yet, good Shylock.

SHY. I'll have my bond; speak not against my bond:
I've fworn an oath, that I will have my bond.
Thou call'dst we dog, before thou hadst a cause;
But since I am a dog, beware my fangs.
The duke shall grant me justice. I do wonder,
Thou naughty gaoler, that thou art so fond
To come abroad with him at his request.
ANTH. I pray thee, hear me speak.

SHY. I'll have my bond-I will not hear thee speak

I'll have my bond; and therefore speak no more.

I'll not be made a soft and dull-ey'd fool,

To shake the head, relent, and figh and yield

To christian intercessors. Follow not;

I'll have no speaking; I will have my bond. (Exit Shylock,

SOLA. It is the most impenetrable cur,

That ever kept with men.

ANTH. Let him alone,

I'll follow him no more with bootless pray'rs:
He seeks my life; his reason well I know;
I oft deliver'd from his forfeitures

Many, that have at times made moan to me;
Therefore he hates me.

SOLA. I am fure, the duke

Will never grant this forfeiture to hold.

ANTH. The duke cannot deny the course of law;
For the commodity that strangers have
With us in Venice, if it be deny'd,
Will much impeach the justice of the state;
Since that the trade and profit of the city
Consisteth of all nations. Therefore go,
These griefs and losses have so 'bated me,
That I shall hardly spare a pound of flesh
To-morow to my bloody creditor.
Well, goaler, on-Pray God, Bassanio come
To see me pay his debt, and then I care not!

[Exeunt.

SCENE 11. Changes to Belmont. Enter Portia, Nerissa, Lorenzo, Jessica, and Balthazar. Lor. Madam, although I speak it in your presence, You have a noble and a true conceit Of god-like amity; which appears most strongly In bearing thus the absence of your lord. But if you knew to whom you shew this honour, How true a gentleman you send relief to, How dear a lover of my lord your husband; I know you would be prouder of the work, Than customary bounty can enforce you. Por. I never did repent of doing good, And thall not now; for in companions

That do converse and waste the time together,
Whose fouls do bear an equal yoke of love,
There must needs be a like proportion
Of lineaments of manners, and of fpirit;
Which makes me think, that this Anthonio,
Being the bosom-lover of my lord,
Must needs be like my lord. Ifit be fo,
How little is the cost I have bestow'd,
In purchasing the semblance of my foul
From out the state of hellish cruelty ?
This comes too near the praising of myself;
Therefore, no more of it. Hear other things
Lorenzo, I commit into your hands
The husbandry and manage of my house,
Until my lord's return. For mine own part,
I have tow'rd heaven breath'd a secret vow,
To live in prayer and contemplation,
Only attended by Nerissa here,
Until her husband and my lord's return.
There is a monastery two miles off,
And there we will abide. I do desire you,
Not to deny this imposition;
The which my love and some neceffity
Now lays upon you.

Lor. Madam, with all my heart;
I shall obey you in all fair commands.
POR. My People do already know my mind,

And will acknowledge you and Jeffica
In place of lord Bassanio and myself.

So fare you well, 'till we shall meet again.

Lor. Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you!
JES. I wish your ladyship all heart's content.

Por. I thank you for your with, and am well pleased

To wish it back on you: fare ye well, Jeffsica.

Now, Balthazar,

[Exeunt Jef. and Lor.

As I have ever found thee honest, true,

So let me find thee still take this same letter,

And use thou all th'endeavour of a man,

In speed to Padua; see thou render this
Into my cousin's hand, doctor Bellario;

And look what notes and garments he doth give thee.
Bring them, I pray thee, with imagin'd speed
Unto the traject, to the common ferry

Which trades to Venice: waste no time in words,
But get thee gone; I shall be there before you.

BALTH. Madam, I go with all convenient speed. (Exit.
POR. Come on, Nerissa; I have work in hand,
That you yet know not of: we'll fee our husbands,
Before they think of us.

NER. Shall they see us?

Por. They fhall, Nerissa; but in such a habit,

That they shall think we are accomplished
With what we lack. I'll hold thee any wager,
When we are both apparell'd like young men,
I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two,
And wear my dagger with the braver grace;
And speak between the change of man and boy,
With a reed voice; and turn two mincing steps
Into a manly stride; and speak of frays,
Like a fine bragging youth; and tell quaint lies,
How honourable ladies fought my love,
Which I denying, they fell fick and dy'd,
I could not do with all then I'll repent,

And wish, for all that, that I had not kill'd them.
And twenty of these puny lies I'll tell;
That men shall swear, I've discontinued school
Above a twelvemonth. I have in my mind

A thousand raw tricks of these bragging jacks,
Which I will practise.

NER. Shall we turn to men?

For. Fie, what a question's that,
If thou wert near a lewd interpreter!
But come, I'll tell thee all my whole device
When I am in my coach, which stays for us
At the park-gate; and therefore haste away,
For we must measure twenty miles to-day.

SCENE VI.

Enter Launcelot and Jessica.

[Exeunt.

LAUN. Yes, truly for look you, the fins 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 damn'd both by father and mother; thus when you shun Scylla your father, you fall into Charybdis, your mother; well you are gone both ways.