That I was worse than nothing; for, indeed,
I have engaged myself to a dear friend,
Engaged my friend to his mere enemy,
To feed my means. Here is a letter, lady;
The paper as the body of my friend,

And every word in it a gaping wound,

Issuing life-blood: But is it true, Salerio?

Have all his ventures fail'd? What, not one hit ?

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From Tripolis, from Mexico and England,

From Lisbon, Barbary and India?

And not one vessel 'scape the dreadful touch
Of merchant-marring rocks?

Salar.

Not one, my lord.
Besides, it should appear, that if he had
The present money to discharge the Jew,
He would not take it. Never did I know
A creature, that did bear the shape of man,
So keen and greedy to confound a man:
He plies the duke at morning and at night,
And doth impeach the freedom of the state,
If they deny him justice: twenty merchants,
The duke himself, and the magnificoes

Of greatest port, have all persuaded with him;
But none can drive him from the envious plea

Of forfeiture, of justice and his bond.

Jes. When I was with him I have heard him swear To Tubal and to Chus, his countrymen,

That he would rather have Antonio's flesh

Than twenty times the value of the sum

That he did owe him and I know, my lord,

If law, authority and power deny not,

It will go hard with poor Antonio.

Por. Is it your dear friend that is thus in trouble?
Bass. The dearest friend to me, the kindest man,

The best-condition'd and unwearied spirit

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290

What, no more? 300

In doing courtesies, and one in whom
The ancient Roman honour more appears
Than any that draws breath in Italy.
Por. What sum owes he the Jew?
Bass. For me three thousand ducats.
Por.
Pay him six thousand, and deface the bond
Double six thousand, and then treble that,
Before a friend of this description
Shall lose a hair through Bassanio's fault.
First go with me to church and call me wife,
And then away to Venice to your friend;

For never shall you lie by Portia's side
With an unquiet soul. You shall have gold
To pay the petty debt twenty times over:
When it is paid, bring your true friend along.
My maid Nerissa and myself meantime
Will live as maids and widows. Come, away!
For you shail hence upon your wedding-day:
Bid your friends welcome, show a merry cheer:
Since you are dear bought, I will love you dear.
But let me hear the letter of your friend.

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Bass. [Reads] Sweet Bassanio, my ships have all miscarried, my creditors grow cruel, my estate is very low, my bond to the Jow is forfeit; and since in paying it, it is impossible I should live, all debts are cleared between you and I, if I might but see you at my death. Notwithstanding, use your pleasure: if your love do not persuade 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.

SCENE III. Venice. A street.

[Exeunt.

Enter SHYLOCK, SALARINO, ANTONIO, and Gaoler. Shy. Gaoler, look to him: tell not me of mercy; This is the fool that lent out money gratis :

Gaoler, look to him.

Ant.

Hear me yet, good Shylock.

Shy. I'll have my bond; speak not against my bond:
I have sworn an oath that I will have my bond.

Thou call'dst me 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.
Ant. 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-eyed fool,

To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield

To Christian intercessors. Follow not;

I'll have no speaking: I will have my bond.
Salar. It is the most impenetrable cur
That ever kept with men.

Ant.

Let him alone:

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[Exit.

I'll follow him no more with bootless prayers.
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.

Salar.

I am sure the duke
Will never grant this forfeiture to hold.

Ant. The duke cannot deny the course of law :
For the commodity that strangers have
With us in Venice, if it be denied,

Will much impeach the justice of his 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-morrow to my bloody creditor.

Well, gaoler, on. Pray God, Bassanio come
To see me pay his debt, and then I care not!

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30

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV. Belmont. A room in PORTIA's house.

Enter PORTIA, NERISSA, LORENZO, JESSICA, and BAL

THASAR.

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 show this honour
How true a gentleman you send relief,
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 for doing good,
Nor shall not now: for in companions
That do converse and waste the time together,
Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love,
There must be needs a like proportion
Of lineaments, of manners and of spirit;
Which makes me think that this Antonio,
Being the bosom lover of my lord,
Must needs be like my lord. If it be so,
How little is the cost I have bestow'd
In purchasing the semblance of my soul
From out the state of hellish misery!
This comes too near the praising of myself;
Therefore no more of it hear other things.
Lorenzo, I commit into your hands

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20

The husbandry and manage of my house
Until my lord's return for mine own part,
I have toward heaven breathed 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 will we abide. I do desire you
Not to deny this imposition;

The which my love and some necessity
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 Jessica

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In place of Lord Bassanio and myself.

And so farewell, till we shall meet again.

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

Por. I thank you for your wish, and am well pleased To wish it back on you: fare you well, Jessica.

Now, Balthasar,

[Exeunt Jessica and Lorenzo.

As I have ever found thee honest-true,

So let me find thee still. Take this same letter,
And use thou all the endeavour of a man

In speed to Padua: see thou render this

Into my cousin's hand, Doctor Ballario;

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And, look, what notes and garments he doth give thee,
Bring them, I pray thee, with imagined speed
Unto the tranect, to the common ferry

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

Balth. Madam, I go with all convenient speed. Por. Come on, Nerissa; I have work in land 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,
That they shall think we are accomplished
With that we lack. I'll hold thee any wager,
When we are both accoutred 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

[Exit.

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Like a fine bragging youth, and tell quaint lies,
How honourable ladies sought my love,
Which I denying, they fell sick and died;
I could not do withal; 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 have discontinued school
Above a twelvemonth. I have within my mind
A thousand raw tricks of these bragging Jacks,
Which I will practise.

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
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 V. The same. A garden.

Enter LAUNCELOT and JESSICA.

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69

[Exeunt.

Laun. Yes, truly; for, look you, the sins of the father are to be laid upon the children: therefore, I promise ye, 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 damned. There is but one hope in it than can do you any good; and that is but a kind of bastard hope neither.

10

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. 20 Jes. I shall be saved 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 an other. This making of Christians will raise the price of hogs if we grow all to be pork-eaters, 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.

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