Jef. 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. Jef. That were a kind of baftard hope, indeed; fo the fins of my mother should be vifited upon me. Laun. Truly, then, I fear, you are damn'd both by father and mother; thus when you fhun Scylla, (23) your father, you fall into Charybdis, your mother: well, you are gone both ways. Jef. I fhall be faved by my husband; he hath made me a Christian. Laun. Truly, the more to blame he; we were chriftians enough before, e'en as many as could well live one by another: this making of chriftians will raife the price of hogs; if we grow all to be pork-eaters, we shall not fhortly have a rather on the coals for money. Enter Lorenzo. Jef. I'll tell my husband, Launcelot, what you fay: here he comes. Lor. I fhall grow jealous of you fhortly, Launcelot, if you thus get my wife into corners. Jef. Nay, you need not fear us, Lorenzo; Launcelot and I are out; he tells me flatly, there is no mercy for me in heav'n, because I am a Jew's daughter: and he fays, you are no good member of the common wealth; for, in converting Jews to chriftians, you raise the price of pork. (23) Thus when you shun Scylla, your father,] By the allusion which Launcelot makes here, 'tis evident, Shakespeare was no ftranger to this Hexamiter, nor the application of it; Incidit in Scyllum, cupiens vitare Charybdim. Erafmus in his Adagies, quotes this verse as one very much in vogue with the Latines; but fays, he does not remember its author. I prefume, it might have been founded upon the Greek proverbial fentence, likewife quoted by him, Τὴν Χάρυβδιν ἐκφυγαν τη Σκύλλη περιέπεσον. This is one of thofe Iambics, he tells us, which were call'd, Dimetri x91. For my own part, (throwing out this cramp definition) I think it might have been a plain Iambic, as moft of the proverbial Gnomes were, and only difmounted from its numbers by the unneceflary infertion of the articles. I would read it: Σκύλλη περιέπεσον, Χάρυβδιν ἐκφυγών. Lor. Lor. I fhall anfwer that better to the common-wealth, 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 fhould be more than reafon but if fhe 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 fhortly turn into filence, and difcourfe grow commendable in none but parrots. Go in, firrah, bid them prepare for dinner. Laun. That is done, Sir; they have all ftomachs. Lor. Good 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? Laun. Not fo, Sir, neither; I know my duty. Lor. Yet more quarrelling with occafion! wilt thou fhew the whole wealth of thy wit in an inftant? I pray thee, understand a plain man in his plain meaning: go to thy fellows, bid them cover the table, ferve in the meat, and we will come in to dinner. govern. Laun. For the table, Sir, it shall be serv'd in: for the meat, Sir, it fhall be covered; for your coming in to dinner, Sir, why, let it be as humours and conceits fhall [Exit Laun. Lor. O dear difcretion, how his words are fuited! The fool has planted in his memory An army of good words; and I do know A many fools that ftand in better place, Garnish'd like him, that for a tricksy word Defy the matter: how far'ft thou, Feffica? And now, good fweet, fay thy opinion, How doft thou like the lord Balanio's wife? Jef. Paft all expreffing: it is very meet, The lord Bassanio live an upright life. For, having fuch a bleffing in his lady, He finds the joys of heaven here on earth : And if on earth he do not merit it, In reafon he fhould never come to heav'n. Why, if two Gods should play fome heav'nly match, And And on the wager lay two earthly women, Lor. Even fuch a husband Haft thou of me, as fhe is for a wife. Jef. Nay, but ask my opinion too of that. Jef. Nay, let me praise you, while I have a ftomach. Lor. No, pray thee, let it ferve for table-talk; Then, howfoe'er thou fpeak'ft, 'mong other things, I shall digeft it. Jef. Well, I'll fet you forth. [Exeunt. ACT IV. SCENE, the Senate-house in Venice. Enter the Duke, the Senators; Anthonio, Baffanio. and Gratiano, at the Bar. DUKE. HAT, is Anthonio here? WHAT, Ant. Ready, fo please your Grace. Duke. I'm forry for thee; thou art come to answer A ftony adverfary, an inhuman wretch Uncapable of pity, void and empty From any dram of mercy. Ant. I have heard, Your Grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify His rig❜rous courfe; but fince he ftands obdurate, And that no lawful means can carry me Out of his envy's reach, I do oppose My patience to his fury; and am arm'd To fuffer, with a quietness of spirit, The very tyranny and rage of his. Duke. Go one, and call the Jew into the Court. Sal. He's ready at the door: he comes, my lord. VOL. II. G Enter Enter Shylock. Duke. Make room, and let him ftand before our face. And where thou now exact'ft the penalty, But, touch'd with human gentleness and love, Glancing an eye of pity on his loffes, From brafly bofoms, and rough hearts of flint; We all expect a gentle anfwer, Jew. Shy. I have poffefs'd your Grace of what I purpose. And by our holy Sabbath have I fworn, To have the due and forfeit of my bond. If you deny it, let the danger light Upon your charter, and your city's freedom. You'll ask me, why I rather chufe to have A weight of carrion flesh, than to receive Three thousand ducats? I'll not anfwer that. But fay, it is my humour, is it answer'd? What if my houfe be troubled with a rat, And I be pleas'd to give ten thousand ducats To have it bane'd? what, are you answer'd yet? Some men there are, love not a gaping pig; Some, that are mad, if they behold a cat; And others, when the bag-pipe fings i' th' nofe, Cannot contain their urine for affection. (24) (24) Cannot contain their urine for affection. Masterless paffion fways it to the mood Masterless Of what it likes, or loaths.] Mafterless paffion was firft Mr. Rozve's reading, 3 Masterless paffion fways it to the mood Of what it likes, or loaths. Now for your answer: Why he cannot abide a gaping pig; Why he, a harmless neceffary cat; Why he, a woollen bag-pipe; but of force reading, (on what authority, I am at a lofs to know;) which Mr. Cannot cantain their urine; for affection, it &c. * or, Miftrefs. It may be objected, that affection and passion are fynonomous terms, and mean the fame thing, I agree, they do at this time. But I obferve, the writers of our author's age made a fort of diftinction: confidering the one as the caufe, the other as the effet. And then, in this place, affection will stand for that fympathy or antipathy of foul, by which we are provok'd to fhew a liking or difguft in the working of our paffions, B. Jobnfon, in his Sejanus, feems to apply the terms thus: He hath ftudied Affection's paffions, knows their springs, their ends, So much, in fupport of Dr. Thirlby's regulation of the paffage. My Cannot contain their urine for affection. Mafters of paffion sway it to the wood Obferve, he is here only speaking of the different power of founds, Thus far Mr. Warburton. I fhall, fubmit the paffage, for the prefent, to the opinion and determination of the publick; upon which, I may hereafter venture with more safety to ascertain it. G 2 Muft |