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 served 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.

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
A many fools, that stand in better place,
Garnish'd like him, that for a tricksy word
Defy the matter.7 How cheer'st thou, Jessica?

And now, good sweet, say thy opinion:
How dost thou like the Lord Bassanio's wife?

Jes. Past all expressing. It is very meet

The Lord Bassanio live an upright life;
For, having such a blessing in his lady,
He finds the joys of Heaven here on Earth;
And if on Earth he do not merit it,8

In reason he should never come to Heaven.

Why, if two gods should play some heavenly match,
And on the wager lay two earthly women,

And Portia one, there must be something else
Pawn'd with the other; for the poor rude world
Hath not her fellow.

Lor.

Even such a husband

[Exit.

7 To defy was often used for to renounce, forsake, or give up. So in 1 Henry the Fourth, i. 3: “All studies here I solemnly defy, save how to gall and pinch this Bolingbroke." Shakespeare alludes, no doubt, to the habit, which then infected all classes, of sacrificing their matter, or letting it go, in their fondness of verbal trickery and trifling, or in their chase after puns and plays upon words. - Tricksy is artful, adroit, or what we might call smartish.

8 It refers to blessing, in the second line above.

Hast thou of me as she is for a wife.

Jes. Nay, but ask my opinion too of that.

Lor. I will anon: first, let us go to dinner.

Jes. Nay, let me praise you while I have a stomach.9
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, SOLANIO, SALARINO, and others.

Duke. What, is Antonio here?

Ant. Ready, so please your Grace.

Duke. I'm sorry for thee: thou art come to answer

A stony adversary, an inhuman wretch

Uncapable of pity, void and empty

From any dram of mercy.

Your Grace hath ta'en great pains to qualify 1

His rigorous course; but, since he stands obdúrate,

And that 2 no lawful means can carry me

9 An equivoque on stomach, which is used in the two senses of inclination to praise and of appetite for food.

1 To abate, to assuage, to mitigate, are old senses of to qualify.

2 The old language in full was since that; and Shakespeare, in a second clause, often uses that, instead of repeating since. Here we should write "since and since." It was the same with if, when, though, and some others. If that has occurred several times in this play.

Out of his envy's 3 reach, I do oppose

My patience to his fury; and am arm'd
To suffer, with a quietness of spirit,

The very tyranny and rage of his.

Duke. Go one, and call the Jew into the court.
Solan. He's ready at the door: he comes, my lord.
Enter SHYLOCK.

Duke. Make room, and let him stand before our face.

Shylock, the world thinks, and I think so too,
That thou but lead'st this fashion of thy malice+
To the last hour of act; and then 'tis thought
Thou'lt show thy mercy and remorse,5 more strange
Than is thy strange-apparent cruelty;

And, where thou now exact'st the penalty,
Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh,
Thou wilt not only loose the forfeiture,
But, touch'd with human gentleness and love,
Forgive a moiety 8 of the principal;
Glancing an eye of pity on his losses,
That have of late so huddled on his back,
Enough to press a royal merchant 9 down,
And pluck commiseration of his state

3 Envy in its old sense of malice or hatred.

4 "Keepest up this manner or appearance of malice."

5 Remorse, in Shakespeare, generally means pity or compassion. The usage was common.

6 Where for whereas; the two being used interchangeably.

Loose, here, has the sense of remit or release.

8 Moiety is, properly, half, but was used for any portion.

9" Royal merchant" is a complimentary phrase, to indicate the wealth and social standing of Antonio. In the Poet's time, Sir Thomas Gresham was so called, from his great wealth, and from his close financial relations with the Court and the Queen. The term was also applied to great Italian merchants, such as the Giustiniani and the Grimaldi, the Medici and the Pazzi, some of whom held mortgages on kingdoms and acquired the titles of princes for themselves.

From brassy bosoms and rough hearts of flint,
From stubborn Turks and Tartars, never train'd
To offices of tender courtesy.

We all expect a gentle answer, Jew.

Grace of what I purpose;

Shy. I have possess'd 10 your
And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn
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.11
You'll ask me, why I rather choose to have
A weight of carrion-flesh than to receive.
Three thousand ducats: I'll not answer that:
But, say, it is my humour; is it answer'd? 12
What if my house be troubled with a rat,
And I be pleased to give ten thousand ducats
To have it baned! What, are you answer'd yet?
Some men there are love not a gaping pig;

Some, that are mad if they behold a cat ;

. 13

And others, when the bag-pipe sings i' the nose,
Cannot contain their urine for affection.14

10 Possess'd, again, in its old sense of informed.

11 Perhaps the Poet had London in his mind, which held certain rights and franchises by royal charter, and was liable to have its charter revoked for an act of flagrant injustice.

12 The meaning seems to be, "Suppose I should say," or, "What if I should say it is my humour; is that an answer?"— In the Poet's time, humour was used, much as conscience was at a later period, to justify any eccentric impulse of vanity, opinion, or self-will, for which no common ground of reason could be alleged. Thus, if a man had an individual crotchet which he meant should override the laws and conditions of our social being, it was his humour. Corporal Nym is a burlesque on this sort of affectation.

13 A pig's head as roasted for the table. In England, a boar's head was served up at Christmas, with a lemon in its mouth. So in Webster's Duchess of Malfi, iii. 2: "He could not abide to see a pig's head gaping: I thought your Grace would find him a Jew." And in Fletcher's Elder Brother, ii. 2: 'And they stand gaping like a roasted pig."

14 Here, again, for is equivalent to because of. See page 183, note 3.

-

Masters of passion sway it to the mood

Of what it likes or loathes.15 Now, for your answer:
As there is no firm reason to be render'd,

Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;

Why he, a harmless necessary cat;

Why he, a wauling bag-pipe,16 but of force 17
Must yield to such inevitable shame

As to offend, himself being offended;

So can I give no reason, nor I will not,
More than a lodged hate and a certain loathing
I bear Antonio, that I follow thus

A losing suit against him. Are you answer'd?
Bass. This is no answer, thou unfeeling man,
T'excuse the current of thy cruelty.

Shy. I am not bound to please thee with my answer.
Bass. Do all men kill the things they do not love?
Shy. Hates any man the thing he would not kill?
Bass. Every offence is not a hate at first.

Shy. What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice?
Ant. I pray you, think you question 18 with the Jew.

You may as well go stand upon the beach,

And bid the main 19 flood bate his usual height;

You may as well use question with the wolf,

Affection, in this place, means much the same as impulse; more properly, the state of being affected or moved by any external object or impression.

15 An axiomatic saying, brought in here with signal aptness. Even the greatest masters of passion move and rule it according as it is predisposed. Shakespeare's power lies partly in that fact: hence, in his work, the passions are rooted in the persons, instead of being merely pasted on.

16" Wauling bag-pipe" evidently means the same as "when the bag-pipe sings i' the nose." The effect in question is produced by the sound of the bag-pipe, and not by the sight, as in the other instances.

17 Of force is the same as perforce; of necessity, or necessarily.

18 Question, here, like reason before, has the sense of talk or converse.

The usage was common, and Shakespeare has it repeatedly.

19 Great, strong, mighty are among the old senses of main.