MERCHANT OF VENICE.

ACT I. SCENE I.

Venice. A Street.

Enter ANTONIO, SALARINO, and SALANIO.

ANT. In footh, I know not why I am so sad;
It wearies me; you fay, it wearies you;
But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn;

And such a want-wit sadness makes of me,
That I have much ado to know myself.

SALAR. Your mind is tossing on the ocean; There, where your argofies with portly fail,Like signiors and rich burghers of the flood,

5-argofies-) A name given in our author's time to ships of great burthen, probably galleons, such as the Spaniards now use in their West India trade. JOHNSON.

In Ricaut's Maxims of Turkish Polity, ch. xiv. it is faid, "Those vast carracks called argofies, which are so much famed for the vastness of their burthen and bulk, were corruptly so denominated from Ragofies," i. e. ships of Ragusa, a city and territory on the gulf of Venice, tributary to the Porte. If my memory does not fail me, the Ragusans lent their last great ship to the king of Spain for the Armada, and it was loft on the coast of Ireland. Shakspeare, as Mr. Heath observes, has given the name of Ragozine to the pirate in Measure for Measure. STEEVENS.

6

-burghers of the flood,] Both ancient and modern editors have hitherto been content to read" burghers on the flood," though a parallel passage in As you like it

- native burghers of this defolate city," might have led to the prefent correction. STEEVENS.

Or as it were the pageants of the fea,

Do overpeer the petty traffickers,

That curt'sy to them, do them reverence,

As they fly by them with their woven wings.

SALAN. Believe me, fir, had I such venture forth,

The better part of my affections would

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Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still Plucking the grass, to know where fits the wind; Peering in maps, for ports, and piers, and roads ; And every object, that might make me fear Misfortune to my ventures, out of doubt,

Would make me fad.

SALAR.

My wind, cooling my broth,

Would blow me to an ague, when I thought
What harm a wind too great might do at fea.
I should not fee the fandy hour-glass run,
But I should think of shallows and of flats;
And fee my wealthy Andrew1 dock'd in sand,
Vailing her high-top lower than her ribs,

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s Plucking the grass, &c.] By holding up the grass, or any light body that will bend by a gentle blast, the direction of the wind is found.

"This way I used in shooting. When I was in the mydde way betwixt the markes, which was an open place, there I toke a fethere, or a lyttle graffe, and fo learned how the wind ftood." Afcham.

JOHNSON.

6 Peering] Thus the old quarto printed by Hayes, that by Roberts, and the first folio. The quarto of 1637, a book of no authority, reads-prying. MALONE.

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-Andrew-) The name of the ship. JOHNSON. dock'd in fand, The old copies have-docks. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

9 Vailing her high top lower than her ribs,] In Bullokar's English Expofitor, 1616, to vail, is thus explained: "It means to put off the hat, to strike fail, to give fign of submission." So, in Stephen Gofson's book, called Playes confuted in feveral Actions :

They might have vailed and bended to the king's idol."

To kiss her burial. Should I go to church,
And fee the holy edifice of stone,
And not bethink me ftraight of dangerous rocks?
Which touching but my gentle vessel's fide,
Would fcatter all her fpices on the stream;
Enrobe the roaring waters with my filks;
And, in a word, but even now worth this,
And now worth nothing? Shall I have the thought
To think on this; and shall I lack the thought,
That such a thing, bechanc'd, would make me fad?
But, tell not me; I know, Antonio
Is fad to think upon his merchandize.

ANT. Believe me, no: I thank my fortune for it,
My ventures are not in one bottom trusted,
Nor to one place; nor is my whole estate
Upon the fortune of this present year:
Therefore, my merchandize makes me not fad.

SALAN. Why then you are in love.

ANT.

Fie, fie!

SALAN. Not in love neither? Then let's say, you

are fad,

Because you are not merry: and 'twere as easy
For you, to laugh, and leap, and say, you are merry,
Because you are not fad. Now, by two-headed Janus,

Again, (as Mr. Douce observes to me,) in Hardynge's Chronicle : " And by th' even their fayles avaled were fet." Again, in Middleton's Blurt Master Constable, 1602 : "I'll vail my creft to death for her dear fake." Again, in The Fair Maid of the West, 1613, by Heywood:

it did me good

"To see the Spanish carveil vail her top
"Unto my mayden flag."

A carvel is a small vessel. It is mentioned by Raleigh, and I often meet with the word in Jarvis Markham's English Arcadia, 1607. STEEVENS.

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Noru, by two-headed Janus,] Here Shakspeare shews his knowledge in the antique. By two-headed Janus is meant those an

Nature hath fram'd strange fellows in her time:
Some that will evermore peep through their eyes,
And laugh, like parrots, at a bag-piper;
And other of fuch vinegar aspéct,
That they'll not show their teeth in way of smile,
Though Neftor swear the jest be laughable.

Enter BASSANIO, LORENZO, and GRATIANO.

SALAN. Here comes Bassanio, your most noble

kinsman, Gratiano, and Lorenzo: Fare you well; We leave you now with better company.

SALAR. I would have staid till I had made you

merry,

If worthier friends had not prevented me.
ANT. Your worth is very dear in my regard.
I take it, your own business calls on you,
And you embrace the occafion to depart.

SALAR. Good morrow, my good lords.
Bass. Good figniors both, when shall we laugh?

Say, when?

You grow exceeding strange; Must it be so?

tique bifrontine heads, which generally represent a young and smiling face, together with an old and wrinkled one, being of Pan and Bacchus; of Saturn and Apollo, &c. These are not uncommon in collections of Antiques: and in the books of the antiquaries, as Montfaucon, Spanheim, &c. WARBURTON.

Here, fays Dr. Warburton, Shakspeare shows his knowledge in the antique: and so does Taylor the water-poet, who defcribes Fortune, "Like a Janus with a double-face." FARMER.

3-peep through their eyes,] This gives us a very picturesque image of the countenance in laughing, when the eyes appear half

shut. WARBURTON.

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their teeth in way of smile,] Because such are apt enough

to show their teeth in anger. WARBURTON.

SALAR. We'll make our leisures to attend on
yours. [Exeunt Salarino and SALANIO.
LOR. My lord Bassanio, since you have found
Antonio,

We two will leave you: but, at dinner time,
I pray you, have in mind where we must meet.

Bass. I will not fail you.

GRA. You look not well, signior Antonio; You have too much respect upon the world: They lose it, that do buy it with much care. Believe me, you are marvellously chang'd.

ANT. I hold the world but as the world, Gra

tiano;

A stage, where every man must play a part,'
And mine a fad one.

GRA.

Let me play the Fool: *

5 My lord Baffanio, &c.] This speech [which by Mr. Rowe and subsequent editors was allotted to Salanio,] is given to Lorenzo in the old copies; and Salarino and Salanio make their exit at the close of the preceding speech. Which is certainly right. Lorenzo (who, with Gratiano, had only accompanied Bassanio, till he should find Antonio) prepares now to leave Bassanio to his business; but is detained by Gratiano, who enters into a conversation with Antonio. TYRWHITT.

I have availed myself of this judicious correction, by restoring the speech to Lorenzo, and marking the exits of Salarino and Salanio at the end of the preceding speech. STEEVENS.

6lose it,] All the ancient copies read-loofe; a misprint, I suppose, for the word standing in the text. STEEVENS.

A stage, where every man must play a part,] The same thought occurs in Churchyard's Farewell to the world, 1593: "A worldling here, I must hie to my grave; " For this is but a May-game mixt with woe, "A borrowde roume where we our Pageants play, "A skaffold plaine," &c.

Again, in Sidney's Arcadia, Book II :

"She found the world but a wearisome stage to her, where she played a part against her will." STEEVENS.

8 Let me play the Fool:] Alluding to the common comparison of