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Dum. For the latter end of his name.
Biron. For the ass to the Jude; give it him:-

Biron. Your nose smells, no, in this, most

tender-smelling knight.

Prin. The conqueror is dismay'd: Proceed,

good Alexander.

Nath. When in the world I lw'd, I was the world's commander ;

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Biron. Pompey the great, Cost. Your servant, and Costárd. Biron. Take away the conqueror, take away Alisander.

Cost. O, Sir, [To NATH.] you have overthrown Alisander the conqueror! You will be scraped out of the painted cloth for this: your lion, that holds his poll-ax sitting on a close-stool, will be given to A-jax: he will be the ninth worthy. A conqueror, and afeard to speak! run away for shame, Alisander. [NΑΤΗ. retires.] There, an't shall please you; a foolish mild man; an honest man, look you, and soon dash'd! He is a marvellous good neighbour, insooth; and a very good bowler: but, for Alisander, alas, you see, how 'tis ;-a little o'erparted:-But there are worthies a coming will speak their mind in some other sort. Prin. Stand aside, good Pompey.

Enter HOLOFERNES armed for Judas, and Мотн armed, for Hercules.

Hol. Great Hercules is presented by this imp, Whose club kill'd Cerberus, that three-head

ed canus;

And, when he was a babe, a child, a shrimp,

Thus did he strangle serpents in his manus:

Quoniam, he seemeth in minority;
Ergo, I come with this apology.-
Keep some state in thy exit, and vanish.

Hol. Judas I am,

Dum. A Judas!

Hol. Not Iscariot, Sir.

Judas I am, ycleped Machabæus.

[Exit Мотн.

Dum. Judas Machabæus clipt, is plain Judas.

Biron. A kissing traitor:-How art thou

prov'd Judas?

Hol. Judas I am,

Dum. The more shame for you, Judas. Hol. What mean you, Sir?

Jud-as, away.

Hol. This is not generous, not gentle, not humble. Boyet. A light for Monsieur Judas; it grows dark, he may stumble.

Prin. Alas, poor Machabæus, how hath he been baited!

Enter ARMADO armed, for Hector.

Biron. Hide thy head, Achilles; here comes Hector in arms.

Dum. Though my mocks come home by me, I will now be merry.

King. Hector was but a Trojan in respect of this.

Boyet. But is this Hector?

Dum. I think, Hector was not so cleantimber'd.

Long. His leg is too big for Hector.
Dum. More calf, certain.

Boyet. No; he is best indued in the small.
Biron. This cannot be Hector.

Dum. He's a god or a painter: for he makes

faces.

Arm. The armipotent Mars, of lances* the al

mighty,

Gave Hector a gift,

Dum. A gilt nutmeg.

Biron. A lemon.

Long. Stuck with cloves.

Dum. No, cloven.

Arm. Peace.

The armipotent Mars, of lances the almighty,
Gave Hector a gift, the heir of Ilion;
A man so breath'd, that certain he would fight, you
From morn till night, out of his pavilion.

I am that flower,

Dum. That mint.

Long. That columbine.

Arm. Sweet lord Longaville, rein thy tongue. Long. I must rather give it the rein; for it

runs against Hector.

Dum. Ay, and Hector's a greyhound.

Arm. The sweet war-man is dead and rotten; sweet chucks, beat not the bones of the buried: when he breath'd, he was a man-But I will forward with my device: Sweet royalty, [to the PRINCESS.] bestow on me the sense of hearing. [BIRON whispers COSTARD.

Prin. Speak, brave Hector; we are much delighted.

Boyet. To make Judas hang himself. Hol. Begin, Sir; you are my elder.

Biron. Well follow'd: Judas was hang'd on

an elder.

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Cost. The party is gone, fellow Hector, she

Long. The face of an old Roman coin, scarce is gone; she is two months on her way.

seen.

Arm. What meanest thou ?

Arm. I do adore thy sweet grace's slipper.
Boyet. Loves her by the foot.
Dum. He may not by the yard.

Arm. This Hector far surmounted Hannibal,-

Boyet. The pummel of Cæsar's faulchion. Dum. The carv'd-bone face on a flask.* Biron. St. George's half-cheek in a brooch.t Dum. Ay, and in a brooch of lead.

Biron. Ay, and worn in the cap of a toothdrawer:

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Cost. Faith, unless you play the honest Trojan, the poor wench is cast away: she's quick; the child brags in her belly already; 'tis yours. Arm. Dost thou infamonize me among po

tentates? thou shalt die.

Cost. Then shall Hector be whipp'd, for Jaquenetta that is quick by him; and hang'd, for Pompey that is dead by him. Dum. Most rare Pompey! Boyet. Renowned Pompey!

Biron. Greater than great, great, great, great Pompey, Pompey the huge! Dum. Hector trembles.

Biron. Pompey is mov'd:-More Ates,* more Ates; stir them on! stir them on!

Lance-men. † Até was the goddess of discord.

Dum. Hector will challenge him.

Biron. Ay, if he have no more man's blood in's belly than will sup a fled.

Arm. By the north pole, I do challenge thee. Cost. I will not fight with a pole, like a northern man;* I'll slash; I'll do it by the sword:-I pray you let me borrow my arms again. Dum. Room for the incensed worthies. Cost. I'll do it in my shirt.

Dum. Most resolute Pompey!

Moth. Master, let me take you a button-hole lower. Do you not see, Pompey is uncasing for the combat? What mean you? you will lose your reputation.

Arm. Gentlemen, and soldiers, pardon me; I will not combat in my shirt.

Dum. You may not deny it; Pompey hath

made the challenge.

Arm. Sweet bloods, I both may and will.
Biron. What reason have you for't?

Arm. The naked truth of it is, I have no shirt; I go woolwardt for penance.

Boyet. True, and it was enjoin'd him in Rome for want of linen: since when, I'll be sworn, he wore none, but a dish-clout of Jaquenetta's; and that 'a wears next his heart, for a favour.

Enter MERCADE.

Mer. God save you, madam!
Prin. Welcome, Mercade;

But that thou interrupt'st our merriment.

Mer. I am sorry, madam; for the news I

bring,

Is heavy in my tongue. The king your fatherPrin. Dead, for my life.

Mer. Even so; my tale is told. Biron. Worthies, away; the scene begins to cloud.

Arm. For mine own part, I breathe free breath: I have seen the day of wrong through the little hole of discretion, and I will right myself like a soldier. [Exeunt Worthies. King. How fares your majesty? Prin. Boyet, prepare; I will away to-night. King. Madam, not so; I do beseech you, stay. Prin. Prepare, I say. -I thank you, gracious lords,

For all your fair endeavours; and entreat,
Out of a new-sad soul, that you vouchsafe
In your rich wisdom, to excuse, or hide,
The liberalt opposition of our spirits:
If over-boldly we have borne ourselves
In the converse of breath, your gentleness
Was guilty of it. -Farewell, worthy lord!
A heavy heart bears not an humble tongue:
Excuse me so, coming so short of thanks
For my great suit so easily obtain'd.

King. The extreme parts of time extremely
All causes to the purpose of his speed; (form
And often, at his very loose, decides
That which long process could not arbitrate:
And though the mourning brow of progeny
Forbid the smiling courtesy of love,
The holy suit which fain it would convince;
Yet, since love's argument was first on foot,
Let not the cloud of sorrow justle it
[lost,
From what it purpos'd; since, to wail friends
Is not by much so wholesome, profitable,
As to rejoice at friends but newly found.
Prin. I understand you not; my griefs are
double.

Biron. Honest plain words best pierce the ear of grief;

And by these badges understand the king. For your fair sakes have we neglected time, + Clothed in Gool, without linen. Free to exccas.

• A clown:

Play'd foul play with our oaths; your beauty, ladies,

Hath much deform'd us, fashioning our humours
Even to the opposed end of our intents:
And what in us hath seem'd ridiculous,
As love is full of unbefitting strains;

All wanton as a child, skipping, and vain;
Form'd by the eye, and, therefore, like the eye
Full of strange shapes, of habits, and of forms,
Varying in subjects as the eye doth roll
To every varied object in his glance:
Which party-coated presence of loose love
Put on by us, if, in your heavenly eyes,
Have misbecom'd our oaths and gravities,
Those heavenly eyes, that look into these faults,
Suggested us to make: Therefore, ladies,
Our love being yours, the error that love makes
Is likewise yours: we to ourselves prove false,
By being once false for ever to be true
To those that make us both, -fair ladies, you:
And even that falsehood, in itself a sin
Thus purifies itself, and turns to grace.

Prin. We have receiv'd your letters, full of

love;

Your favours, the ambassadors of love;
And, in our maiden council, rated them
At courtship, pleasant jest, and courtesy,
As bombast, and as lining to the time:
But more devout than this, in our respects,
Have we not been; and therefore met your
In their own fashion, like a merriment. [loves
Dum. Our letters, madam, show'd much

more than jest.
Long. So did our looks.
Ros. We did not quotes them so.

King. Now, at the latest minute of the hour,

Grant us your loves.

Prin. A time, methinks, too short To make a world-without-end bargain in: No, no, my lord, your grace is perjur'd much, Full of dear guiltiness; and, therefore this,If for my love (as there is no such cause) You will do aught, this shall you do for me: Your oath I will not trust; but go with speed To some forlorn and naked hermitage, Remote from all the pleasures of the world; There stay, until the twelve celestial signs Have brought about their annual reckoning: If this austere insociable life

Change not your offer made in heat of blood: If frosts, and fasts, hard lodging, and thin

weeds,‡

Nip not the gaudy blossoms of our love,
But that it bear this trial, and last love;
Then, at the expiration of the year,

Come challenge, challenge me by these deserts,
And, by this virgin palm, now kissing thine,
I will be thine; and, till that instant, shut
My woeful self up in a mourning house;
Raining the tears of lamentation,

For the remembrance of my father's death.
If this thou do deny, let our hands part;
Neither entitled in the other's heart.

King. If this, or more than this, I would deny,
To flatter these powers of mine with

The sudden hand of death close up mine eye! Hence ever then my heart is in thy breast. Biron. And what to me, my love? and what to me?

Ros. You must be purged too, your sins are rank;

You are attaint with faults and perjury;
'Therefore if you my favour mean to get,
A twelvemonth shall you spend, and never rest,
But seek the weary beds of people sick.

* Tempted.

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Kath. A wife!-A beard, fair health, and honesty;

With three-fold love I wish you all these three. Dum. O, shall I say, I thank you, gentle wife?

Kath. Not so, my lord ;-a twelvemonth and

a day

[say: I'll mark no words that smooth-fac'd wooers Come when the king doth to my lady come, Then, if I have much love, I'll give you some. Dum. I'll serve thee true and faithfully till then.

Kath. Yet swear not, lest you be forsworn again.

Long. What says Maria?
Mar. At the twelvemonth's end,

I'll change my black gown for a faithful friend. Long. I'll stay with patience; but the time is long.

Mar. The liker you; few taller are so young. Biron. Studies my lady? mistress look on me,

Behold the window of my heart, mine eye, What humble suit attends thy answer there; Impose some service on me for thy love.

Ros. Oft have I heard of you, my lord Birón, Before I saw you: and the world's large tongue Proclaims you for a man replete with mocks; Full of comparisons and wounding flouts; Which you on all estates will execute, That lie within the mercy of your wit: [brain; To weed this wormwood from your fruitful And, therewithal, to win me, if you please, (Without the which I am not to be won,) You shall this twelvemonth term from day to day Visit the speechless sick, and still converse With groaning wretches; and your task shall With all the fierce endeavour of your wit, [be, To enforce the pained impotent to smile.

Biron. To move wild laughter in the throat of It cannot be; it is impossible: [death? Mirth cannot move a soul in agony.

Ros. Why, that's the way to choke a gibing

spirit, Whose influence is begot of that loose grace, Which shallow laughing hearers give A jest's prosperity lies lies in the ear

Enter ARMADO.

Arm. Sweet majesty, vouchsafe me,-
Prin. Was not that Hector?

Dum. The worthy knight of Troy.

Arm. I will kiss thy royal finger, and take leave: I am a votary; I have vowed to Jaquenetta to hold the plough for her sweet love three years. But, most esteemed greatness, will you hear the dialogue that the two learned men have compiled, in praise of the owl and the cuckoo? it should have followed in the end of our show. King. Call them forth quickly, we will do so. Arm. Holla! approach.

Enter HOLOFERNES, NATHANIEL, MOTH,
COSTARD, and others.

This side is Hiems, winter; this Ver, the spring; the one maintained by the owl, the other by the cuckoo. Ver, begin.

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to fools: Winter. When icicles hang by the wall,

Of him that hears it, never in the tongue
Of him that makes it: then, if sickly ears,
Deaf'd with the clamour of their own deart

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And Dick the shepherd blows his nail, And Tom bears logs into the hall, And milk comes frozen home in pail, When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul, Then nightly sings the staring owl,

To-who;

To-whit, to-who, a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

IV.

When all aloud the wind doth blow, And coughing drowns the parson's saw, And birds sits brooding in the snow,

And Marian's nose looks red and raw, When roasted crabst hiss in the bowl, Then nightly sings the staring owl, To-who;

To-whit, to-who, a merry note,

While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

Biron. Our wooing doth not end like an old

play;

King. Come, Sir, it wants a twelvemonth and

And then 'twill end.

[a day,

Biron. That's too long for a play.

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• Vehement.

† Immediate.

• Cool

+ Wild apples.

Arm. The words of Mercury are harsh after the songs of Apollo. You, that way; we, this

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE.

DUKE OF VENICE.

}

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

PRINCE OF MOROCCO, Suitors to
PRINCE OF ARRAGON,
ANTONIO, the Merchant of Venice.

BASSANIO, his Friend.

SALANIO, SALARINO,

GRATIANO,

}

Portia.

SALERIO, a Messenger from Venice. LEONARDO, Servant to Bassanio. BALTHAZAR,Servants to Portia. STEPHANO,

PORTIA, a rich Heiress.

Friends to Antonio and Bassanio. NERISSA, her Waiting-maid.

LORENZO, in love with Jessica.
SHYLOCK, a Jew.

TUBAL, a Jew, his Friend.

LAUNCELOT GOвво, а Clown, Servant to Shy

lock.

OLD GOBBO, Father to Launcelot.

JESSICA, Daughter to Shylock.

Magnificoes of Venice, Officers of the Court of Justice, Jailer, Servants, and other Attendants.

SCENE, partly at Venice, and partly at Belmont, the Seat of Portia, on the Continent.

ACT I.

SCENE I.- Venice. -A Street.

Enter ANTONIO, SALARINO, and SALANIO.
Ant. In sooth, I know not why I am so sad;
It wearies me; you say, 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 argosies with portly sail,-
Like signiors and rich burghers of the flood,
Or, as it were the pageants of the sea, -
Do overpeer the petty traffickers,
That curt'sy to them reverence,

As they fly by them with their woven wings.

Salan. Believe me, Sir, had I such venture The better part of my affections would [forth, Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still Plucking the grass, to know where sits the wind; [roads; Peering in maps, for ports, and piers, and And every object, that might make me fear Misfortune to my ventures, out of doubt, Would make me sad.

Salar. My wind, cooling my broth, Would blow me to an ague, when I thought What harm a wind too great might do at sea. I should not see the sandy hour-glass run, But I should think of shallows and of flats; And see my wealthy Andrew dock'd in sand, Vailingt her high-top lower than her ribs, To kiss her burial. Should I go to church, And see the holy edifice of stone, [rocks? And not bethink me straight of dangerous Which touching but my gentle gentle vessel's side, Would scatter all her spices on the stream; Eurobe the roaring waters with my silks; 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, Ships of large_burthen.

† Lowering.

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you are sad,

merry,

Because you are not merry: and, 'twere as easy For you, to laugh, and leap, and say, you are [Janus, Because you are not sad. Now, by two-headed Nature hath fram'd strange fellows in her time: Some that will evermore peep through their

eyes, And laugh, like parrots, at a bagpiper; And other of such vinegar aspéct, [smile, That they'll not show their teeth in way of Though Nestor 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. Sular. 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 occasion to depart.
Salar. Good morrow, my good lords.
Bass, Good signiors both, when shall

laugh? Say, Say wh

when?

we

You grow exceeding strange: Must it be so? 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.

Gru. 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 ine, you are marvellously chang'd.

Ant. I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano,

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

Gra. Let me play the Fool:
With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come;
And let my liver rather heat with wine,

Than my heart cool with mortifying groans.
Why should a man, whose blood is warm within,
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster? [dice
Sleep when he wakes? and creep into the jaun-
By being peevish? I tell thee what, Antonio, -
I love thee, and it is my love that speaks;-
There are a sort of men, whose visages
Do cream and mantle, like a standing pond;
And do a wilful stillness* entertain,
With purpose to be dress'd in an opinion
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit;
As who should say, I am Sir Oracle,
And, when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!
O, my Antonio, I do know of these,
That therefore only are reputed wise,
For saying nothing; who, I

ears,

am very sure,

If they should speak, would almost damn those
[fools.
Which, hearing them, would call their brothers,
I'll tell thee more of this another time:
But fish not, with this melancholy bait,
For this fool's gudgeon, this opinion.-
Come, good Lorenzo:-Fare ye well, a while;
I'll end my exhortation after dinner.

Lor. Well, we will leave you then till din

ner-time:

I must be one of these same dumb wise men, For Gratiano never lets me speak.

Gra. Well, keep me company but two years more, [tongue. Thou shalt not know the sound of thine own Ant. Farewell: I'll grow a talker for this gear. Gra. Thanks, i'faith; for silence only is commendable [ble.

In a neat's tongue dried, and a maid not vendi[Exeunt GRATIANO and LORENZO.

Ant. Is that any thing now?

Bass. Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice: His reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff; you shall seek all day ere you find them; and, when you have them, they are not worth the search.

Ant. Well; tell me now, what' lady is this same To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage That you fo-day promis'd to tell me of? Bass. "Tis not unknown to you, Antonio, How much I have disabled mine estate, By something showing a more swelling port Than my faint means would grant continuance: Nor do I now make moan to be abridg'd From such a noble rate; but my chief care Is, to come fairly off from the great debts, Wherein my time, something too prodigal, Hath left me gaged: To you Antonio, I owe the most, in money, and in love; And from your love I have a warranty To unburden all my plots and purposes, How to get clear of all the debts I owe.

Ant. I pray you, good Bassanio, let me know And, if it stand, as you yourself still do, [it; Within the eye of honour, be assur'd, My purse, my person, my extremest means,

Obstinate silence.

Lie all unlock'd to your occasions.
Bass. In my school days, when I had lost

one shaft,

I shot his fellow of the self-same flight
The self-same way, with more advised watch,
To find the other forth; and by advent'ring both,
I oft found both: I urge this childhood proof,
Because what follows is pure innocence.
I owe you much; and, like a wilful youth,
That which I owe is lost: but if you please
To shoot another arrow that self way
Which you did shoot the first, I do not doubt,
As I will watch the aim, or to find both,
Or bring your latter hazard back again,
And thankfully rest debtor for the first.

Ant. You know me well; and herein spend but time,

To wind about my love with circumstance;
And, out of doubt, you do me now more wrong,
In making question of my uttermost,
Than if you had made waste of all I have:
Then do but say to me what I should do,
That in your knowledge may by me be done,
And I am press'd* unto it: therefore, speak.

Buss. In Belmont is a lady richly left,
And she is fair, and, fairer than that word,
Of wondrous virtues; sometimest from her eyes
I did receive fair speechless messages:
Her name is Portia; nothing undervalued
To Cato's daughter, Brutus' Portia.
Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth;
For the four winds blow in from every coast
Renowned suitors: and her sunny locks
Hang on her temples like a golden fleece;
Which makes her seat of Belmont, Colchos'

strand,

And many Jasons come in quest of her.
O my Antonio, had I but the means
To hold a rival place with one of them,
I have a mind presages me such thrift,
That I should questionless be fortunate.

Ant. Thou know'st, that all my fortunes are

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Enter PORTIA and NERISSA.

Por. By my troth, Nerissa, my little body is a-weary of this great world.

Ner. You would be, sweet madam, if your miseries were in the same abundance as your good fortunes are: And, yet, for aught I sec, they are as sick, that surfeit with too much, as they that starve with nothing: It is no mean happiness therefore, to be seated in the mean; superfluity comes sooner by white hairs, but competency lives longer.

Por. Good sentences, and well pronounced. Ner. They would be better, if well followed. Por. If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages, princes' palaces. It is a good divine, that follows his own instructions: I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty to

* Ready.

+ Formerly.

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