Shy. Yes, to smell pork! to eat of the habitation1 which your prophet, the Nazarite, conjured the devil into! I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, walk with you, and so following2; but I will not eat with you3, drink with you, nor pray with you.-What news on the Rialto?Who is he comes here?

Enter ANTONIO.

Bass. This is signior Antonio.

Shy. [Aside.] How like a fawning publican he looks! I hate him for he is a Christian;

But more, for that, in low simplicity, 5

He lends out money gratis, and brings down

French form s'il vous plait; the pronoun you being properly an objective to please, though now regarded as nominative, which alters the original meaning of the verb.

1 The habitation.] The body, as a dwelling for the spirit. The allusion is to Christ's miracle in the country of the Gadarenes ; Luke viii. 33.

2 And so following.] And whatever may be mentioned in continuing such enumeration; all that may be said in continuation of this kind. We now say and so on, or and so forth.

3 I will not eat with you.] Yet afterwards we find Shylock 'bid forth to supper,' by Bassanio, and complying with the invitation:Act ii. Sc. 5, 'I'll go in hate, to feed upon the prodigal Christian.'

A fawning publican.] One who like a publican meanly endeavours to please Gentiles, by injurious enmity against Jews.

5 For that in low simplicity.] Like a mean-spirited simpleton. For that he lends, &c. is an example of the old usage of a noun clause introduced by that, and governed by a preposition. See the Editor's Julius Cæsar, p. 64, note 3; and compare 2 Cor. v. 4, and Rom. vi. 10.

6 Gratis.] A contracted form of gratiis, ablative case plural of a Latin noun; it originally means for mere thanks, that is, without pecuniary charge.

The rate of usance here with us in Venice.1

If I can catch him once upon the hip, 2

I will feed fat3 the ancient grudge I bear him.
He hates our sacred nation; and he rails,

Even there where merchants most do congregate,
On me, my bargains, and my well-won thrift, 5
Which he calls interest. Cursed be

If I forgive him!

Bass.

my tribe 6

Shylock, do you hear?

Shy. I am debating of my present store;7 And, by the near guess of my memory, 8

I cannot instantly raise up the gross9

Of full three thousand ducats: What of that?

4

1 Brings down the rate.] Lowers the rate of interest with us Jews here in Venice. The principal money-lenders of Venice, in her days of commercial greatness, were Jews, who were encouraged by the Government, because the accommodation they could supply encouraged the resort and residence of enterprising merchants, and thus contributed to enrich the state.

2 Upon the hip.] To 'catch upon the hip' is an allusion to an advantage aimed at by a wrestler in trying to disable his antagonist, and means to have at an entire advantage;' so in Othello, ii. 1, 'I'll have our Michael Cassio on the hip,' and again, in the present play, iv. 1, 'Now, infidel, I have thee on the hip.'

Feed fat.] Richly gratify that feeling of vindictive hatred towards him which I have had so long in my heart.

• Where merchants most do congregate.] That is, the Rialto, or Exchange, which was held in a piazza opposite the church of San Jacopo, on the island of Rivo Alto.-Most means in greatest number, and is an adverb to congregate.

5 Thrift.] Proceeds of industrious economy or management.

• Tribe.] That is, race, not any particular Hebrew tribe.

7

Debating of] Trying to estimate or reckon up.

8 By the near guess.] According to the nearly accurate guess. The gross.] This word means the amount or aggregate of the several sums which Shylock has been adding together in his mind.

Tubal, a wealthy Hebrew of my tribe,1

Will furnish me. But soft2: How many

months

Do you desire?-Rest you fair 3, good signior: [To ANT. Your worship was the last man in our mouths.

Ant. Shylock, albeit4 I neither lend nor borrow,

By taking nor by giving of excess, 5

6

Yet, to supply the ripe wants of my friend,
I'll break a custom: - Is he yet possessed 7
How much you would?

Shy.

[TO BASS.

Ay, ay, three thousand ducats.

Ant. And for three months.

Shy. I had forgot8,- three months, you told me so. Well then, your bond; — and, let me see. - But hear

you:

1 Hebrew of my tribe.] This tautology seems to mean that Tubal, as being one of Shylock's own tribe, would therefore readily enable him to make up the sum. It may be here remarked that the law of Moses, while it allowed the Jews to exact usury from strangers, prohibited them from lending on such advantage to their own countrymen. See Deut. xxiii. 20.

2 Soft.] Be soft or gentle; stay a moment; hold.

3 Rest you fair.] Heaven grant you fair fortune.-Rest you here means cause you to rest; and such phrases as 'rest you fair,' 'rest you merry,' &c. are borrowed from the language used in wishing repose for a departed spirit.

↑ Albeit.] Probably a compound of all, be, and it, meaning be it all true, or all true though it be.

5 Excess.] Money in excess of the sum lent or borrowed; interest. Ripe wants.] Wants come to maturity; admitting no longer delay of supply.

Possessed.] Put in possession of the fact, informed of how much money you desire. So in Act iv. Sc. 1, 'I have possessed your grace of what I purpose; ' Coriolanus, ii. 1, ‘Is the senate possessed of this?'

8 I had forgot.] The first two lines of this speech consist of desultory expressions, admirably indicating that Shylock's mind is secretly engrossed with the wicked scheme by which he seeks the chance of ruining Antonio. He has already made up his mind to

Methought you said ', you neither lend nor borrow
Upon advantage.

Shy. When Jacob grazed his uncle Laban's sheep,
This Jacob from our holy Abraham 3 was
(As his wise mother wrought in his behalf)
The third possessor; ay, he was the third.5

Ant. And what of him? did he take interest?
Shy. No, not take interest; not, as you would say,
Directly interest: mark what Jacob did.

6

When Laban and himself were compromised

That all the eanlings which were streaked and pied,
Should fall as Jacob's hire;

charge no interest, and expects that the 'pound of flesh' will appear to Antonio a merely nominal substitute, kindly intended to let him off from the payment of interest.

1 Methought you said.] It seemed to me that said; you I understood you to say.-The word methinks, i. e. it thinks me, is from the Anglo-Saxon thincan to seem, and means it seems to me.

2 Use it.] Make a practice of it.

3 From our holy Abraham.] Was the third possessor, reckoning from Abraham as the first.-Shylock wishes Jacob's sacred character to be kept in view, as that of a man to whom God assigned the blessings which were partly acquired by Jacob in the manner about to be mentioned.

4 Wrought in his behalf.] Alluding to the deception which Rebekah devised for securing the blessing to Jacob before Esau's return. Gen. xxvii.

5

Ay, he was the third.] He was the third of the sacred three who were specially distinguished by the terms of the covenant blessing. See Gen. xxviii. 13, 14.

6 Directly.] Exactly; in literal strictness of meaning.

7

8

Compromised.] Mutually agreed. See Gen. xxx. 31.

Eanlings.] Lambs just brought forth; from the Saxon eanian to bring forth lambs or kids. The forms yean and yeanling are corruptions.-Pied means spotted, variegated with spots.

The skilful shepherd pilled me1 certain wands,
And stuck them up before the fulsome ewes;
Who, then conceiving, did in eaning-time

Fall2 parti-coloured lambs, and those were Jacob's.
This was a way to thrive, and he was blessed;3
And thrift is blessing, if men steal it not.

Ant. This was a venture", sir, that Jacob served for;
A thing not in his power to bring to pass,

But swayed and fashioned by the hand of Heaven.
Was this inserted to make interest good?7.
Or is your gold and silver ewes and rams?

1 Pilled me.] Peeled. The pronoun me appears to be expletive; compare Julius Cæsar, i. 2, 'He plucked me ope his doublet.' Probably, however, the pronoun thus used was once meant to refer to the subject of the verb in another person, as having in the first instance belonged to the expression of purpose, 'I will peel-me,' and then having been transferred from that expression as a portion of a complex verb, into another person; so that he peeled-me would signify he peeled for himself. In the dialogue between Petruchio and Grumio, in The Taming of the Shrew, i. 2, we find Shakspeare jesting with this anomaly: 'Pet. Villain, I say, knock me here soundly. Gru. Knock you here, sir? why, sir, what am I, sir, that I should knock you here, sir? Pet. Villain, I say, knock me at this gate, &c.'

2 Fall.] Drop. The verb fall is not now used in this transitive

way.

3. He was blessed.] He was one on whom God had pronounced a blessing.

Thrift.] Increase of worldly store; gain. The word now generally means frugal economy, a sense in which Shakspeare also sometimes uses it, as in Hamlet, i. 2, 'Thrift, thrift, Horatio.'

5 ▲ venture.] A thing committed to the disposal of Providence.

6

Swayed and fashioned.] Controlled and produced.

"Was this inserted.] Can you say that this was inserted in Scripture to make us think interest to be a right thing? The advocates against usury were in the habit of maintaining that