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MERCHANT of VENICE.

ACT I

SCENE I. Venice. A Street.

Enter ANTONIA, 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 ftuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn;

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

SALAR. Your mind is toffing on the ocean;
There, where your argofies with portly fail,-
Like figniors and rich burghers of the flood,
Or as it were the pageants of the sea,-

Do

overpeer the petty traffickers,

That curt'fy to them, do them reverence,

As they fly by them with their woven wings. SALAN. Believe me, fir, had I fuch venture forth, The better part of my affections would

Be with my hopes abroad. I fhould 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 sea.
I should not see the fandy hour-glass run,
But I fhould think of fhallows and of flats ;
And see my wealthy Andrew dock'd in fand,
Vailing her high-top lower than her ribs,
To kifs her burial. Should I go to church,
And fee the holy edifice of ftone,

And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks?
Which touching but my gentle veffel's fide,
Would scatter 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 fhall I lack the thought,
That fuch 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!

[fad,

SALAN. Not in love neither? Then let's fay, you are Because you are not merry: and 'twere as easy For you, to laugh, and leap, and fay, you are merry, Because you are not fad. Now, by two-headed Janus,

Nature hath fram'd ftrange 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 afpéct,

That they'll not show their teeth in way of smile,
Though Neftor fwear the jeft be laughable.

Enter BASSANIO, LORENZO, and GRATIANO. SALAN. Here comes Baffanio, your most noble kinfGratiano, and Lorenzo: Fare you well;

We leave you now with better company.

[man,

SALAR. I would have ftaid 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.

[when?

BASS. Good figniors both, when shall we laugh? Say,

You grow exceeding strange; Must it be fo?

SALAR. We'll make our leifures to attend on yours. [Exeunt SALARINO and SALANIO.

LOR. My Lord Baffanio, fince 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, fignior Antonio;
You have too much respect upon the world:
They lofe it, that do buy it with much care.

Believe me, 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 fad one.

GRA. Let me play the Fool:

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come;

VOL. II.

G

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 grandfire cut in alabaster ?

Sleep when he wakes? and creep into the jaundice
By being peevish? I tell thee what, Antonio,—
I love thee, and it is my love that speaks ;-
There are a fort of men, whose visages

Do cream and mantle, like a standing pond;
And do a wilful ftillness entertain,
With purpose to be drefs'd in an opinion
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit;
As who should fay, 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 wife,

For faying nothing; who, I am very fure,

If they should speak, would almost damn those ears,
Which, hearing them, would call their brothers, fools.
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 dinner-time: I must be one of these same dumb wife men,

For Gratiano never lets me speak.

GRA. Well, keep me company but two years more, Thou shalt not know the found of thine own tongue. ANT. Farewell: I'll grow a talker for this gear. GRA. Thanks, i'faith; for filence is only commendable In a neat's tongue dried, and a maid not vendible.

[Exeunt GRATIANO and LORENZO.

ANT. Is that any thing now?

BASS. Gratiano fpeaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in all Venice: His reafons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff; you shall feek 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 fame
To whom you swore a fecret pilgrimage,

That you to-day promis'd to tell me of?
BASS. 'Tis not unknown to you, Antonio,
How much I have disabled mine estate,
By fomething showing a more fwelling port
Than my
faint means would grant continuance :
Nor do I now make moan to be abridg'd
From fuch a noble rate; but my chief care
Is, to come fairly off from the great debts,
Wherein my time, fomething 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 unburthen all my plots, and purposes,
How to get clear of all the debts I owe.

ANT. I pray you, good Baffanio, let me know it;
And, if it stand, as you yourself still do,
Within the eye of honour, be affur'd,

My purse, my person, my extremest means,
Lie all unlock'd to your occafions.

BASS. In my school-days, when I had loft one shaft, I fhot his fellow of the felf-fame flight

The self-fame 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.

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