Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

I fhould not fee the fandy hour-glafs run,
But I fhould think of fhallows, and of flats;
And fee 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 stone,

And not bethink me ftrait of dangerous rocks?
Which, touching but my gentle veffel'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 fhall I lack the thought,
That fuch a thing, bechanc'd, would make me fad ?
But, tell not me;-I know, Anthonio

Is fad to think upon his merchandize.

Anth. 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 prefent year:

Therefore, my merchandize makes me not fad.
Sola. Why then you are in love.

Anth. Fie, fie!

Sola. Not in love neither? Then let's fay, you are fad, Because you are not merry: and 'twere as easy For you, to laugh, and leap, and fay, you are merry,

5 Andrew] The name of the fhip. JOHNSON.

Vailing ber high top lover than her ribs.] In Bullokar's Englif Expofitory, 1616, to vail, is thus explained: "It means to put off the bat, to frike fail, to give fign of fubmiffion." So in Stephen Goffon's book, called Playes confuted in feveral Actions :They might have vailed and bended to the king's idol."

[ocr errors]

So in Middleton's Blunt Master Constable, 1602. "I'll vail "my creft to death for her dear fake." So in the Fair Maid of the Weft, 1613, by Heywood:

" it did me good

"To fee the Spanish Carveil vail her top
"Unto my maiden flag." STEEVENS.

VOL. III.

I

Because

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 others of fuch vinegar-afpect,

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

Enter Baffanio, Lorenzo, and Gratiano.

Sal. Here comes Baffanio, your most noble kinf

man,

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

Sola. I would have ftaid till I had made you merry, If worthier friends had not prevented me.

Anth. Your worth is very dear in my regard.
I take it, your own bufinefs calls on you,
And you embrace the occafion to depart.
Sal. Good morrow, my good lords.

Baff. Good Signiors both, when shall we laugh? fay, when?

You grow exceeding ftrange: muft it be fo?

7

Nerv, by two-headed Janus,] Here Shakespeare fhews his knowledge in the antique. By two-headed Janus is meant thofe antique bifrontine heads, which generally reprefent a young and fmiling 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.

In the Merchant of Venice, we have an oath By two-head d Janus; and here, fays Dr. Warburton, Shakespeare fhews his knowledge in the antique: and fo does Taylor the water-poet, who defcribes Fortune," Like a Janus with a double-face."

8

FARMER.

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

half fhut.

WARBURTON.

9-their teeth in way of fmile,] Becaufe fuch are apt enough to fhew their teeth in anger. WARBURTON.

Sal

Sal. We'll make our leifures to attend on yours.
Sola. My lord Baffanio, fince you have found An-
thonio,

We two will leave you; but, at dinner-time,
I pray you have in mind, where we must meet.
Ball. I will not fail you. [Exeunt Solar. and Sala.
Gra. You look not well, fignior Anthonio;
You have too much refpect upon the world:
They lose it, that do buy it with much care.
Believe me, you are marvellously chang'd.

Anıb. I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano;
A ftage, where every man muft play his part,
And mine a fad one,

Gra. Let me play the Fool: 9

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, whofe 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, Anthonio,
(I love thee, and it is my love that speaks :)
There are a fort of men, whose visages
Do cream and mantle, like a ftanding pond;
And do a wilful ftillness entertain,
With purpose to be dreft in an opinion
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit;
As who fhould fay, I am Sir Oracle,
And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark!
O, my Anthonio, I do know of those,
That therefore only are reputed wife,
For faying nothing; who, I am very sure,

Let me play the Fool;] Alluding to the common comparison of human life to a ftage-play. So that he defires his may be the fool's or buffoon's part, which was a conftant character in the old farces: from whence came the phrase, to play the fool.

WARBURTON.

[ocr errors]

If they should speak, would almost damn thofe 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, i
For this fool's gudgeon, this opinion.
Come, good Lorenzo: Fare ye well, 'a while;
I'll end my exhortation after dinner.

•2

Lor. Well, we will leave you then till dinner time! I must be one of thefe fame dumb wife men, For Gratiano never lets me fpeak.

Gra. Well, keep me company but two years more, Thou shalt not know the found of thine own tongue Anth. Fare well: I'll grow a talker for this gear. Gra. Thanks, 'faith; for filence is only commend,

able

In a neat's tongue dry'd, and a maid not vendible. [Exeunt Gra. and Loren:

Anth. Is that any thing now? 3

i

Baff. Gratiano fpeaks an infinite deal of nothing, more than any man in ali Venice: his reafons are as two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chaff; "you' fhall feek all day ere you find them; and when you have them they are not worth the search.

—would almost damn thofe ears,] Several old editions have it, dam, damme, and daunt. Some more correct copies, damn. The author's meaning is this; That fome people are thought wife, whilft they keep filence; who, when they open their mouths, are fuch ftupid praters, that the hearers cannot help calling them fools, and fo incur the judgment denounc'd in the Gofpel.

THEOBALD.

I'll end my exhortation after dinner.] The humour of this confifts in its being an allufion to the practice of the puritan preachers of thofe times; who being generally very long and tedious, were often forced to put off that part of their fermon called the exportation, till after dinner. WARBURTON.

3 Is that any thing now? All the old copies read, is that any thing now? I fuppofe we fhould read, is that any thing new?

JOHNSON.

Anth

Anth. Well, tell me now, what lady is the fame,
To whom you fwore a fecret pilgrimage,
That you to-day promis'd to tell me of?

Baff. 'Tis not unknown to you, Anthonio,
How much I have difabled mine eftate,
By fhewing fomething 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 gag'd. To you, Anthonio,
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.

Anth. 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 purfe, my perfon, my extreamest means
Lye all unlock'd to your occafions.

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

The self-fame way, with more advited watch,
To find the other forth; and by adventring both,
I oft found both. I urge this child-hood proof,
Because what follows is pure innocence.
I owe you much; and, like a wilful youth, +

-like a WILFUL youth.] This does not at all agree with what he had before promifed, that what followed fhould be pure innocence. For wilfulness is not quite fo pure. We should read WITLESS, i. e. heedlefs; and this agrees exactly to that to which he compares his case, of a school-boy; who, for want of advijed quatch, loft his first arrow, and fent another after it with more atWARBURTON. tention. But wilful agrees not at all with it.

Dr. Warburton confounds the time past and prefent. He has formerly loft his money like a wilful youth, he now borrows more in pare innocence, without difguifing his former fault, or his prefent defigns. JOHNSON.

That

« AnteriorContinuar »