Thou❜lt show thy mercy, and remorse, more strange Than is thy strange apparent 3 cruelty:

And where thou now exact'st the penalty,

(Which is a pound of this poor merchant's flesh,)
Thou wilt not only lose the forfeiture,

But touch'd with human gentleness and love,
Forgive a moiety of the principal;
Glancing an eye of pity on his losses,
That have of late so huddled on his back;
Enough to press a royal5 merchant down,
And pluck commiseration of his state
From brassy bosoms, and rough hearts of flint,
From stubborn Turks, and Tartars, never train'd
To offices of tender courtesy.

We all expect a gentle answer,

Jew.

Shy. I have possess'd your grace of what I purpose; And by our holy Sabbath have I sworn,

To have the due and forfeit of

my

If you deny it, let the danger light

bond:

Upon your charter, and your city's freedom.
You'll ask me, why I rather choose to have
A weight of carrion flesh, than to receive
Three thousand ducats: I'll not answer that 6:

2 Remorse in Shakspeare's time generally signified pity, tenderness. So in Othello:

And to obey shall be in me remorse.'
4 Whereas.

3 i. e. seeming, not real. 5 Royal merchant is not merely a ranting epithet as applied to merchants, for such were to be found at Venice in the Sanudo's, the Giustiniani, the Grimaldi, &c. This epithet was striking and well understood in Shakspeare's time, when Gresham was dignified with the title of the royal merchant, both from his wealth, and because he constantly transacted the mercantile business of Queen Elizabeth.

6 The Jew being asked a question which the law does not require him to answer, stands upon his right and refuses; but afterwards gratifies his own malignity by such answers as he knows will aggravate the pain of the inquirer. I will not answer, says he, as to a legal question; but, since you want an answer, will this serve you?

But, say, it is my humour"; Is it answer'd?
What if my house be troubled with a rat,
And I be pleas'd to give ten thousand ducats
To have it baned? What, are you answer'd yet?
Some men there are love not a gaping pig3;
Some, that are mad, if they behold a cat;
And others, when the bag-pipe sings i'the nose,
Cannot contain their urine; For affection 9,
Master of passion, sways it to the mood

7 The worthy Corporal Nym hath this apology usually at his fingers' ends, and Shylock condescends to excuse his extravagant cruelty as a humour, or irresistible propensity of the mind. The word humour is not used in its modern signification, but for a peculiar quality which sways and masters the individual through all his actions. In Rowland's Epigrams, No. 27 amply illustrates this phrase:

'Aske Humors, why a fether he doth weare?

It is his humour (by the Lord) heele sweare,' &c. The reader should know that this note is from the pen of Sir Walter Scott. See vol. i. p. 211, note 10.

8 A pig prepared for the table is most probably meant, for in that state is the epithet gaping most applicable to this animal. So in Fletcher's Elder Brother:

And they stand gaping like a roasted pig.'

And in Nashe's Peirce Pennylesse his Supplication to the Devil, 1592, the following passage may serve to confirm the conjecture. The causes conducting unto wrath are as diverse as the actions of a man's life. Some will take on like a madman if they see a pig come to the table. Sotericus the surgeon was cholerick at the sight of a sturgeon,' &c.

9 Affection stands here for tendency, disposition; Appetitus animi. On this very difficult passage, who shall decide among the contending opinions of the commentators? Even to state them requires more space than I can spare. The reading I have adopted requires no very violent alteration of the old copy, the change is merely in the punctuation of one line, and the omission of s at the end of master's. I think it right to place below the original reading of all the old copies that the reader may judge for himself:

'And others when the bag-pipe sings i' th' nose
Cannot contain their urine for affection.

Masters of passion sways it to the mood
Of what it likes or loathes.'

Of what it likes, or loaths: Now, for your answer:
As there is no firm reason to be render'd,
Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;
Why he, a harmless necessary cat;
Why he, a woollen 10 bag-pipe; but of force
Must yield to such inevitable shame,
As to offend, himself being offended;
So can I give no reason, nor I will not,
More than a lodg'd hate, and a certain loathing
I bear Antonio, that I follow thus

A losing suit against him. Are you
answer'd?
Bass. This is no answer, thou unfeeling man,
To excuse the current of thy cruelty.
Shy. I am not bound to please thee with
my answer.
Bass. Do all men kill the things they do not love?
Shy. Hates
any man the thing he would not kill?
Bass. Every offence is not a hate at first.

Shy. What, wouldst thou have a serpent sting thee twice?

Ant. I pray you, think you question 11 with the Jew: You may as well go stand upon the beach, And bid the main flood bate his usual height; You may as well use question with the wolf, Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb; You may as well forbid the mountain pines To wag their high tops, and to make no noise, When they are fretted with the gusts of heaven 12; You may as well do any thing most hard,

10 It was usual to cover with woollen cloth the bag of this instrument. The old copies read woollen, the conjectural reading swollen was proposed by Sir J. Hawkins.

11 Converse.

12 This image seems to have been caught from Golding's version of Ovid, 1587, book xv. p. 196:

Such noise as pine-trees make, what time the heady easterne winde

Doth whizz amongst them.'

As seek to soften that (than which what's harder?)
His Jewish heart:-Therefore I do beseech you,
Make no more offers, use no further means,
But, with all brief and plain conveniency,
Let me have judgment, and the Jew his will.
Bass. For thy three thousand ducats here is six.
Shy. If every ducat in six thousand ducats
Were in six parts, and every part a ducat,
I would not draw them, I would have my bond.
Duke. How shalt thou hope for mercy, rend'ring
none?

Shy. What judgment shall I dread, doing no wrong? You have among you many a purchas'd slave, Which, like your asses, and your dogs, and mules, You use in abject and in slavish parts,

Because you bought them :- -Shall I say to you,
Let them be free, marry them to your heirs?
Why sweat they under burdens? let their beds
Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates
Be season'd with such viands? You will answer,
The slaves are ours:- -So do I answer you:
The pound of flesh, which I demand of him,
Is dearly bought, 'tis mine, and I will have it:
If you deny me, fye upon your law !

There is no force in the decrees of Venice:
I stand for judgment: answer; shall I have it?
Duke. Upon my power, I may dismiss this court,
Unless Bellario, a learned doctor,

Whom I have sent for to determine this,

Come here to-day.

Salar.

My lord, here stays without A messenger with letters from the doctor, New come from Padua.

Duke. Bring us the letters; Call the messenger. Bass. Good cheer, Antonio! What, man? cou

rage yet!

The Jew shall have my flesh, blood, bones, and all,
Ere thou shalt lose for me one drop of blood.
Ant. I am a tainted wether of the flock,
Meetest for death; the weakest kind of fruit
Drops earliest to the ground, and so let me:
You cannot better be employ'd, Bassanio,
Than to live still, and write mine epitaph.

Enter NERISSA, dressed like a Lawyer's Clerk.
Duke. Came you from Padua, from Bellario?
Ner. From both, my lord: Bellario greets your
[Presents a Letter.

grace. Bass. Why dost thou whet thy knife so earnestly? Shy. To cut the forfeiture from that bankrupt there. Gra. Not on thy sole, but on thy soul 13, harsh Jew, Thou mak'st thy knife keen: but no metal can, No, not the hangman's axe, bear half the keenness Of thy sharp envy 14. Can no prayers pierce thee? Shy. No, none that thou hast wit enough to make.. Gra. O, be thou damn'd, inexorable dog! And for thy life let justice be accus'd. Thou almost mak'st me waver in my faith, To hold opinion with Pythagoras, That souls of animals infuse themselves Into the trunks of men: thy currish spirit, Govern'd a wolf, who, hang'd for human slaughter, Even from the gallows did his fell soul fleet, And, whilst thou lay'st in thy unhallow'd dam, Infus'd itself in thee; for thy desires

Are wolfish, bloody, starv'd, and ravenous.

13 The conceit is that his soul was so hard that it might serve him for a whet-stone. So in K. Henry IV. Part II.

Thou hadst a thousand daggers in thy thoughts;
Which thou hast whetted on thy stony heart,

To stab at half an hour of my life.'

14 Malice.

VOL. III.

I