Let his deservings, and my love withal,
Be valued 'gainst your wife's commandment.
BASS. Go, Gratiano, run and overtake him ;
Give him the ring, and bring him, if thou canst
Unto Antonio's house: away! make haste.
Come, you and I will thither presently;
And in the morning early will we both
Fly toward Belmont. Come, Antonio.

SCENE II. Venice. A street.

Enter PORTIA and NERISSA.

[Exit GRATIANO. 440

POR. Inquire the Jew's house out, give him this deed,
And let him sign it: we'll away to-night,
And be a day before our husbands home:
This deed will be well welcome to Lorenzo.

Enter GRATIANO.

GRAT. Fair sir, you are well o'erta'en :
My lord Bassanio, upon more advice,

Hath sent you here this ring; and doth entreat
Your company at dinner.

POR.

That cannot be :

This ring I do accept most thankfully;

And so, I pray you tell him. Furthermore,

I pray you, show my youth old Shylock's house.
GRAT. That will I do.

NER.

[Exeunt.

Sir, I would speak with you.

[Aside to PORTIA.

I'll see if I can get my husband's ring,

Which I did make him swear to keep for ever.

POR. [Aside to NERISSA.] Thou may'st, I warrant. We shall

have old swearing,

That they did give the rings away to men;

But we'll outface them, and outswear them too.

Away! make haste: thou know'st where I will tarry.

NER. Come, good sir, will you show me to this house? [Exeunt.

ACT Y.

SCENE I. Belmont. Avenue to PORTIA's house.

Enter LORENZO and JESSICA.

LOR. The moon shines bright. In such a night as this,

When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees,

And they did make no noise, in such a night,

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In such a night,

Did Jessica steal from the wealthy Jew,

And with an unthrift love did run from Venice,
As far as Belmont.

Did pretty Jessica, like a little shrew,

Slander her love, and he forgave it her.

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JESS. I would out-night you, did no body come :

But, hark, I hear the footing of a man.

Enter STEPHANO.

LOR. Who comes so fast in silence of the night?

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STEPH. A friend.

LOR. A friend? what friend? your name, I pray you, friend?

STEPH. Stephano is my name; and I bring word,

My mistress will before the break of day

Be here at Belmont: she doth stray about

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By holy crosses, where she kneels and prays
For happy wedlock hours.

LOR.

STEPH. None, but a holy hermit, and her maid.

Who comes with her?

I pray you, is my master yet return'd?

LOR. He is not, nor we have not heard from him.

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Enter LAUNCELOT.

LAUN. Sola, sola! wo ha, ho! sola, sola!

LOR. Who calls?

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LAUN. Sola! did you see master Lorenzo, and mistress Lorenzo? sola, sola!

LOR. Leave hollaing, man; here.

LAUN. Sola! where? where?

LOR. Here.

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LAUN. Tell him there's a post come from my master, with his horn full of good news; my master will be here ere morning. [Exit. LOR. Sweet soul, let's in, and there expect their coming. And yet no matter; why should we go in?

My friend Stepháno, signify, I pray you,

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Within the house, your mistress is at hand;
And bring your music forth into the air.

How sweet the moon-light sleeps upon this bank!
Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music
Creep in our ears; soft stillness, and the night,
Become the touches of sweet harmony.

[Exit STEPHANO.

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Sit, Jessica. Look, how the floor of heaven

Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold;

There's not the smallest orb, which thou behold'st,

With sweetest touches pierce your mistress' ear,
And draw her home with music.

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[Music.

JESS. I am never merry when I hear sweet music.
LOR. The reason is, your spirits are attentive :

For do but note a wild and wanton herd,

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Or race of youthful and unhandled colts,

Fetching mad bounds, bellowing, and neighing loud,
Which is the hot condition of their blood;

If they but hear perchance a trumpet sound,

Or any air of music touch their ears,

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You shall perceive them make a mutual stand,

Their savage eyes turn'd to a modest gaze,

By the sweet power of music. Therefore, the poet

Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and floods;

Since naught so stockish, hard, and full of rage,
But music for the time doth change his nature.
The man that hath no music in himself,
Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils :
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus:

Enter PORTIA and Nerissa, at a distance.

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Let no such man be trusted.-Mark the music.

POR. That light we see is burning in my hall.

How far that little candle throws his beams!

So shines a good deed in a naughty world.

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NER. When the moon shone, we did not see the candle.
POR. So doth the greater glory dim the less:

A substitute shines brightly as a king,
Until a king be by; and then his state
Empties itself, as doth an inland brook
Into the main of waters. Music! hark!

NER. It is your music, madam, of the house.
POR. Nothing is good, I see, without respect;
Methinks it sounds much sweeter than by day.
NER. Silence bestows that virtue on it, madam.
POR. The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark,

When neither is attended; and, I think,
The nightingale, if she should sing by day,
When every goose is cackling, would be thought
No better a musician than the wren.
How many things by season season'd are
To their right praise, and true perfection!-
Peace, ho! the moon sleeps with Endymion,
And would not be awaked.

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[Music ceases.

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POR. He knows me, as the blind man knows the cuckoo,

POR. We have been praying for our husbands' healths, Which speed, we hope, the better for our words.

[A tucket sounds. 120

No note at all of our being absent hence;
Nor you, Lorenzo; Jessica, nor you.

LOR. Your husband is at hand; I hear his trumpet:
We are no tell-tales, madam; fear you not.

POR. This night, methinks, is but the daylight sick; It looks a little paler: 'tis a day,

Such as a day is when the sun is hid.

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Enter BASSANIO, ANTONIO, GRATIANO, and their Followers.

BASS. We should hold day with the Antipodes,

If you would walk in absence of the sun.

POR. Let me give light, but let me not be light; For a light wife doth make a heavy husband,

And never be Bassanio so for me;

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But God sort all! You are welcome home, my lord.

BASS. I thank you, madam: give welcome to my friend. This is the man, this is Antonio,

To whom I am so infinitely bound.

POR. You should in all sense be much bound to him,

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For, as I hear, he was much bound for you.
ANT. No more than I am well acquitted of.
POR. Sir, you are very welcome to our house:

It must appear in other ways than words,
Therefore, I scant this breathing courtesy.

[GRATIANO and NERISSA seem to talk apart. GRAT. By yonder moon, I swear, you do me wrong;

In faith, I gave it to the judge's clerk.

POR. A quarrel, ho, already! what's the matter?
GRAT. About a hoop of gold, a paltry ring
That she did give me; whose posy was,
For all the world, like cutler's poetry
Upon a knife, "Love me, and leave me not ".

NER. What talk you of the posy, or the value?

You swore to me, when I did give it you,
That you would wear it till your hour of death;
And that it should lie with you in your grave:
Though not for me, yet for your vehement oaths,
You should have been respective, and have kept it.
Gave it a judge's clerk! no, God's my judge,

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The clerk will ne'er wear hair on's face, that had it.
GRAT. He will, an if he live to be a man.
NER. Ay, if a woman live to be a man.

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GRAT. Now, by this hand, I gave it to a youth,

A kind of boy; a little scrubbed boy,

No higher than thyself, the judge's clerk;

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