Commits itself to yours to be directed, And be my vantage to exclaim on you. Bass. Madam, you have bereft me of all words, Ner. My lord and lady, it is now our time, Bass. With all my heart, so thou canst get a wife. 1 being blent together,] i. e. blended. Steevens. 2 you can wish none from me:] That is, none away from me; none that I shall lose, if you gain it. Johnson. 3 for intermission-] Intermission is pause, intervening time, delay. So, in Macbeth: No more pertains to me, my lord, than you. To have her love, provided that your fortune Por. Is this true, Nerissa? Ner. Madam, it is, so you stand pleas'd withal. Bass. Our feast shall be much honour'd in your mar riage. Gra. We'll play with them, the first boy for a thousand ducats. Ner. What, and stake down? Gra. No; we shall ne'er win at that sport, and stake down. But who comes here? Lorenzo, and his infidel? Enter LORENZO, JESSICA, and SALERIO. Have power to bid you welcome:-By your leave, Sweet Portia, welcome. Por. They are entirely welcome. So do I, my lord; Lor. I thank your honour:-For my part, my lord, My purpose was not to have seen you here; But meeting with Salerio by the way, He did entreat me, past all saying nay, To come with him along. Sale. And I have reason for it. Bass. I did, my lord, Signior Antonio [Gives BASS. a letter. Ere I ope his letter, I pray you, tell me how my good friend doth. Sale. Not sick, my lord, unless it be in mind; Gra. Nerissa, cheer yon' stranger; bid her welcome. Your hand, Salerio; What's the news from Venice? How doth that royal merchant, good Antonio? I know, he will be glad of our success; We are the Jasons, we have won the fleece.4 Sale. 'Would you had won the fleece that he hath lost! Por. There are some shrewd contents in yon' same paper, That steal the colour from Bassanio's cheek: Some dear friend dead; else nothing in the world Of any constant man. What, worse and worse?- And I must freely have the half of any thing O sweet Portia, Bass. How much I was a braggart: When I told you I have engag'd myself to a dear friend, 4 We are the Jasons, we have won the fleece.] So, in Abraham Fleming's Rythme Decasyllabicall, upon this last luckie Voyage of worthie Capteine Frobisher, 1577: "The golden fleece (like Jason) hath he got, "And rich return'd saunce losse or luckless lot." Again, in the old play of King Leir, 1605: "I will returne seyz'd of as rich a prize "As Jason, when he wanne the golden fleece." In It appears, from the registers of the Stationers' Company, that we seem to have had a version of Valerius Flaccus in 1565. this year (whether in verse or prose is unknown) was entered to J. Purfoote: "The story of Jason, howe he gotte the golden flece, and howe he did begyle Media [Medea,] out of Laten into Englishe, by Nycholas Whyte." Steevens. Engag'd my friend to his mere enemy, And not one vessel 'scape the dreadful touch Sale. Not one, my lord. Jes. When I was with him, I have heard him swear, To Tubal, and to Chus, his countrymen, That he would rather have Antonio's flesh, Than twenty times the value of the sum It will go hard with poor Antonio. Por. Is it your dear friend, that is thus in trouble? Bass. The dearest friend to me, the kindest man, The best condition'd and unwearied spirit In doing courtesies; and one in whom 5 The paper as the body --] I believe, the author wrote—is the body. The two words are frequently confounded in the old copies. So, in the first quarto edition of this play, Act IV: “Is dearly bought, as mine," &c. instead of-is mine. Malone. The expression is somewhat elliptical: "The paper as the body," means-the paper resembles the body, is as the body. Steevens. Por. What sum owes he the Jew? What, no more? Pay him six thousand, and deface the bond; Shall lose a hair through Bassanio's fault. Bass. [Reads] Sweet Bassanio, my ships have all miscarried, my creditors grow cruel, my estate is very low, my bond to the Jew is forfeit; and since, in paying it, it is impossible I should live, all debts are cleared between you and I, if I might but see you at my death: notwithstanding, use your pleasure: if your love do not persuade you to come, let not my letter. Por. O love, despatch all business, and be gone. I will make haste: but till I come again, No bed shall e'er be guilty of my stay, 6 No rest be interposer 'twixt us twain. [Exeunt. cheer;] i. e. countenance. So, in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Vol. II, p. 369: "That liv'd, that lov'd, that lik'd, that look'd, with cheer." See note on this passage. Steevens. 7 and I,] This inaccuracy, I believe, was our author's. Mr. Pope reads-and me. Malone. |