Page images
PDF
EPUB

J. Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge, To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death.

S. Is it so nominated in the bond?

J. It is not so expressed; but what of that? "Twere good you do so much for charity.

S. I cannot find it: 'tis not in the bond. We trifle time: I pray thee, pursue sentence.

J. A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine : The court awards it, and the law doth give it.

S. Most rightful judge!

J. And you must cut this flesh from off his breast: The law allows it, and the court awards it.

S. Most learned judge!-A sentence: come, prepare!

J. Tarry a little ;-there is something else. This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood: The words expressly are, a pound of flesh:

Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh;

But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed

One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods

Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate

Unto the state of Venice.

(Approaches Antonio.)

Gratiano. O upright judge !-Mark, Jew: O learned judge!

S. Is that the law?

J. Thyself shalt see the act:

For as thou urgest justice, be assured,

Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desirest.

G. O learned judge !-Mark, Jew: a learned judge!

S. I take this offer, then ;-pay the bond thrice;

And let the Christian go.

B. Here is the money.

J. Soft:

The Jew shall have all justice :-soft!-no haste:-
He shall have nothing but the penalty.

G. O Jew! an upright judge, a learned judge!
J. Therefore, prepare thee to cut off the flesh.
Shed thou no blood; nor cut thou less, nor more,
But just a pound of flesh; if thou tak'st more,
Or less, than a just pound,—be it but so much
As makes it light, or heavy, in the substance,
Or the division of the twentieth part
Of one poor scruple; nay, if the scale do turn
But in the estimation of a hair,-

Thou diest, and all thy goods are confiscate.

G. A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew!

J. Why doth the Jew pause? take thy forfeiture.
S. Give the principal and let me go.

B. I have it ready for thee: here it is.

J. He hath refused it in the open court:
He shall have merely justice and his bond.

G. A Daniel, still say I: a second Daniel !
I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word.
S. Shall I not have barely my principal ?
J. Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture,

To be so taken at thy peril. Tarry, Jew:

The law hath yet another hold on you.

It is enacted in the laws of Venice,-
If it be proved against an alien,
That by direct, or indirect attempts,
He seek the life of any citizen,

The party 'gainst the which he doth contrive
Shall seize one half his goods: the other half
Comes to the privy coffer of the state;
And the offender's life lies in the mercy
Of the duke only, 'gainst all other voice.
In which predicament, I say, thou standest:
Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the duke.

CCXV. THE QUACK.

SCENE-The Inn.

Enter HOSTESS, followed by LAMPEDO, a Quack Doctor.

Hostess. Nay, nay: another fortnight.

Lampedo. It can't be.

The man's as well as I am: have some mercy!

He hath been here almost three weeks already.

Host. Well, then a week.

Lamp. We may detain him a week.

[with a drawn sword.

[Enter BALTHAZAR, the patient, from behind, in his night-gown,

You talk now like a reasonable hostess,

That sometimes has a reckoning with her conscience.

Host. He still believes he has an inward bruise.

Lamp. I would to heaven he had! or that he'd slipp'd

His shoulder-blade, or broke a leg or two,

(Not that I bear his person any malice,)

Or lux'd an arm, or even sprained his ankle!

Host. Ay, broken any thing except his neck.
Lamp. However, for a week I'll manage him :
Though he had the constitution of a horse.
A farrier shall prescribe for him.

Balthazar. [Aside.] A farrier!

Lamp. To-morrow, we phlebotomize again : Next day, my new invented, patent draught; Then, I have some pills prepared :

On Thursday, we throw in the bark: on Friday

Balth. [Coming forward.] Well, sir, on Friday-what on Friday? Come, proceed.

[ocr errors]

Lamp. Discovered!

Host. Mercy, noble sir!

Lamp. We crave your mercy!} They fall on their knees.

Balth. On your knees? 'tis well!

Pray, for your time is short.

Host. Nay, do not kill us.

Balth. You have been tried, condemn'd, and only wait For execution. Which shall I begin with?

Lamp. The lady, by all means, sir,

Balth. Come, prepare. [To the hostess.]

Host. Have pity on the weakness of my sex!
Balth. Tell me, thou quaking mountain of gross flesh,

Tell me, and in a breath, how many poisons

If you attempt it-[To LAMPEDO, who is making off.]
you have cooked up for me?

Host. None, as I hope for mercy!
Balth. Is not thy wine a poison?

Host. No, indeed, sir :

'Tis not, I own, of the first quality:

But

Balth. What?

Host. I always give short measure, sir.

And ease my conscience that way.

Balth. Ease your conscience!

I'll ease your conscience for you.

Host. Mercy, sir!

Balth. Rise, if thou canst, and hear me.

Host. Your commands, sir?

Balth. If, in five minutes, all things are prepared

For my departure, you may yet survive.

Host. It shall be done in less.

Balth. Away, thou lump fish!

[Exit hostess.

[ocr errors]

Lamp. So now comes my turn! 'tis all over with me!
There's dagger, rope, and ratsbane in his looks!

Balth. And now, thou sketch and outline of a man!
Thou thing that hast no shadow in the sun!

Thou eel in a consumption, eldest born

Of Death on Famine! thou anatomy

Of a starved pilchard!

Lamp. I do confess my leanness.

And, therefore, spare me.

I am spare,

Balth. Why! wouldst thou not have made me

A thoroughfare, for thy whole shop to pass through?
Lamp. Man, you know, must live.

Balth. Yes: he must die, too.

Lamp. For my patients' sake

Balth. I'll send thee to the major part of them.
The window, sir, is open: come, prepare.

Lamp. Pray, consider:

I may hurt some one in the street.

Balth. Why, then,

I'll rattle thee to pieces in a dice-box,

Or grind thee in a coffee-mill to powder,

For thou must sup with Pluto; so, make ready:
While I, with this good small-sword for a lancet,
Let thy starved spirit out, (for blood thou hast none,)
And nail thee to the wall, where thou shalt look
Like a dried beetle with a pin stuck through him.
Lamp. Consider my poor wife.

Balth. Thy wife!

Lamp. My wife, sir.

Balth. Hast thou dared think of matrimony, too?

No flesh upon thy bones, and take a wife!

Lamp. I took a wife, because I wanted flesh.

I have a wife, and three angelic babes,

Who, by those looks, are well nigh fatherless.

Balth. Well, well! you wife and children shall plead for you.

Come, come the pills! where are the pills? produce them.

Lamp. Here is the box.

Balth. Were it Pandora's, and each single pill

Had ten diseases in it, you should take them.

Lamp. What, all?

Balth. Ay, all; and quickly too. Come, sir, begin-that's well!

Another.

Lamp. One's a dose.

Balth. Proceed, sir.

Lamp. What will become of me?

Let me go home, and set my shop to rights,

And, like immortal Cæsar, die with decency.

Balth. Away! and thank thy lucky star I have not Bray'd thee in thine own mortar, or exposed thee

For a large specimen of the lizard genus.

Lamp. Would I were one! for they can feed on air.
Balth. Home, sir, and be more honest.

[blocks in formation]

[Exit.

CCXVI.-LOST REPUTATION-FROM OTHELLO.

Characters-IAGO-CASSIO.

Iago. What! be you hurt, lieutenant ?

Cass. Past all surgery.

Iago. Marry, heaven forbid!

SHAKSPEARE.

Cass. Reputation! reputation! reputation! Oh I have lost my reputation! I have lost the immortal part of myself; and what remains is bestial. My reputation! Iago, my reputation

Iago. As I am an honest man, I thought you had received some bodily wound: there is more sense in that, than in reputation. Reputation is an idle and false imposition oft got without merit, and lost without deserving. What, man! There are ways to recover the general again: sue to him, and he is yours.

Cass. I will rather sue to be despised-Drunk! and squabble! swagger! swear! and discourse fustian with one's own shadow! Oh thou invincible spirit of wine! if thou hast no name to be known by, let us call thee, Devil. Iago. What was he that you followed with your sword! what had he done to you?

Cass. I know not.

Iago. Is it possible?

Cass. I remember a mass of things, but nothing dis

« PreviousContinue »