Hiding the grossness with fair ornament?
There is no vice so simple but assumes
Some mark of virtue on his outward parts.
Therefore, thou gaudy gold,

Hard food for Midas, I will none of thee;

Nor none of thee, thou pale and common drudge
'Tween man and man; but thou, thou meagre lead,
Which rather threat'nest than dost promise aught,
Thy plainness moves me more than eloquence;
And here choose I. Joy be the consequence!

Por. [Aside.] How all the other passions fleet to air, As doubtful thoughts, and rash-embrac'd despair, And shuddering fear, and green-ey'd jealousy!

O love,

Be moderate; allay thy ecstasy;

In measure rein thy joy; scant this excess!
I feel too much thy blessing; make it less,
For fear I surfeit.

Bass.

What find I here?

[Opening the leaden casket.]

Fair Portia's counterfeit! What demi-god

Hath come so near creation? Move these eyes?
Or whether, riding on the balls of mine,

Seem they in motion? Here are sever'd lips,

Parted with sugar breath; so sweet a bar

Should sunder such sweet friends. Here in her hairs
The painter plays the spider, and hath woven

10

A golden mesh to entrap the hearts of men
Faster than gnats in cobwebs. But her eyes,
How could he see to do them?

Here's the scroll,

5 The continent and summary of my fortune.

[Reads.] "You that choose not by the view,

Chance as fair and choose as true!

Since this fortune falls to you,

Be content and seek no new.

If

you be well pleas'd with this
And hold your fortune for your bliss,
Turn you where your lady is

And claim her with a loving kiss."

A gentle scroll. Fair lady, by your leave; 15 I come by note, to give and to receive.

Like one of two contending in a prize,
That thinks he hath done well in people's eyes,
Hearing applause and universal shout,
Giddy in spirit, still gazing in a doubt
20 Whether those peals of praise be his or no;
So, thrice-fair lady, stand I, even so,
As doubtful whether what I see be true,
Until confirm'd, sign'd, ratified by you.

Por. You see me, Lord Bassanio, where I stand,

25 Such as I am. Though for myself alone I would not be ambitious in my wish,

To wish myself much better; yet, for you
I would be trebled twenty times myself,

A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times

More rich;

That only to stand high in your account,

I might in virtues, beauties, livings, friends
Exceed account. But the full sum of me

Is sum of something, which, to term in gross,
Is an unlesson'd girl, unschool'd, unpractis'd;
Happy in this, she is not yet so old

But she may learn; happier than this,

She is not bred so dull but she can learn ;
Happiest of all is that her gentle spirit
Commits itself to yours to be directed,
As from her lord, her governor, her king.
Myself and what is mine to you and yours
Is now converted. But now I was the lord
Of this fair mansion, master of my servants,
Queen o'er myself; and even now,
but now,
This house, these servants, and this same myself
Are yours, my lord; I give them with this ring;
Which when you part from, lose, or give away,
Let it presage the ruin of your love

And be my vantage to exclaim on you.

Bass. Madam, you have bereft me of all words, Only my blood speaks to you in my veins;

And there is such confusion in my powers,

As, after some oration fairly spoke
By a beloved prince, there doth appear
Among the buzzing pleased multitude;
Where every something, being blent together,
5 Turns to a wild of nothing, save of joy

Express'd and not express'd. But when this ring
Parts from this finger, then parts life from hence;
O, then be bold to say Bassanio's dead!

SHAKESPEARE: The Merchant of Venice.

HELPS TO STUDY

SCENE I. 1. Where does this scene take place? 2. Who are the speakers? 3. Why cannot Portia choose a husband for herself? 4. How is a husband to be selected for her? 5. What suitors have appeared? 6. What does Portia think of the Neapolitan prince? 7. What of County Palatine? 8. Of whom does she say "God made him, and therefore let him pass for a man"? 9. What objection does she make to the Englishman? to the German? 10. What have all these suitors decided to do? 11. Who does Nerissa say is the man "best deserving of a fair lady"? 12. Can you "level at Portia's affection"? 13. What new suitor is announced? 14. Select a number of Portia's wisest and wittiest sayings.

Notes on Words and Phrases. Page 376, 1. 1, troth, truth ; 1. 6, surfeit, overeat; P. 378, 1. 6, whereof, of which; 1. 11, overname, name over; 1. 13, level, level a gun so as to shoot correctly, i.e., guess; 1. 15, Ay (I), yes; 1. 16, appropriation, addition; 1. 19, County, Count; 1. 23, weeping philosopher, Heraclitus (Hĕr-ā-kli'tus), the Greek, was so named; P. 379, l. 1, by, concerning; 1. 18,