Shy. O noble judge! O excellent young man!
Por. For the intent and purpose of the law
Hath full relation to the penalty,
Which here appeareth due upon the bond.

Shy. "Tis very true: O wise and upright judge!
How much more elder art thou than thy looks!
Por. Therefore, lay bare your bosom.
Shy. Ay, his breast:

So says the bond:-Doth it not, noble judge?-
Nearest the heart,-those are the very words.

Por. It is so. Are there balances here to weigh
The flesh?

Shy I have them ready.

Por. Have by some surgeon, Shylock, on your charge, To stop his wounds, lest he should bleed to death. Shy. Is it so nominated in the bond?

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

Shy. I cannot find it; 'tis not in the bond.

Por. Come, merchant, have you anything to say?
Ant. But little; I am armed, and well prepared.
Give me your hand, Bassanio; fare you well!
Grieve not that I am fallen to this for
you;
For herein Fortune shows herself more kind
Than is her custom: it is still her use

To let the wretched man outlive his wealth,
To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow
An age of poverty: from which lingering penance
Of such a misery doth she cut me off.
Commend me to your honorable wife—

Shy. We trifle time; I pray thee pursue sentence.
Por. A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine;
The court awards it, and the law doth give it.

Shy. Most rightful judge!·

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

Shy. Most learned judge! A sentence! Come, prepare.

Por. 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.

Gra. O upright judge!—Mark, Jew!-O learnëd judge! Shy. Is that the law?

Por. Thyself shalt see the act:

For, as thou urgest justice, be assured

Thou shalt have justice, more than thou desirest.

Gra. O learned judge! Mark, Jew; a learnëd judge! Shy. I take this offer then,-pay the bond thrice,

And let the Christian go.

Bass. Here is the money.

Por.

Soft!

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

Gra. O Jew! an upright judge, a learnëd judge!
Por. 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.
Gra. A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew!

Now, infidel, I have thee on the hip.

Por. Why doth the Jew pause? Take thy forfeiture. Shy. Give me my principal, and let me go. Bass. I have it ready for thee; here it is. Por. He hath refused it in the open court; He shall have merely justice, and his bond.

Gra. A Daniel, still say I; a second Daniel!—
I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word.

Shy. Shall I not have barely my principal?
Por. Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture,
To be so taken at thy peril, Jew.

Shy. Why then

I'll stay no longer question.

Por. 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 stand'st.
Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the duke.

Duke. That thou shalt see the difference of our spirit,

I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it:

For half thy wealth, it is Antonio's ;
The other half comes to the general state,
Which humbleness may drive unto a fine.

Shy. Nay, take my life and all; pardon not that:
You take my house when you do take the prop
That doth sustain my house; you take my life
When you do take the means whereby I live.

Ant. So please my lord the duke, and all the court, To quit the fine for one-half of his goods I am content, so he will let me have

The other half in use, to render it,

Upon his death, unto the gentleman
That lately stole his daughter.

Duke. He shall do this; or else I do recant
The pardon that I late pronounced here.

Por. Art thou contented, Jew? what dost thou say?
Shy. I am content.

Por. Clerk, draw a deed of gift.

Shy. I pray you give me leave to go from hence: I am not well: send the deed after me,

And I will sign it.

Duke. Get thee gone, but do it.

...

...

SELECT ETYMOLOGIES.-Ass: L. as'inus; h., asinine. . . . Carrion: It. carogna; L. ca'ro, car'nis, flesh. . . . Dram: a contraction of drachma; It. dramma, a very small quantity of a thing; fr. the Gr. drach'mē, a handful. Mule: L. mu'lus. Palate: L. pala'lum, the upper part or roof of the mouth. ... Pause: L. pau'sa, a halt or stop... Pay: L. L. pa'co, I satisfy, I pay; fr. L. pa'co, I pacify; fr. pax, pa'cis, peace: v. PACIFIC.... Poverty: F. pauvrete; fr. the L. pauper'tas; fr. pau'per, poor. Sabbath: Gr. Sab'baton; fr. the Hebrew Shabath, to rest from labor. Tarry: fr. the L. tar'do, I delay; fr. tar'dus, slow.

...

SHAKSPEARE.

...

XC.-THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER.

I.

Он, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous

fight,

O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming; And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there;— Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

II.

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses ?

Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream;—

'Tis the star-spangled banner! oh, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

III.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion A home and a country should leave us no more?

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution;

No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of death and the gloom of the grave;

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

IV.

Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand

Between their loved home and the war's desolation; Blest with victory and peace, may the heaven-rescued land

Praise the Power that has made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, for our cause it is just,
And this be our motto, In God is our trust.

And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
FRANCIS SCOTT KEY.

EARLY RISING.

FALSELY luxurious, will not man awake,
And, springing from the bed of sloth, enjoy
The cool, the fragrant and the silent hour
To meditation due and sacred song?
'Wildered and tossing through distempered dreams,
Who would in such a gloomy state remain
Longer than nature craves, when every Muse
And every blooming pleasure wait without
To bless the wildly-devious morning walk?

THOMSON.