And pluck commiferation of his state

From braffy bofoms, and rough hearts of flint;
From ftubborn Turks and Tartars, never train'd
To offices of tender courtefie,

We all expect a gentle anfwer, Jew.

Shy. I have poffefs'd your Grace of what I purpose, And by our holy Sabbath have I worn, To have the due and forfeit of my bond. If you deny it, let the danger light Upon your charter, and your city's freedom! You'll afk me, why I rather chufe to have A weight of carrion flefh, than to receive Three thoufand ducats? I'll not anfwer that 3 But fay, it is my humour, is it anfwer'd? What if my houfe be troubled with a rat, And I be pleas'd to give ten thousand ducats To have it baned? what, are you anfwer'd yet? Some men there are, love not a gaping pig; Some, that are mad, if they behold a cat; And others, when the bag-pipe fings i' th' nofe,

Cannot contain their urine, for affection ;+
Master of paffion, fways it to the mood

Of what it likes, or loaths. Now, for your answer:
As there is no firm reafon to be render'd,
Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;
Why he, a harmless neceffary cat;

5 Why he, a woollen bag-pipe; but of force

4 Mr. Ro we reads,
Cannot contain their Urine for
Affection.
Mafterlefs paffion ways it to
the Mood

Of what it likes, or loaths.] Mafterlefs Paffion Mr. Pope has fince copied. I don't know what Word there is to which this Relative it is to be referr'd. Dr. Thirlby would thus adjust the paffage.

Cannot contain their Urine; for
Affection,

Matter of Paion, fways it, &c. And then it is govern'd of Paf fion and the two old Quarto's and Folio's read-Mafters of Paffion, &c.

It may be objected, that Af fection and Paffion mean the fame Thing. But I obferve, the Wrirers of our Author's Age made a Diftinction: as Johnfon in Sejanus:

Muft

5 Why be, a woollen bag-pipe.] This incident Shakespear feems to have taken from J. C. Scaliger's Exot. Exercit, againft Car dan. A book that our auther was well read in, and much indebted to for a great deal of his phyfies it being then much in vogue, and indeed is excellent, tho' now long fince forgot. In his 344 Exercit. Sec. 6. he has thefe words, Narrabo nunc tibi jocofam Sympathiam Reguli Vafconis Equitis. Is dum viveret audito phormingis fono, urinam illico facere cogebatur.-And to make this jocular story still more ridiculous, Shakespear, I fuppofe, tranflated phorminx by bag-pipes. But what I would chiefly obferve from hence is this, that as Scaliger ufes the word Sympathiam which fignifies, and fo he interprets it, communem AFFECTIONEM duabus rebus, fo Shakespear He tranflates it by AFFECTION;

He bath ftudied Affection's paffions,knows their Springs and ends. And then, in this place, Affection will stand for that Sympathy or Antipathy of Soul, by which we are provok'd to fhew a Liking or Difguft in the working of our Paffions. THEOBALD. Mafterlefs paffion faways it to the mood] The two old Quarto's and Folio read,

MASTERS OF paffion. And this is certainly right.

Cannot

Muft yield to fuch inevitable fhame,
As to offend, himfelf being offended;
So can I give no reason, nor I will not,
More than a lodg'd hate and a certain loathing
I bear Anthonio, that I follow thus

A lofing fuit against him. Are you anfwer'd ?
Ball. This is no anfwer thou unfeeling man,
T'excufe the current of thy cruelty.

Shy. I am not bound to please thee with my anfwer.

Baff. Do all men kill the thing they do not love? Shy. Hates any Man the thing he would not kill? Baff. Ev'ry offence is not a hate at first.

Shy. What, would'st thou have a ferpent fting thee twice?

Anth. I pray you, think, you question with a Jew.
You may as well go ftand upon the beach,
And bid the main flood 'bate his ufual height.
You may as well ufe queftion with the wolf,
Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb.
You may as well forbid the mountain pines
To wag their high tops, and to make no noife,
When they are fretted with the gufts of heav'n.
You may as well do any thing most hard,

As feek to soften that, (than which what's harder!)
His Jewish heart. Therefore, I do beseech you,
Make no more offers, ufe no farther means;
But with all brief and plain conveniency
Let me have judgment, and the Jew his will.

Baff. For thy three thousand ducats here is fix.
Shy. If ev'ry ducat in fix thousand ducats
Were in fix parts, and ev'ry part a ducat,

I would not draw them, I would have my bond.
Duke. How fhalt thou hope for mercy, rend'ring

none?

Shy. What judgment fhall I dread, doing no wrong
You have among you many a purchas'd flave, 6
Which, like your affes, and your dogs, and mules,
You use in abject and in flavifh part,

Because you bought them. Shall I fay to you,
Let them be free, marry them to your heirs?
Why fweat they under burdens ? let their beds
Be made as foft as yours, and let their palates
Be feafon'd with fuch viands; you will anfwer,
The flaves are ours.
So do I anfwer you.
The pound of flesh, which I demand of him,
Is dearly bought, 'tis mine, and I will have it.
If you deny me, fie upon your law!

There is no force in the decrees of Venice.

I ftand for judgment. Anfwer; fhall I have it?
Duke. Upon my pow'r I may dismiss this Court,
Unless Fellario, a learned Doctor, 7

Whom I have fent for to determine this,
Come here to day.

Sal, My lord, here ftays, without,

A meffenger with letters from the Doctor,
New come from Padua.

Duke. Bring us the letters, call the meffenger.

?

7-Bellario, a learned Doctor, Whom I have fent for — The Doctor and Court are here fomewhat unfkilfully brought together. That the Duke would, on fuch an occafion, confult a Doctor of great reputation, is not unlikely, but how should this be foreknown by Portia ?

Baff. Good cheer, Anthonio. What, man, courage

yet The Jew fhall have my flesh, blood, bones, and all, Ere thou shalt lofe for me one drop of blood.

Anth. I am a tainted weather of the flock, Meeteft for death: the weakest kind of fruit Drops earliest to the ground, and fo let me. You cannot better be employ'd, Baffanio, Than to live ftill, and write mine epitaph.

SCENE II.

Enter Neriffa, drefs'd like a Lawer's Clerk.

Duke. Came you from Padua, from Bellario?
Ner. From both, my lord. Bellario greets your
Grace.

Baff. Why doft thou wet thy knife so earnestly?
Shy. To cut the forfeit from that bankrupt there.
Gra. Not on thy foal, but on thy foul, harfh
Jew,

Thou mak'ft thy knife keen; for no metal can,
No, not the hangman's ax, bear half the keennefs
Of thy fharp envy. Can no prayers pierce thee?
Shy. No, none that thou haft wit enough to make.
Gra. O be thou damn'd, inexorable dog,

And for thy life let juftice be accus'd!
Thou almost mak'ft me waver in my faith,
To hold opinion with Pythagoras,

That fouls of animals infuse themselves
Into the trunks of men. Thy currish spirit,
Govern'd a wolf, who, hang'd for human flaughter,

8 Not on thy foal, but on thy foul, barfb Jew.] This loft jingle Mr. Theobald found again; but knew not what to make of it when he had it, as appears by his paraphrase, Tho' thou thinkeft

that thou art whetting thy knife on the foale of thy fhoe, yet it is upon thy foul, thy immortal part. Abfurd! the conceit is, that his foul was fo hard that it had given an edge to his knife, WARB.