Page images
PDF
EPUB

Port. It is not so expressed: but what of Interest.

that ?

"Twere good you do so much for charity.

Shyl. I cannot find it. "Tis not in the bond. Cruelty. Port. A pound of that same merchant's flesh Sentence. is thine.

The court awards it, and the law doth give it.
Shyl. Most rightful judge!

Applause.

Port. And you must cut this flesh from off Sentence.

his breast.

The law allows it, and the court awards it.

Shyl.

Most learned judge.

A sentence ! Applaufe.

Come, prepare.

Thristing.

There is something

Doubt.

Port. Tarry a little. else.

This bond

blood.

doth give thee hereno jot of

[ocr errors]

The words expressly are, "a pound of flesh.'
Then take thy bond. Take thou thy pound of Direct.

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 forfeited.

Threaten.

Grat. O upright judge! Mark Jews! O Applause. learned judge!

Shyl. Is that the law?

Port. Thyself shall see the act.

For, as thou urgest justice, be assur'd

Thou shalt have justice, more than thou des Grat. O learned judge! Mark, Jew! learned judge!

[blocks in formation]

Shyl. I take his offer then. Pay the sum Confufion.

[blocks in formation]

Now, infidel, I have full hold of thee.

Applaufe.
Triumph.

Question.

Port.

Confufion.

Ferbidding

Shyl.

Why doth the Jew pause? Take thou thy forfeiture.

Give me my principal, and let me go. Giving. ́) Bass. I have it ready for thee. Here it is. Port. He hath refus'd it in the open court. He shall have merely justice and his bond. Grat. A Daniel still, say I; a second Daniel! I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that

Reproof.
Applaufe.

Reproof.

Sneaking.

Refufing.

word.

Shyl. Shall I not barely have my principal? Port. Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture,

To be so taken at thy peril, Jew.

Difappoint Shyl. Why then the Devil give him good of

[ocr errors]

it.

Spite. I'll stay no longer question.
Forbidding Port. Stop him guards.

Condemn. The law hath yet another hold on you.
Teaching. It is enacted in the laws of Venice,

If it be prov'd against an alien,

That by direct or indirect attempt,
He seeks the life of any citizen,

The party 'gainst the which he doth contrive,
Shall seise on half his goods. The other half
Goes 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,
Condemn. For it appears by manifest proceeding,
That indirectly, and directly tou,

Thou hast contriv'd against the very life
Of the defendant; so that thou incurr'st
The danger formerly by me rehears' d.

Advifing. Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the Duke. Duke. That thou may'st see the difference of our spirit,

Grant.

Defpair.

I pardon thee thy life, before thou ask it.
Shyl. Nay, take my life and all. Pardon,

not that.

You take my life, taking whereon I live.

Port. What mercy can you render him, An- Question.

tonio ?

Grat. A halter's price, and leave to hang Triumph. himself.

Anton. So please my Lord the Duke, and all Granting. the court,

To quit their right in one half of his goods,
I shall be well contented, if I have
The other half in use, until his death,
Then to restore it to the gentleman,
Who lately stole his daughter.

Duke. He shall do this, or else I do recant Threat'ning The pardon I had promis'd to bestow.

Port. Art thou contented, Jew? What dost Question. thou say?

Shyl. 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.

Despair.

Threat'ning

[Exeunt omnes.]

[blocks in formation]

HECTOR, this heard, return'd without de- Narration.

lay,
Swift through the town he took his former way,
Thro' streets of palaces, and walks of state;
And met the mourner at the Sean gate.
With haste to meet him sprung the joyful fair,
His blameless wife, Aëtion's wealthy heir.
The nurse stood near, in whose embraces prest
His only hope hung smiling at her breast;

Haste,

Tender Defcription

*

Whom each soft charm and early grace adorn,. Fair as the new-born star that gilds the morn. Silent the warrior smil'd, and pleas'd resign'd *Courage. To tender passions all his mighty mind. Defcription His beauteous princess cast a mournful look! of beauty Hung on his hand, and then, dejected, spoke. in diftrets. Her bosom labour'd with a boding sigh,

Affection.

Fear.

Deprecation.

tion.

And the big tear stood trembling in her eye,
"Too daring prince! Ah whither dost thou
run ?

Ah, too forgetful of thy wife and son!

And think'st thou not how wretched we shall be,

A widow I, an helpless orphan he!

For sure such courage length of life denies,
And thou must fall, thy virtue's sacrifice.
Greece, in her single heroes, strove in vain :
Now hosts oppose thee, and thou must be slain ;
O grant me gods! ere Hector meets his doom,
All I can ask of heav'n, an early tomb!

So shall my days in one sad tenor run,

And end with sorrows, as they first begun. Lamenta No parent now remains, my griefs to share, No father's aid, no. mother's tender care. The fierce Achilles wrapt our walls in fire, Laid Thebe waste, and slew my warlike sire. His fate, compassion in the victor bred; Stern as he was, he yet rever'd the dead. His radiant arms preserv'd from hostile spoil, And laid him decent on the fun'ral pile. By the same arm my seven brave brothers fell, In one sad day they view'd the gate of hell. While the fat herds and snowy flocks they fed, Amid their fields the hapless heroes bled. My Mother liv'd to bear the victor's bands, The queen of Hippoplacias's sylvan lands. Redeem'd too late, she scarce beheld again Her pleasing empire, and her native plain, When, Ah! opprest by life-consuming woe, She fell, a victim to Diana's bow.

Comfort. Yet, while my Hector still survives, I see

My father, mother, brethren, all in thee.
Alas! my parents, brothers, kindred all,
Once more will perish, if my Hector fall.
Thy wife, thy infant, in the danger share;
O prove a husband's and a parent's care.
That quarter most the skilful Greek's annoy,
Where yon wild fig-trees join the wall of Troy.
Then from this tow'r defend th' important post.
There Agamemnon points his dreadful host,
That pass Tydides, Ajax, sírives to gain,
And there the vengeful Spartan fires his train.
Thrice our bold foes the fierce attack have giv'n,
Or led by hopes, or dictated from heav'n ;
Let others in the field their arms employ,
But stay my Hector here, and guard his Troy."
The chief reply'd, "That post shall be my care;
Nor that alone; but all the works of war :
How would the sons of Troy, in arms renown'd,
And Troy's proud dames, whose garments
sweep the gound,

Attaint the lustre of iny former name,
Should Hector basely quit the field of fame ?
My early youth was bred to warlike pains;
My soul impels me to the martial plains.
Still foremost let me stand to guard the throne,
To save my father's honours and my own.
Yet come it will! the day decreed by fates!
(How my heart trembles, while my tongue re-
lates!)

must bend;

The day when thou imperial Troy
Must see thy warriors fall; thy glories end.
And yet no dire presage so wounds my mind,
My mother's death, the ruin of my kind,
Not Priam's hoary hairs defil'd with gore,
Not all my brothers gasping on the shore,
As thine, Andromache! Thy griefs I dread!
I see thee trembling, weeping, captive led,
In Argive looms our battles to design,
And woes, of which so large a part was thine.
There while you groan beneath the load of life,

Q

Apprehcn.

Intreating.

Apprehen.

Intreating.

Courage.

Averfion

Courage.

Apprehen.

Grief.

Grief with
Affection.

« EelmineJätka »