SCENE V.
Shylock's house.
Enter Shylock, and Launcelot.
Shy.
Well, thou shalt see, thy eyes shall be thy judge,
The difference of old Shylock and Bassanio:—
What, Jessica!—thou shalt not gormandize2 note
,
As thou hast done with me;—What, Jessica!—
-- 168 --
And sleep and snore, and rend apparel out;—
Why, Jessica, I say!
Laun.
Why, Jessica!
Shy.
Who bids thee call? I do not bid thee call.
Laun.
Your worship was wont to tell me, that I
could do nothing without bidding.
Enter Jessica.
Jes.
Call you? What is your will?
Shy.
I am bid forth to supper, Jessica;
There are my keys:—But wherefore should I go?
I am not bid for love; they flatter me:
But yet I'll go in hate3 note
, to feed upon
The prodigal Christian.—Jessica, my girl,
Look to my house:—I am right loth to go;
There is some ill a brewing towards my rest,
For I did dream of money-bags to night.
Laun.
I beseech you, sir, go; my young master
doth expect your reproach.
Shy.
So do I his.
Laun.
And they have conspired together,—I will
not say, you shall see a masque; but if you do,
4 note
then it was not for nothing that my nose fell a bleeding
-- 169 --
on black-monday last, at six o'clock i' the morning,
falling out that year on ash wednesday was
four year in the afternoon.
Shy.
What! are there masques? Hear you me, Jessica:
Lock up my doors; and when you hear the drum5 note
,
And the vile squeaking6 note of the wry-neck'd fife,
Clamber not you up to the casements then,
Nor thrust your head into the publick street,
To gaze on Christian fools with varnish'd faces:
But stop my house's ears, I mean, my casements;
Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter
My sober house.—By Jacob's staff, I swear,
I have no mind of feasting forth to night:
But I will go.—Go you before me, sirrah;
Say, I will come.
Laun.
I will go before, sir.—
Mistress, look out at window, for all this;
There will come a Christian by,
Will be worth a Jewess' eye. 9Q0330
[Exit Laun.
Shy.
What says that fool of Hagar's offspring, ha?
Jes.
His words were, Farewel, mistress; nothing else.
Shy.
The patch is kind enough7 note
; but a huge feeder,
-- 170 --
Snail-slow in profit, and he sleeps by day
More than the wild cat; drones hive not with me:
Therefore I part with him; and part with him
To one that I would have him help to waste
His borrow'd purse.—Well, Jessica, go in;
Perhaps, I will return immediately;
Do, as I bid you,
Shut the doors after you: Fast bind, fast find;
A proverb never stale in thrifty mind.
[Exit.
Jes.
Farewel; and if my fortune be not crost,
I have a father, you a daughter, lost.
[Exit.
Samuel Johnson [1778], The plays of William Shakspeare. In ten volumes. With the corrections and illustrations of various commentators; to which are added notes by Samuel Johnson and George Steevens. The second edition, Revised and Augmented (Printed for C. Bathurst [and] W. Strahan [etc.], London) [word count] [S10901].