Part 5 (1/2)

_Portia_ Therefore, lay bare your bosom

_Shylock_ Ay, his breast: So says the bond:--doth it not, noble judge?-- ”Nearest his heart:” those are the very words

_Portia_ It is so Are there balance here, to weigh The flesh?

_Shylock_ I have theeon, Shylock, on your charge, To stop his wounds, lest he do bleed to death

_Shylock_ Is it so nominated in the bond?

_Portia_ It is not so express'd; but what of that?

'Twere good you do so much for charity

_Shylock_ I cannot find it; 'tis not in the bond

_Portia_ Co to say?

_Antonio_ But little: I am arm'd, and well prepar'd-- 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 vieith hollow eye and wrinkled brow An age of poverty; fro penance Of such a misery doth she cut me off

Commend me to your honorable wife: Tell her the process of Antonio's end; Say how I lov'd you, speak e Whether Bassanio had not once a love

Repent not you that you shall lose your friend, And he repents not that he pays your debt; For, if the Jew do cut but deep enough, I'll pay it instantly with all my heart

_Bassanio_ Antonio, I am married to a wife Which is as dear to me as life itself; But life itself, my wife, and all the world, Are not with me esteem'd above thy life: I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all Here to this devil, to deliver you

_Portia_ Your ould give you little thanks for that, If she were by, to hear you make the offer

_Gratiano_ I have a wife, whom, I protest, I love: I would she were in heaven, so she could Entreat soe this currish Jew

_Nerissa_ 'Tis well you offer it behind her back; The ould make else an unquiet house

_Shylock_ [_Aside_] These be the Christian husbands! I have a daughter; Would any of the stock of Barrabas Had been her husband rather than a Christian!-- [_To_ PORTIA] We trifle time; I pray thee, pursue sentence

_Portia_ A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine: The court awards it, and the law doth give it

_Shylock_ Most rightful judge!

_Portia_ And you must cut this flesh from off his breast: The law allows it, and the court awards it

_Shylock_ Most learned judge! A sentence!--Come, prepare

_Portia_ Tarry a little; there is soive 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

_Gratiano_ O upright judge!--Mark, Jew:--O learned judge!

_Shylock_ Is that the law?