That doth sustain my house; you take my life,
When you do take the means whereby I live.

Portia. What mercy can you render him, Antonio?
Antonio. 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:

Two things provided more,―That, for this favour,
He presently become a Christian;

The other, that he do record a gift,

Here in the court, of all he dies possess'd,

Unto his son Lorenzo, and his daughter.

Duke. He shall do this; or else I do recant

The pardon, that I late pronounced here.

Portia. Art thou contented, Jew? what dost thou say?
Shylock. I am content.

Portia.

Clerk, draw a deed of gift.
Shylock. 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.

The duke now released Antonio, and dismissed the court. He then highly praised the wisdom and ingenuity of the young counsellor, and invited him home to dinner. Portia, who meant to return to Belmont before her husband, replied, 'I humbly thank your grace, but I must away directly.' The duke said he was sorry he had not leisure to stay and dine with him; and, turning to Antonio, he added, 'Reward this gentleman; for in my mind you are much indebted to

him.'

The duke and his senators left the court; and then Bassanio said to Portia, 'Most worthy gentleman, I and my friend, Antonio, have by your wisdom been this day acquitted of grievous penalties, and I beg you will accept of the three thousand ducats due unto the Jew.' And we shall stand indebted to you over and above,' said Antonio, in love and service evermore.'

Portia could not be prevailed upon to accept the money; but upon Bassanio still pressing her to accept

of some reward, she said, 'Give me your gloves; I will wear them for your sake:' and then Bassanio taking off his gloves, she espied the ring which she had given him upon his finger: now it was the ring the wily lady wanted to get from him to make a merry jest when she saw her Bassanio again, that made her ask him for his gloves; and she said, when she saw the ring, And for your love I will take this ring from you.' Bassanio was sadly distressed, that the counsellor should ask him for the only thing he could not part with, and he replied in great confusion, that he could not give him that ring, because it was his wife's gift, and he had vowed never to part with it: but that he would give him the most valuable ring in Venice, and find it out by proclamation. On this Portia affected to be affronted, and left the court, saying, 'You teach me, sir, how a beggar should be answered.' 'Dear Bassanio,' said Antonio, let him have the ring; let my love and the great service he has done for me be valued against your wife's displeasure.' Bassanio, ashamed to appear so ungrateful, yielded, and sent Gratiano after Portia with the ring; and then the clerk Nerissa, who had also given Gratiano a ring, she begged his ring, and Gratiano (not choosing to be outdone in generosity by his lord) gave it to her. And there was laughing among those ladies to think, when they got home, how they would tax their husbands with giving away their rings, and swear that they had given them as a present to some woman.

Portia, when she returned, was in that happy temper of mind which never fails to attend the consciousness of having performed a good action; her cheerful spirits enjoyed everything she saw the moon never seemed to shine so bright before: and when that pleasant moon was hid behind a cloud, then a light which she saw from her house at Belmont as well pleased her charmed fancy, and she said to Nerissa, 'That light we see is burning in my hall; how far that little candle throws its beams, so shines a good deed in a naughty world:' and hearing the sound of music from her house, she

said, 'Methinks that music sounds much sweeter than by day.' And now Portia and Nerissa entered the house, and dressing themselves in their own apparel, they awaited the arrival of their husbands, who soon followed them with Antonio; and Bassanio presenting his dear friend to the lady Portia, the congratulations and welcomings of that lady were hardly over, when they perceived Nerissa and her husband quarrelling in a corner of the room. 'A quarrel already?' said Portia. 'What is the matter?' Gratiano replied, 'Lady, it is about a paltry gilt ring that Nerissa gave me, with words upon it like the poetry on a cutler's knife;-" Love me and leave me not!"

เ

'What does the poetry or the value of the ring. signify?' said Nerissa. 'You swore to me, when I gave it to you, that you would keep it till the hour of death; and now you say you gave it to the lawyer's clerk. I know you gave it to a woman.' By this hand,' replied Gratiano, 'I gave it to a youth, a kind of boy, a little scrubbed boy no higher than yourself; he was clerk to the young counsellor, that by his wise pleading saved Antonio's life: this prating boy begged it for a fee, and I could not for my life deny him.' Portia said, 'You were to blame, Gratiano, to part with your wife's first gift. I gave my lord Bassanio a ring, and I am sure he would not part with it for all the world.' Gratiano in excuse for his fault now said, 'My lord Bassanio gave his ring away to the counsellor, and then the boy, his clerk, that took some pains in writing, he begged my ring.'

Portia, hearing this, seemed very angry, and reproached Bassanio for giving away her ring; and she said, Nerissa had taught her what to believe, and that she knew some woman had the ring. Bassanio was very unhappy to have so offended his dear lady, and he said with great earnestness, 'No, by my honour, no woman had it, but a civil doctor, who refused three thousand ducats of me, and begged the ring, which when I denied him he went displeased away. What could I do, sweet Portia? I was so beset with sham

for my seeming ingratitude, that I was forced to send the ring after him. Pardon me, good lady; had you been there, I think you would have begged the ring of me to give the worthy doctor.'

'Ah!' said Antonio, 'I am the unhappy cause of these quarrels.'

Portia bade Antonio not to grieve at that, for that he was welcome notwithstanding; and then Antonio said, 'I once did lend my body for Bassanio's sake; and but for him to whom your husband gave the ring, I should have now been dead. I dare be bound again my soul upon the forfeit, your lord will never more break his faith with you.' 'Then you shall be his surety,' said Portia; give him this ring, and bid him keep it better than the other.'

เ

When Bassanio looked at this ring, he was strangely surprised to find it was the same he gave away; and then Portia told him how she was the young counsellor, and Nerissa was her clerk; and Bassanio found to his unspeakable wonder and delight, that it was by the noble courage and wisdom of his wife that Antonio's life was saved.

And Portia again welcomed Antonio, and gave him letters which by some chance had fallen into her hands, and which contained an account of Antonio's ships, that were supposed lost, being safely arrived in the harbour. So these tragical beginnings of this rich merchant's story were all forgotten in the unexpected good fortune which ensued, and there was leisure to laugh at the comical adventure of the rings, and the husbands that did not know their own wives; Gratiano merrily declaring, in a sort of rhyming speech, that

——while he liv'd, he'd fear no other thing
So sore, as keeping safe Nerissa's ring.

SELECTIONS FROM RICHARD II.

QUARREL BETWEEN HENRY BOLINGBROKE AND THE DUKE OF NORFOLK.

LONDON. A Room in the Palace.

Enter KING RICHARD, attended: JOHN OF GAunt, and other Nobles with him.

K. Rich. Old John of Gaunt, time-honour'd Lancaster, Hast thou, according to thy oath and band, Brought hither Henry Hereford, thy bold son; Here to make good the boisterous late appeal, Which then our leisure would not let us hear, Against the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray ? Gaunt. I have, my liege.

K. Rich. Tell me, moreover, hast thou sounded him, If he appeal the duke on ancient malice;

Or worthily, as a good subject should,

On some known ground of treachery in him?

Gaunt. As near as I could sift him on that argument,On some apparent danger seen in him,

Aim'd at your highness,-no inveterate malice.

K. Rich. Then call them to our presence; face to face, And frowning brow to brow, ourselves will hear The accuser and the accused, freely speak :

[Exeunt some Attendants. High-stomach'd are they both, and full of ire, In rage deaf as the sea, hasty as fire.

Re-enter Attendants, with BOLINGBROKE and NORFOLK. Boling. May many years of happy days befal My gracious sovereign, my most loving liege! Nor. Each day still better other's happiness; Until the heavens, envying earth's good hap, Add an immortal title to your crown!

K. Rich. We thank you both; yet one but flatters us, As well appeareth by the cause you come;

Namely, to appeal each other of high treason.-
Cousin of Hereford, what dost thou object
Against the duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray?

Boling. First, (Heaven be the record of my speech!) In the devotion of a subject's love,