Page images
PDF
EPUB
[ocr errors]

STR

No XVI. THURSDAY, MAY 16, 1754.

ALTIUS OMNEM

EXPEDIAM PRIMA REPETENS AB ORIGINE FAMAM.

VIRG.

I'LL TRACE THE CURRENT UPWARDS, AS IT FLOWS,
AND MARK THE SECRET SPRING, WHENCE FIRST IT ROSE.

TO MR. TOWN.

OXFORD, MAY 12, 1754'OUR last week's paper, on the

of an extract I lately met with in fome news-papers, from the Life of Pope Sixtus V. translated from the Italian of Gregorio Leti by the Reverend Mr. Farnworth. The paffage is as follows: 'It was reported in Rome, that Drake had taken and plundered St. Domingo in Hifpaniola, and carried off an im⚫ menfe booty. This account came in a private letter to Paul Secchi, a very ⚫ confiderable merchant in the city, who had large concerns in those parts, which he had infured. Upon receiving this news, he fent for the infurer, Samfon Ceneda, a Jew, and acquaint<ed him with it. The Jew, whofe intereft it was to have fuch a report thought falfe, gave many reafons why it could not poffibly be true; and at ⚫ last worked himself up into such a paffion, that he said I'll lay you a pound of my flesh it is a lye." Secchi, who was of a fiery hot temper, replied "I'll lay you a thousand crowns against a pound of your flesh, "that it is true." The Jew accepted the wager, and articles were immediately executed betwixt them, that if Secchi won, he should himself cut the ⚫ flesh with a sharp knife from whatever part of the Jew's body he pleased. The truth of the account was foon 'confirmed; and the Jew was almost diftracted, when he was informed, 'that Secchi had folemnly fworn he would compel him to the exact literal 'performance of his contract. A report of this tranfaction was brought to the Pope, who fent for the parties, ' and being informed of the whole af"fair, faid-"When contracts are “made, it is just they thou be ful"filled, as this hall. Take a knife,

[ocr errors]

"therefore, Secchi, and cut a pound "of flesh from any part you please of "the Jew's body. We advife you, "however, to be very careful; for if you cut a fcruple more or less than your due, you shall certainly be "hanged."

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

What induced me to trouble you with this, is a remark made by the editor, that the fcene between Shylock and Antonio in the Merchant of Venice is borrowed from this ftory. I fhould perhaps have acquiefced in this notion, if I had not seen a note in the Observations on Spenfer's Faerie Queene, by Mr. T. Warton of Trinity College," where be feems to have difcovered the real fource from which Shakespeare drew his fable, which (he informs us) is founded upon an ancient ballad. admirers of Shakespeare are obliged to The him for this curious difcovery: but as Mr. Warton has only given fome extracts, they would undoubtedly be glad to fee the whole. This ballad is most probably no where to be met with but in the Afhmolean Mufæum in this univerfity, where it was depofited by that famous antiquary Anthony à Wood: I have therefore sent you a faithful tranfcript of it; and you must agree with me, that it will do you more credit, as a Connoiffeur, to draw this hidden treasure into light, than if you had discovered an Otho or a Niger.

A SONG.

SHEWING THE CRUELTIE OF GERNU
TUS, A JEW, WHO LENDING TO A
MERCHANT AN HUNDRED CROWNES,
WOULD HAVE A POUND OF HIS FLESHR
BECAUSE HE COULD NOT PAY HIM
AT THE TIME APPOINTED.

IN Venice town not long agoe

A cruel Jew did dwell,
Which lived all on ufrie,

As Italian writers tell.

[blocks in formation]

Gernutus called was the Jew,
Which never thought to die,
Nor never yet did any good

To them in ftreets that lye.

His life was like a barrow hogge,
That liveth many a day,
Yet never once doth any good,
Until men will him flay.

Or like a filthy heap of dung,

That lyeth in a hoord; Which never can do any good, Till it be fpread abroad.

So fares it with this ufurer,

He cannot fleep in reft,
For fear the theefe doth him purfue
To pluck him from his neft.

His heart doth think on many a while,
How to deceive the poore;
His mouth is almost full of mucke,
Yet ftill he gapes for more.

His wife muft lend a fhilling,

For every week a penny,

Yet bring a pledge that's double worth,
If that you will have any.
And fee (likewife) you keep your day,
Or elfe you loofe it all:
This was the living of his wife,

Her cow the doth it call.

Within that citie dwelt that time

A merchant of great fame,
Which being diftreffed, in his need
Unto Gernutus came:

Defiring him to ftand his friend,
For twelve moneth and a day,
To lend to him an 100 crownes,
And he for it would pay
Whatfoever he would demand of him
And pledges he should have:
No,' (qd. the Jew with fleering lookes)
Sir, afke what you will have.
No penny for the loane of it

For one yeere you shall pay;
You may do me as good a turne
Before my dying day.

But we will have a merry jeaft

For to be ta.ked long;

You shall make me a bond,' (quoth he)
That thall be large and ftrong.

And this fhal. be the forfeiture,
Of your own fleshe a pound,
If you agree, make you the bond,
And here's a hundred crownes."

THE SECOND PART OF THE JEW'S CRUELTIE SETTING FORTH THE MER

[blocks in formation]

And fo the bond was made,
When twelve months and a day drew on,
That back it fhould be payd.

The merchant's fhips were all at sea,
And money ca ne not in;
Which way to take, or what to doe,
To thinke he doth begin.

And to Gernutus ftraight he comes
With cap and bended knee,
And fayd to him of curtefie

I pray you bear with me.

My day is come, and I have not
The money for to pay:
And little good the forfeiture
Will doe you I dare say.'

With all my heart,' Gernutus faid,
Command it to your minde:
In things of bigger weight than this

You shall me readie finde.'

He goes his way; the day once paft,
Gernutus doth not flacke
To get a ferjeant prefentlie,

And lapt him on the backe;

And layd him into prison strong,

And fued his bond withall;
And when the judgment-day was come,.
For judgment he doth call.

The merchant's friends came thither fast,
With many a weeping eye,
For other means they could not find,
But he that day muft dye.

Some offered for his 100 crownes
Five hundred for to pay;
And fome a thoufand, two or three,
Yet ftill he did denay.

And at the last, 10,000 crownes
They offered him to fave,
Gernutus faid- I will no gold,

My fo. feit I will have.

A pound of flesh is my demand, And that shall be my hyre.' Then laid the judge-Yet my good friend, ' you defire,

'Let me of

To take the fleshe from fuch a place

As yet you let him live;

Doe fo, and lo an 100 crownes,

To thee here will I give.'

No, no,' quoth he, no judgment here For this it fhall be tryde,

For I will have my pound of fleshe

• From under his right fide.'

It

Ja grieved all the companie,

His crueltie to fee;

For neither friend nor foe could help
But he must spoiled bee.

The bloudie Jew now ready is
With whetted blade in hand
To fpoyle the bloud of innocent,
By forfeit of his bond.

And as he was about to ftrike
In him the deadly blow:
Stay, quoth the judge, thy crueltie,
I charge thee to do so.

[ocr errors]

Sith needs thou wilt thy forfeit have,
Which is of fleshe a pound:
See that thou fhed no drop of bloud,
'Not yet the man confound.

For if thou doe, like murtherer,

Thou here fhalt har ged be: Likewife of flefhe fee that thou cut "No more than longs to thee.

For if thou take either more or leffe,

To the value of a mite,
Thou shalt be hanged presently,
As is both law and right.'

Gernutus now waxt f antic mad,
And wotes not what to say:
Quoth he at laft- 10,000 crownes
I will that he fhall pay.

And fo I grant to fet him free:' The judge dothanfwere make, You fhall not have a penny given, • Your forfeiture now take.' At the laft he doth demand, But for to have his own: No,' quoth the judge, do as you lift, Thy judgment fhall be fhewne. Either take your pound of fleshe, '(qd. he) 'Or cancell me your bond. "O cruel judge,' then quoth the Jew,

[ocr errors]

That doth against me stand!"
And fo with griped grieved minde
He biddeth them farewell:
All the people prays d the Lord

That ever this heard tell.

Good people that do hear this fong,
For truth I dare wel! fay,

That many a wretch as ill as he
Doth live now at this day,
That feeketh nothing hut the spoyle
Of many a wealthie man,
And for to trap the innocent,
Devifeth what they can.

From whom the Lord deliver me,

And every Christian too,

And fend to them like fentence eke,
That mea.eth fo to do.

Printed at London by E. P. for J. Wright dwelling in Gilt-Spur-Street,

[ocr errors]

It will be proper to fubjoin what the ingenious Mr. Warton has obferved upon this fubje&t. It may be objected,' fays he, that this ballad might have been written after, and copied from Shakespeare's play. But if that had been the cafe, it is most likely, that the author would have preferved Shakespeare's name of Shylock for the Jew; and nothing is more likely, than that Shakespeare, in copying from this ballad, fhould alter the name from Gernutus to one more Jewish. Another argument is, that our ballad has the air of a narrative written' be'fore Shakespeare's play; I mean, that if it had been written after the play, it would have been much more full and circumstantial. At prefent, it has too much the nakedness of an ori⚫ginal.'

It would, indeed, be abfurd to think, that this ballad was taken from Shakefpeare's play, as they differ in the most effential circumftances. The fum borrowed is in the former an hundred crowns, in the latter three thoufand ducats. The time limited for payment in the one is only three months, in the other a year and a day. In the play the merchant's motive for borrowing, (which is finely imagined by Shakespeare, and is conducive to the general plot) is not on account of his own neceffities, but for the fervice of his friend. To these we may add, that the clofe of the ftory is finely heightened by Shakespeare. A mere copyift, fuch as we may uppote a ballad-maker, would not have given hintelf the trouble to alter cir cumftances; at least he would not have changed them fo much for the worse. But this matter feems to be placed out of all doubt by the firft ftanza of the ballad, which informs us, that the story was taken from fome Italian novel.

[ocr errors][ocr errors]

Thus much therefore is certain,' as Mr. Warten observes, that Shakefpeare either copied from that Italian novel, or from this ballad. Now we ⚫ have no tranflation, I prefume, of luch a novel into English. If then it he granted, that Shakespeare generally took his Italian ftories from their • English translations, and that the arguments above, conc ruing the pricr antiquity of this band, are true, it will follow, that Shakespeare copied 'from this balad.'

[ocr errors]

Upon the whole, it is very likely, that

the

the Italian novel, upon which this ballad feems founded, took it's rife (with an inverfion of the circumftances) from the above-mentioned story in the Life of Pope Sixtus V.' the memory of which must have been then recent. I fhould be glad if any of your readers can give any further light into this af fair, and, if poffible, acquaint the public from whence Shakespeare borrowed the other part of his fable concerning Portia and the Cafkets; which, it is le has since been handering, bran N° XVII. THURSDAY, MAY 23 1754 1 works and

more than probable, is drawn from fome other novel well known in his time.

I cannot conclude without remarking, with what art and judgment Shakespeare has wove together thefe different stories of the Jew and the Cafkets; from both which he has formed one general fable, without having recourse to the tale artifice of eking out a barren fubject with impertinent underplots. I am, Sir, your humble fervant, &c.

STR,

[blocks in formation]

CARĈE MORE WITH ATHENE SCIENCE CHOSE TO DWILL,
OR GRECIAN POETS GRUB-STREET BARDS EXCELL.

TO MR. TOWN,

HOUGH many hiftorians have

Tdefcribed the city of London (in which we may include Westminster) with great accuracy, yet they have not fet it out in the full light which at prefent it deferves. They have not diftinguifhed it as an univerfity. Paris is an univerfity, Dublin is an univerfity, even Moscow is an univerfity. But London has not yet been honoured with that title. I will allow our metropolis to have been intended originally, only as a city of trade; and I will farther own, that scarce any fciences, except fuch as were purely mercantile, were cultivated in it, till within thefe laft thirty years. But from that period of time, I may fay a whole army, as it were, of arts and sciences have amicably marched in upon us, and have fixed themselves as auxiliaries to our capital.

The four great faculties, I mean Theology, Law, Medicine, and Philofophy, which are taught in other univerfities, are in their highest perfection here. The profperity of the first may be feen by the crouded churches every Sunday, and the difcipline of the fecond by the numberle's young ftudents who conftantly dine in their refpective halls at the feveral Inns of Court. Thefe two faculties have of late received confiderable improvements, but particularly that of Theology; as is manifeft from feveral new and aftonishing opinions, which have been ftarted among us.

T

There have rifen, within these two years, very numerous tribes of Methodists, Moravians, Middletonians, Muggletonians, Hutchinfonians, &c. In a word, our fects are multiplied to fuch an infinite degree, that, as Voltaire has before obferved, every man may now go to 'heaven his own way.' Can the Divinity fchools boat fuch found doctrine as the Foundery in Moorfields? Or were ever fellows of colleges fuch adepts in matrimony, as the reverend doctors of the Fleet, or the primate of May Fair?

The theory of Medicine may undoubtedly be taught at Oxford and Cambridge in a tolerable manner; but the art itself can only be learned, where it flourishes, at London. Do not our daily papers give us a longer lift of medicines, than are contained in any of the difpenfatories? And are we not constantly told of surprising antidotes, certain cures, and never failing remedies for every complaint? And are not each of these specifics equally efficacious in one diftemper as another, from the Grand Restorative Elixir of Life, down to the Infallible Corn - Salve, as thousands have experienced? With what pleasure and admiration have I beheld the Machaon of our times, Dr. Richard Rock, difpenfing from his one horfe chaife his Cathartic Antivenereal Electuary, his Itch Powder, and his Quinteffence of Vipers! It may be asked, Is he a Graduate? Is he a regular Phyfician? No, he is fuperior to regularity. He defpifes the formality of academical degrees. He ftiles himself M. L. He is a London Phyfician,

Physician, or, as Moliere would exprefs it, C'eft un Medicin de Londres.

After Medicine let us contider Logic. How is that mott ufeful art taught in the two univerfities? Is it not clogged with fuch barbarous terms, as tend to puzzle and confound, rather than enlighten or direct the understanding? Is it not taught in a dead, I had almoft faid, in a Popish tongue? Is it not overrun with dry diftinctions, and ufelefs fubtleties? Where then is it to be learned in all the purity of reafon, and the dignity of language? Neither at Oxford nor at Cambridge, but at the Robin Hood Alehoufe in Butcher Row, near Temple Bar.

From Logic let us proceed to Eloquence: and let us ingenuously confels, that neither of our unive fities can boat an orator equal to the renowned Henley. Has he not all the qualifications required by Tully in a complete orator? Has he not been followed by the greatest men of the nation? Yet has this modeft divine never derived any title to himself from his own rhetoric, except such an one as his extraordinary elocution naturally beftowed upon him. Might he not have called himself Predent of the Butchers? Dean of Marrowbones and Cleavers? or Warden of Clare Market? Certainly he might. Therefore, if it were for his fake only, in my humble opinion, London ought immediately to affume the title of an University; and the butchers of Clare Market, who have fo conftantly attended Mr. Henley's Lectures, ought to be prefented with honorary degrees.

I know not what pretentions the univerities may have had originally to adopt Mufic among the left of their feiences: perhaps they have affumed a right of bettowing degrees in Mutic, from their being called the feats of the Mules; as it is well known that Apollo was a fidler, as well as a poet and a phyfician; and the Mufes are said to have delighted in fidding and piping. The young ftudents, I am told, of either univerfity, are more ambitious to excel in this fcience than any other, and spend most of their time in the ftudy of the Gamut: but their knowledge in Harmonics is Leldom carried farther than I love Sue, or Ally Croker. In this point London has undoubtedly a better title to be cailed an University. Did Oxford or Cambridge ever produce an Opera, though

they have the advantage of languages fo very little known, as the Greek, and even Hebrew, to compofe in? Had ever any of their profeffors the leaft idea of a Burletta? Or are any of their molt fublime Anthems half fo ravishing as Foot's Minuet from the hand organ of the little Savoyard Duchefs? Are thofe claffical inftruments the Doric Lute, the Syrinx, or the Fiftula, to be compared to the melody of the Wooden Spoons, the JewsHarp, and Salt Box, at Mrs. Midnight's?

But there are no doctrines more forcibly inculcated among us than those of Ethics, or Moral Philofophy. What are the precepts of Plato, Epictetus, or Tully, in comparifon to the moral leffons delivered by our periodical writers? And are not you, Mr. Town, a wifer man than Socrates? But the age is more particularly indebted, for it's prefent univerfal purity of manners, to thofe excellent rules for the conduct of life contained in our modern novels. From thefe moral works might be compiled an entire new fyftem of Ethics, far fuperior to the exploded notions of muity Academics, and adapted to the practice of the prefent times. Cato, we are told, commended a young man, whom he faw coming out of the public ftews, because he imagined it might preterve him from the crime of adultery; and the Spartans used to make their flaves drunk in the prefence of their youth, that they might be deterred from the like debaucheries. For the fame reafons, we may fuppofe, that our taveins and bagnios are fo much frequented by our young people; and in this light we may fairly confider them as fo many Schools of Moral Philofophy.

If we are willing to turn our thoughts towards Experimental Philofophy, can the feveral univerfities of the whole world produce fuch a variety of inftruments, fo judiciously collected, for Af tronomical, Geographical, and all other fcientific obfervations, as are to be feen in the two amazing repofitories of Mr. Prof flor Deard in the Strand, and of Mr. Profeffor Ruffel at Charing Crofs? It were endless to enumerate particulars; but I cannot help taking notice of those elegant little portable telefcopes, that are made ufe of in all public places; by which it is evident, that even our fine ladies and gentlemen are become proficients in Optics.

The

« ՆախորդըՇարունակել »