Who, then conceiving, did in eaning time ANT. This was a venture, sir, that Jacob serv'd for; A thing not in his power to bring to pass, SHY. I cannot tell; I make it breed as fast: But note me, signior. ANT. Mark you this, Bassanio, The devil can cite scripture for his purpose.* An evil soul, producing holy witness, Minsheu supposes it to mean nauseous in so high a degree as to excite vomiting. MALONE. 5 - and those were Jacob's.] See Genesis, xxx. 37, &c. STEEVENS. * This was a way to thrive, &c.] So, in the ancient song of Gernutus the Jew of Venice : : "His wife must lend a shilling, " For every weeke a penny, " Yet bring a pledge that is double worth, "If that you will have any. " And see, likewise, you keepe your day, " Or else you lose it all : " This was the living of the wife, "Her cow she did it call." Her cow, &c. seems to have suggested to Shakspeare Shylock's argument for usury. PERCY. 7 Adonis: I make it breed as fast:] So, in our author's Venus and "Foul cank'ring rust the hidden treasure frets ; MALONE. The devil can cite scripture &c.] See St. Matthew, iv. 6. : HENLEY. Is like a villain with a smiling cheek; SHY. Three thousand ducats,-'tis a good round sum. Three months from twelve, then let me see the rate. ANT. Well, Shylock, shall we be beholden to you? SHY. Signior Antonio, many a time and oft, O, what a goodly outside falshood hath!] Falshood, which as truth means honesty, is taken here for treachery and knavery, does not stand for falshood in general, but for the dishonesty now operating. Johnson. 1 - my usances :) Use and usance are both words anciently employ'd for usury, both in its favourable and unfavourable sense. So, in The English Traveller, 1633: Again: " Give me my use, give me my principal." "A toy; the main about five hundred pounds, Mr. Ritson asks, whether Mr. Steevens is not mistaken in saying that use and usance, were accidentally employed for usury. "Use and usance, (he adds) mean nothing more than interest; and the former word is still used by country people in the same sense." That Mr. Steevens, however, is right respecting the word in the text, will appear from the following quotation: " I knowe a gentleman borne to five hundred pounde lande, did never receyve above a thousand pound of nete money, and within certeyne yeres ronnynge still upon usurie and double usurie, the merchants termyng it usance and double usance, by a more clenly name he did owe to master usurer five thousand pound at the last, borowyng but one thousande pounde at first, so that his land was clean gone, beynge five hundred poundes inherytance, for one thousand pound in money, and the usurie of the same money for so fewe yeres; and the man now beggeth." Wylson on Usurye, 1572, p. 32. REED. Usance, in our author's time, I believe, signified interest of money. It has been already used in this play in that sense: Still have I borne it with a patient shrug;" " He lends out money gratis, and brings down Again, in a subsequent part, he says, he will take " no doit of usance for his monies." Here it must mean interest. MALONE, * Still have I borne it with a patient shrug;] So, in Marlowe's Jew of Malta, (written and acted before 1593,) printed in 1633: " I learn'd in Florence how to kiss my hand, MALONE. * And spit-] The old copies always read spet, which spelling is followed by Milton: 66 the womb " Of Stygian darkness spets her thickest gloom." STEEVENS. * Shylock,] Our author, as Dr. Farmer informs me, took the name of his Jew from an old pamphlet entitled: Caleb Shillocke, kis Prophesie; or the Jeves Prediction. London, printed for T. P. (Thomas Pavyer.) No date. STEEVENS. VOL. VII. S Fair sir, you spit on me on Wednesday last; ANT. I am as like to call thee so again, SHY. Why, look you, how you storm! I would be friends with you, and have your love, Forget the shames that you have stain'd me with, Supply your present wants, and take no doit Of usance for my monies, and you'll not hear me : This is kind I offer. ANT. This were kindness. SHY. This kindness will I show : * A breed for barren metal of his friend?] A breed, that is interest money bred from the principal. By the epithet barren, the author would instruct us in the argument on which the advocates against usury went, which is this; that money is a barren thing, and cannot, like corn and cattle, multiply itself. And to set off the absurdity of this kind of usury, he put breed and barren in opposition. WARBURTON. Dr. Warburton very truly interprets this passage. Old Meres says, "Usurie and encrease by gold and silver is unlawful, because against nature; nature hath made them sterill and barren, usurie makes them procreative." FARMER. The honour of starting this conceit belongs to Aristotle. See De Repub. Lib. I. HOLT WHITE. Thus both the quarto printed by Roberts, and that by Heyes, in 1600. The folio has a breed of. MALONE. Go with me to a notary, seal me there ANT. Content, in faith; I'll seal to such a bond, And say, there is much kindness in the Jew. BASS. You shall not seal to such a bond for me, I'll rather dwell in my necessity. ANT. Why, fear not, man; I will not forfeit it; Within these two months, that's a month before This bond expires, I do expect return Of thrice three times the value of this bond. SHY. O father Abraham, what these Christians are; Whose own hard dealings teaches them suspect • dwell in my necessity.] To dwell seems in this place to mean the same as to continue. To abide has both the senses of habitation and continuance. JOHNSON. $2 |