and generous in judgment. The poor man was wronged, not indeed in the trial scene, where his revengeful purpose was withstood and his intended crime punished, but in all the circumstances that made that crime possible, wronged by the law that made him an alien among Venetian citizens, wronged by the society that stole his money, spat on his beard and called him dog, wronged in his purse, his person, and his race. It marks a great advance in the ethical conceptions of our day that it is no longer possible to portray Shylock as a wholly villainous, much less as a comic character.

Merchant of Venice

DRAMATIS PERSONE.

The DUKE OF VENICE.
The PRINCE OF MOROCCO,

The PRINCE OF ARRAGON,

suitors to Portia.

ANTONIO, a merchant of Venice.

BASSANIO, his friend, suitor likewise to Portia.

SALANIO,

SALARINO,

friends to Antonio and Bassanio.

GRATIANO,

SALERIO,

LORENZO, in love with Jessica.

SHYLOCK, a rich Jew.

TUBAL, a Jew, his friend.

LAUNCELOT GOBBO, the clown, servant to Shylock.

OLD GOBBO, father to Launcelot.

LEONARDO, servant to Bassanio.

Magnificoes of Venice, Officers of the Court of Justice, Jailer, Servants to Portia, and other attendants.

SCENE: Partly at Venice, and partly at Belmont, the seat of Portia, on the Continent.

The Merchant of Venice.

ACT FIRST.

SCENE I.

Venice. A street.

Enter Antonio, Salarino, and Salanio.

Ant. In sooth, I know not why I am so sad:
It wearies me; you say it wearies you;

But how I caught it, found it, or came by it,
What stuff 'tis made of, whereof it is born,
I am to learn;

And such a want-wit sadness makes of me,
That I have much ado to know myself.
Salar. Your mind is tossing on the ocean;

There, where your argosies with portly sail,
Like signiors and rich burghers on the flood,
Or, as it were, the pageants of the sea,
Do overpeer the petty traffickers,
That curt'sy to them, do them reverence,
As they fly by them with their woven wings.
Salan. Believe me, sir, had I such venture forth,
The better part of my affections would

Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still

ΙΟ