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Por. Come, merchant, have you anything to say?
Ant. But little; I am armed, and well prepared.
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 view with hōllōw eye, and wrinkled brow,
An age of poverty: from which lingering penance
Of such a misery doth she cut me off.

Shy. We trifle time; I pray thee pursue sentence. Por. A pound of that same merchant's flesh is thine ; The court awards it, and the law doth give it.

Shy. Most rightful judge!

Por. And you must cut this flesh from off his breast; The law allows it, and the court awards it.

Shy. Most learned judge!-A sentence; come, prepare.
Por. Tarry a little ;-there is something else.-
This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood ;
The words expressly are, a pound of flesh :
Then take 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, con'fiscate

Unto the state of Venice.

Gra. O upright judge!-Mark, Jew!—O learned judge! Shy. Is that the law?

Por.

Thyself shalt see the act :

For, as thou urgèst justice, be assured

Thou shalt have justice more than thou desirest.

Gra. O learned judge!-Mark, Jew ;-a learned judge! Shy. I take this offer then,-pay the bond thrice,

And let the Christian go.

Bass. Here is the money.

Por. Soft;

The Jew shall have all justice;-soft;-no haste;-
He shall have nothing but the penalty.

Gra. O Jew! an upright judge, a learnèd judge!
Por. Therefore, prepare thee to cut off the flesh;
Shed thou no blood, nor cut thou less, nor mōre,

But just a pound of flesh: if thou takʼst more,
Or less, than a just pound,—be it but so much
As makes it light, or heavy, in the substance,
Or the division of the twentieth part

Of one poor scruple,-nay, if the scales do turn
But in the estimation of a hair,—

Thou dièst, and all thy goods are con'fiscate.

Gra. A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew!

Now infidel, I have thee on the hip.

Por. Why doth the Jew pause? Take thy forfeiture.
Shy. Give me my principal, and let me go.
Bass. I have it ready for thee; here it is.
Por. He hath refused it in the open court;
He shall have merely justice, and his bond.

Gra. A Daniel, still say I; a second Daniel!—
I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word.
Shy. Shall I not have barely my principal?
Por. Thou shalt have nothing but the forfeiture,
To be so taken at thy peril, Jew.

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Tarry, Jew;

The law hath yet another hold on you.

It is enacted in the laws of Venice,

If it be proved against an alien,
That by direct, or indirect attempts,
He seek the life of any citizen,

The party 'gainst the which he doth contrive,
Shall seize one half his goods; the other half
Comes to the privy coffer of the state;
And the offender's life lies in the mercy
Of the Duke only, 'gainst all other voice.

In which predicament, I say, thou stand'st.
Down, therefore, and beg mercy of the Duke.

Duke. That thou shalt see the difference of our spirit, I pardon thee thy life before thou ask it :

For half thy wealth, it is Antonio's ;
The other half comes to the general state,
Which humbleness may drive unto a fine.

Shy. Nay, take my life and all; pardon not that :

You take

you

do take the prop

life

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

Ant. 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.

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

The pardon that I late pronounced here.

I

Por. Art thou contented, Jew; what dost thou say?
Shy. I am content.

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.

WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.

I

SECTION XXXIX.

I.

177. PASSING AWAY.

ASKED the stars in the pomp of night,
Gilding its blacknèss with crowns of light,
Bright with beauty and girt with power,
Whether eternity were not their dower :'
And dirge-like music stole from their spheres,
Bearing this message to mortal ears :—

1

2. "We have no light that hath not been given;
We have no strength but shall soon be riven;
We have no power wherein man may trust;
Like him are we things of time and dust;
And the legend' we blazon with beam and ray,
And the song of our silence, is-Passing away.'

1 Dower, that with which one is endowed or gifted; gift.

'Legend, a story about saints which is appointed to be read; any

S

remarkable story handed down from early times; any narrative or story.

3

3 Blazon, (blå ́ zn), display; make public far and wide,

3. "We shall fade in our beauty, the fair and bright,
Like lamps that have served for a festal night;
We shall fall from our spheres, the old and strong,
Like rose-leaves swept by the breeze along ;
Though worshiped as gods in the olden day,
We shall be like a vain dream-Passing away."

4. From the stars of heaven and the flowers of earth,
From the pageant of power and the voice of mirth,
From the mist of the morn on the mountain's brow,
From childhood's song and affection's vow,

From all save that o'er which soul bears sway,
There breathes but one record-" Passing away."

5. "Passing away," sing the breeze and rill,
As they sweep on their course by vale and hill :
Through the varying scenes of each earthly clime,
'Tis the lesson of nature, the voice of time;
And man at last, like his fathers grāy,
Writes in his own dust-"PASSING AWAY.”

II.

178. LIFE.

MISS M. J. JEWSBURY,

IF were prisoned in life's narrow bound;

all our hopes and all our fears

If, travelers through this vale of tears,
We saw no better world beyond;
Oh, what could check the rising sigh?
What earthly thing could pleasure give?
Oh, who would venture then to die?
Oh, who could then endure to live?

2. Were life a dark and desert moor,
Where mists and clouds eternal spread
Their gloomy vail behind, before,

And tempests thunder overhead;
Where not a sunbeam breaks the gloom,
And not a floweret smiles beneath;
Who could exist in such a tomb?

Who dwell in darknèss and in death?

IN

3. And such were life, without the ray
From our divine religion given;
"Tis this that makes our darkness day;
'Tis this that makes our earth a heaven.
Bright is the golden sun above,

And beautiful the flowers that bloom,
And all is joy, and all is love,

Reflected from a world to come. JOHN BOWRING

III.

179. PROMISES OF RELIGION TO THE YOUNG.

N every part of Scripture, it is remarkable with what singular tenderness the season of youth is always mentioned, and what hopes are afforded to the devotion of the young. It was at that age that God appeared unto Moses, when he fed his flock in the desert, and called him to the command of his own people.

2. It was at that age he visited the infant Samuel, while he ministered in the temple of the Lord, "in days when the word of the Lord was precious, and when there was no open vision." It was at that age that his spirit fell upon David, while he was yet the youngest of his father's sons, and when, among the mountains of Bethlehem, he fed his father's sheep.

3. It was at that age, also, "that they brought young children unto Christ, that he should touch them; and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. But when Jesus saw it he was much displeased, and said to them, Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” 4. It these, then, are the effects and promises of youthful piety, rejoice, O young man, in thy youth! Rejoice in those days which are never to return, when religion comes to thee in all its charms, and when the God of nature reveals himself to thy soul like the mild radiance of the morning sun, when he rises amid the blessings of a grateful world.

5. If already devotion hath taught thee her secret pleasures; if, when nature meets thee in all its magnificence or beauty, thy heart humblèth itself in adoration before the hand which made it, and rejoicèth in the contemplation of the wisdom by which it is maintained; if, when revelation unvails her mercies, and

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