Enter OBERON and TITANIA, with their Train. Oberon. Through the house give glimmering light By the dead and drowsy fire;

Every elf and fairy sprite

Hop as light as bird from brier;
And this ditty after me

Sing and dance it trippingly.

Titania. First, rehearse your song by rote,
To each word a warbling note:
Hand in hand, with fairy grace,
Will we sing, and bless this place.

[Song and dance.

Oberon. Now, until the break of day,
Through this house each fairy stray.
To the best bride-bed will we,
Which by us shall blessed be;
And the issue there create
Ever shall be fortunate.
So shall all the couples three
Ever true in loving be;

And the blots of Nature's hand
Shall not in their issue stand:

Never mole, hare-lip, nor scar,

Nor mark prodigious, such as are

Make no stay;

Meet me all by break of day.

[Exeunt OBERON, TITANIA, and Train.

Puck.

If we shadows have offended,

Think but this, and all is mended,

That you have but slumber'd here
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,

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Gentles, do not reprehend:
If you pardon, we will mend.
And, as I'm an honest Puck,
If we have unearned luck

Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue,
We will make amends ere long;
Else the Puck a liar call:

So, good night unto you all.

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Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin shall restore amends.

[Exit.

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

the Continent.

ACT I.

SCENE I-Venice. A Street.

Enter ANTONIO, SALARINO, and SALANIO.

Antonio. 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.

Salarino. 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,

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That curtsy to them, do them reverence,

As they fly by them with their woven wings.

Salanio. Believe me, sir, had I such venture forth,

The better part of my affections would

Be with my hopes abroad. I should be still
Plucking the grass to know where sits the wind;
Peering in maps for ports, and piers, and roads ;
And every object that might make me fear

Misfortune to my ventures, out of doubt

Would make me sad.

Salarino.
My wind, cooling my broth,
Would blow me to an ague, when I thought
What harm a wind too great might do at sea.
I should not see the sandy hour-glass run
But I should think of shallows and of flats,
And see my wealthy Andrew dock'd in sand
Vailing her high-top lower than her ribs.
To kiss her burial. Should I go to church
And see the holy edifice of stone,

And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks,
Which touching but my gentle vessel's side
Would scatter all her spices on the stream,
Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks;
And, in a word, but even now worth this,

And now worth nothing? Shall I have the thought
To think on this, and shall I lack the thought
That such a thing bechanc'd would make me sad?
But tell not me: I know Antonio

Is sad to think upon his merchandise.

Antonio.

Believe me, no: I thank my fortune for it,

My ventures are not in one bottom trusted,
Nor to one place; nor is my whole estate
Upon the fortune of this present year :
Therefore, my merchandise makes me not sad.
Salarino. Why, then you are in love.
Antonio.

Fie, Fie!

Salarino. Not in love neither? Then let's say you are sad,
Because you are not merry: and 'twere as easy
For you to laugh and leap, and say you are merry,

Because you are not sad. Now, by two-headed Janus,
Nature hath fram'd strange fellows in her time:
Some that will evermore peep through their eyes
And laugh like parrots at a bag-piper,

And other of such vinegar aspect

That they'll not show their teeth in way of smile,
Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable.

Enter BASSANIO, LORENZO, and GRATIANO.
Salanio. Here comes Bassanio, your most noble kinsman,
Gratiano and Lorenzo. Fare ye well:

We leave you now with better company.

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Salarino. I would have stay'd till I had made you merry, 60

If worthier friends had not prevented me.

Antonio. Your worth is very dear in my regard.

I take it, your own business calls on you,

And you embrace the occasion to depart.
Salarino. Good morrow, my good lords.

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Bass. Good signiors both, when shall we laugh? say when? You grow exceeding strange; must it be so?

Salarino. We'll make our leisures to attend on yours.

[Exeunt SALARINO and SALANIO.

Lorenzo. My Lord Bassanio, since you have found Antonio,

We too will leave you; but, at dinner-time,

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I pray you, have in mind where we must meet.
Bassanio. I will not fail you.

Gratiano. You look not well, Signior Antonio ;

You have too much respect upon the world :

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They lose it that do buy it with much care:
Believe me, you are marvellously chang'd.

Antonio. I hold the world but as the world, Gratiano;

A stage where every man must play a part,

And mine a sad one.

Gratiano.

Let me play the fool:

With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come,
And let my liver rather heat with wine
Than my heart cool with mortifying groans.
Why should a man, whose blood is warm within,
Sit like his grandsire cut in alabaster ?

Sleep when he wakes, and creep into the jaundice
By being peevish? I tell thee what, Antonio-
I love thee, and it is my love that speaks-
There are a sort of men whose visages
Do cream and mantle like a standing pond,
And do a wilful stillness entertain,
With purpose to be dress'd in an opinion
Of wisdom, gravity, profound conceit;
As who should say, 'I am Sir Oracle,
And when I ope my lips let no dog bark!
O, my Antonio, I do know of these,
That therefore only are reputed wise
For saying nothing; when, I am very sure,

If they should speak, would almost damn those ears

Which, hearing them, would call their brothers fools.
I'll tell thee more of this another time:
But fish not, with this melancholy bait,
For this fool-gudgeon, this opinion.