¶Enter Portia with her wayting woman Nerrissa.
¶Portia. By my troth
Nerrissa, my little body is awearie of this
¶Ner. You would be
sweet Madam, if your mi
series were in the
¶same aboundance as your good fortunes are: and yet for ought I
¶see, they are as
sicke that
surfeite with too much, as they that
starue
¶with nothing; it is no meane happines therfore to be
seated in the
200meane,
superfluitie comes
sooner by white haires, but competen-
¶Portia. Good
sentences, and well pronounc'd.
¶Ner. They would be better if well followed.
¶Portia. If to do were as ea
sie as to know what were good to do,
205Chappels had beene Churches, and poore mens cottages Princes
¶Pallaces, it is a good diuine that followes his owne in
structions, I
¶can ea
sier teach twentie what were good to be done, then to be one
¶of the twentie to follow mine owne teaching: the braine may de-
¶ui
se lawes for the blood, but a hote temper leapes ore a colde de-
210cree,
such a hare is madnes the youth, to
skippe ore the me
shes of
¶good coun
saile the cripple; but this rea
soning is not in the fa
shion
¶to choo
se mee a hu
sband, ô mee the word choo
se, I may neyther
¶choo
se who I would, nor refu
se who I di
slike,
so is the will of a ly-
¶uing daughter curbd by the will of a deade father: is it not harde
215Nerrissa, that I cannot choo
se one, nor refu
se none.
¶Ner. Your Father was euer vertuous, and holy men at theyr
¶death haue good in
spirations, therefore the lottrie that he hath deui
sed
¶in the
se three che
sts of gold,
siluer, and leade, whereof who
220choo
ses his meaning choo
ses you, will no doubt neuer be cho
sen
¶by any rightlie, but one who you
shall rightly loue: But what
¶warmth is there in your affection towardes any of the
se Princelie
¶suters that are already come?
¶Por. I pray thee ouer-name them, and as thou name
st them, I
225will de
scribe them, and according to my de
scription leuell at my
¶Ner. Fir
st there is the Neopolitane Prince.
¶Por. I thats a colt indeede, for he doth nothing but talke of his
230hor
se, & he makes it a great appropriation to his owne good parts
¶that he can
shoo him him
selfe: I am much afeard my Ladie his
¶mother plaid fal
se with a Smyth.
¶Ner. Than is there the Countie Palentine.
¶Por. Hee doth nothing but frowne (as who
should
say, & you
235will not haue me, choo
se, he heares merry tales and
smiles not, I
¶feare hee will prooue the weeping Phylo
sopher when hee growes
¶old, beeing
so full of vnmannerly
sadnes in his youth,) I had rather
¶be married to a deaths head with a bone in his mouth, then to ey-
240ther of the
se: God defend me from the
se two.
¶Ner. How
say you by the French Lord, Moun
sier
Le Boune?
¶Por. God made him, and therefore let him pa
sse for a man, in
¶truth I knowe it is a
sinne to be a mocker, but hee, why hee hath a
¶hor
se better then the Neopolitans, a better bad habite of frowning
245then the Count Palentine, he is euery man in no man, if a Tra
ssell
¶sing, he falls
straght a capring, he will fence with his owne
shadow.
¶If I
should marry him, I
should marry twenty hu
sbands: if hee
¶would de
spi
se me,
I would forgiue him, for if he loue me to madnes,
¶I shall neuer requite him.
250Ner. What
say you then to Fauconbridge, the young Barron
¶Por. You know
I say nothing to him, for hee vnder
stands not
¶me, nor
I him: he hath neither Latine, French, nor
Italian, & you
¶will come into the Court and
sweare that
I haue a poore pennie-
255worth in the Engli
sh: hee is a proper mans picture, but alas
vvho
¶can conuer
se with a dumbe
show? how odly hee is
suted,
I thinke
¶he bought his doublet in
Italie, his round ho
se in Fraunce, his bon-
¶net in Germanie, and his behauiour euery where.
¶Nerrissa. What thinke you of the Scotti
sh Lorde his neigh-
¶Portia. That hee hath a neyghbourlie charitie in him, for hee
¶borrowed a boxe of the eare of the Engli
shman, and
swore hee
¶would pay him againe when he was able:
I think the Frenchman
¶became his
suretie, and
seald vnder for another.
265Ner. How like you the young Germaine, the Duke of Saxo-
¶Por. Very vildlie in the morning when hee is
sober, and mo
st
¶vildly in the afternoone when he is drunke: when he is be
st, he is
¶a little wor
se then a man, & when he is wor
st he is little better then
270a bea
st, and the wor
st fall that euer fell, I hope I
shall make
shift
¶Ner. Yf hee
shoulde offer to choo
se, and choo
se the right Ca
s-
¶ket, you
should refu
se to performe your Fathers will, if you
should
275Portia. Therefore for feare of the wor
st,
I pray thee
set a deepe
¶gla
sse of Reyni
she
vvine on the contrarie Ca
sket, for if the deuill
¶be within, and that temptation without, I knowe hee will choo
se
¶it. I will doe any thing
Nerrissa ere
I will be married to a
spunge.
¶Nerrissa. You neede not feare Ladie the hauing anie of the
se
280Lords, they haue acquainted me with theyr determinations, which
¶is indeede to returne to theyr home, and to trouble you with no
¶more
sute, vnle
sse you may be wonne by
some other
sort thē your
¶Fathers impo
sition, depending on the Ca
skets.
¶Por. Yf I liue to be as old as Sibilla,
I will die as cha
st as Diana,
285vnle
sse I be obtained by the maner of my Fathers will: I am glad
¶this parcell of wooers are
so rea
sonable, for there is not one among
¶them but
I doate on his very ab
sence: &
I pray God graunt them
¶Nerrissa. Doe you not remember Lady in your Fathers time, a
290Venecian a Scholler & a Souldiour that came hether in companie
¶of the Marque
sse of Mountferrat?
¶Portia. Yes, yes, it was
Bassanio, as I thinke
so was he calld.
¶Ner. True maddam, hee of all the men that euer my fooli
sh
¶eyes look'd vpon, was the be
st de
seruing a faire Ladie.
295Portia. I remember him well, and
I remember him worthie of
¶Ser. The foure
strangers
seeke for you maddam to take theyr
300leaue: and there is a fore-runner come from a fift, the Prince of
¶Moroco, who brings word the Prince his Mai
ster will be heere to
¶Por. Yf
I could bid the fift welcome with
so good hart as I can
¶bid the other foure farewell,
I should bee glad of his approch: if
305he haue the condition of a Saint, and the complexion of a deuill, I
¶had rather he
should
shriue mee then wiue mee. Come
Nerrissa,
¶sirra goe before: whiles we
shut the gate vpon one wooer, another
