SCENE III.

_Venice. Interior of Saint Mark’s._

_Organ music heard. Enter a company of noble Venetians with the_ DUKE _and his train, accompanied by_ BASSANIO, PORTIA, ANTONIO, GRATIANO, NERISSA _and others. Following these, at a little distance, appear_ LORENZO _and_ JESSICA, _the latter gorgeously attired. The company pauses before the font._ SHYLOCK _enters from the left, led forward by a priest. His gaberdine has been exchanged for the Christian habit, and in his hand is placed a crucifix._

DUKE. Old Shylock, art thou well content to do As thus we have ordain’d, which is, that thou Renounce thine ancient Jewish faith, repent Thy sins, and take the holy, solemn vows A Christian takes when on his brow the drops Baptismal glister, and be nam’d anew After the Christian custom of our land?

SHYLOCK. Most noble duke, I am content, and do Hereby renounce my nation and my faith, And, which is more, raze out of mind the name That I have borne these three-score heavy years, Since it is thy command.

DUKE. Cristofero Shalt thou be call’d hereafter. Now, good priest, Thine office do with ceremonies meet, And make this greybeard Jew a Christian straight.

_Solemn music heard, after which_ SHYLOCK _is baptized by the priest_, ANTONIO _at the command of the_ DUKE _standing godfather to the Jew, who makes the required responses in a low voice. While he is still kneeling the company converse in an undertone._

GRATIANO. I much mislike this new made Christian’s face Nor would I trust Cristofero for all His Christian name and meekly mutter’d vows.

PORTIA. Nay, Gratiano, question not the heart Nor rudely draw aside the veil that speech Hangs ever ’fore the spirit. Who may say That e’en the best among us keeps a faith Loyal to every smallest clause, or does Not slip at whiles amid the thousand small Requirements of the law. And yet, we do Implore a gentle sentence on these sins Of ours, a pardon that shall make us whole. If, for ourselves, then trebly for the Jew New come, bewilder’d, to our Christian creed.

ANTONIO. There will be space enow to doubt the Jew Turn’d Christian, Gratiano, when he shall Give cause for doubt. ’Twere scantest charity Till then, to bear with him, as we do bear Ourselves unto our fellow Christians all. A bitter lesson hath he lately conn’d, And he were mad indeed that should neglect To profit by’t.

GRATIANO. Belike, belike ’tis thus, But yet I do not like Cristofero’s looks; I’ll not be argu’d out of that, i’ faith, And say’t again, I much mislike his favour.

NERISSA. Peace, Gratiano, dost not note the duke Commands to silence, and would speak once more? Thou wilt be ever talking, as thy wont.

DUKE. Cristofero, thou bear’st a Christian name From this day forth. Then look to’t that thou dost In all things as a Christian, not as Jew.

SHYLOCK. In all things as a Christian. Yes. [_Aside_] Why that’s Revenge! Revenge!

DUKE. So must thou quit thy house In Jewry, dwell mid Christian folk, and go With Christian folk to church on holy days, And wear henceforth the cross thou did’st disdain. Dost hearken unto us, Cristofero?

SHYLOCK. I hear but to obey, dread duke; and thank Thee for thy clemency to me, once Jew, But now, within this very selfsame hour, A gasping new born Christian, all unschool’d In duties other Christians know full well, Yet earnest still, to act the Christian’s part, With hope to better his ensample set.

GRATIANO [_aside to_ BASSANIO] For all thy gentle Portia saith but now, I like not such smooth terms from out those lips.

BASSANIO [_aside_] Peace, Gratiano, let him say his say, He cannot now do aught to injure thee.

[_Exeunt_ DUKE _and train with_ ANTONIO _and friends_. LORENZO _and_ JESSICA _come forward_.

JESSICA. How now, good father Cristofero; what a pair of Christians are we both. Only there’s this difference betwixt us, good father. I am a Christian for love of a husband and you have turned a Christian for love of your ducats.

SHYLOCK. Ungrateful daughter; Why did’st thou go forth from my house by night and rob thy grey-haired father of his treasure?

JESSICA. Why? That’s most easy of answer. Why, because I desired a Christian husband and there was no coming by my desire save by secret flight from your most gloomy chambers; and since neither my Christian husband nor your daughter Jessica could by any kind of contriving live upon air alone, we had, perforce, to take with us some of your ducats for the bettering our condition. Speak thou for me, Lorenzo. Was it not e’en so?

LORENZO. Old man, I am sorry for that I was forced to take from you your daughter and your ducats against your good pleasure, but I must tell you that I loved her as myself [_Aside_] nay, much more, my Jessica,--and by reason of this great love of mine, and because of your exceeding hatred towards all Christians did I take her from your house. And since, moreover, as the maid very truly says, there’s no living i’ the world without the means to live, because of this did we make shift to take with us from your house such means, as well advised you would not have your daughter lack for food and suitable apparel, and since we are now Christians all, what matters it?

SHYLOCK [_slowly_] Ay, what matters it? We are now Christians all, as thou sayest, and, I remember me that I have heard it said it is a Christian’s duty to forgive all who have wronged him. Therefore I forgive you, Jessica--for robbing your old father; and you, Lorenzo, I forgive--for stealing my daughter. You are each well mated. But I would be alone a while. Go, good Jessica. Go, son Lorenzo. [_Exeunt_ LORENZO _and_ JESSICA.

SHYLOCK [_alone_] A curse pursue the twain where’er they go. A Christian-Jewish curse, since that should be Weightier than either singly. Would that I Might see them dead before me, while I live,-- Such love I bear my daughter, and my son. [_Gazes about the church._ These be the images of Christian saints Whom I must bend the knee before when men Look on. And here the Virgin; here the Christ. Now must I kneel; a hundred eyes perchance, Peer at me through the gloom. A hundred eyes May see me kneel, yet shall they not perceive The scorner of the Christian hid within The humble figure of the man who kneels. Now, by the prophets, whom I reverence, And by these Christian saints whom I do scorn, I swear to nourish my revenge till those I deepest hate are dead, or sham’d before Their fellows. But how this may be, I know Not yet, for all the way were dark as night Before me, save that my revenge burns red. [_Choir heard chanting in a distant chapel._ [_Rises from his knees._ Good fellow Christians, it may hap the Jew Turn’d Christian, shall yet do a harm to ye. Behind Cristofero’s mask is still the face Of Shylock; in his breast the heart unchang’d. [_Choir heard chanting_ Judica me Deus. Yea, my good fellow Christians, I do thank Ye for that word, and hug it to my heart. Henceforth it shall be mine, when I do pray, Not to thy Christ, but unto Israel’s God! “Give sentence with me, O my God; defend My cause against the hosts that wrought me ill.” [_Choir in the distance, responding_ Amen. [_Exit_ SHYLOCK.

NOTE BY WILLIAM J. ROLFE, LITT.D.

It is a tribute of no slight significance to Shakespeare’s skill in the delineation of character that we instinctively regard the personages in his mimic world as real men and women, and are not satisfied to think of them only as they appear on the stage. We like to follow them after they have left the scene, and to speculate concerning their subsequent history. The commentators on _Much Ado_, for instance, are not willing to dismiss Benedick and Beatrice when the play closes without discussing the question whether they probably “lived happily ever after.” Some, like Mrs. Jameson and the poet Campbell, have their misgivings about the future of the pair, fearing that “poor Benedick” will not escape the “predestinate scratched face” which he himself had predicted for the man who should woo and win that “infernal Até in good apparel,” as he called her; while others, like Verplanck, Charles Cowden-Clarke, Furnivall, and Gervinus, believe that their married life will be of “the brightest and sunniest.”

Some have gone back of the beginning of the plays, like Mrs. Cowden-Clarke in her _Girlhood of Shakespeare’s Heroines_, and Lady Martin (Helena Faucit) in her paper on Ophelia in _Some of Shakespeare’s Female Characters_.

Others, like Mr. Adams, have made the experiment of continuing a play of Shakespeare in dramatic form. Ernest Renan, in France, and Mr. C. P. Cranch, in this country, have both done this in the case of _The Tempest_, mainly with the view of following out the possible adventures of Caliban after Prospero had left him to his own devices.

These and similar sequels to the plays are nowise meant as attempts to “improve” Shakespeare (like Nahum Tate’s version of _Lear_, that held the stage for a hundred and sixty years) and sundry other perversions of the plays in the eighteenth century, which have damned their presumptuous authors to everlasting infamy. They are what Renan, in his preface, calls his _Caliban_,--“an idealist’s fancy sketch, a simple fantasy of the imagination.”

Mr. Adams’s Sixth Act of _The Merchant of Venice_ is an experiment of the same kind; not, as certain captious critics have regarded it, a foolhardy attempt to rival Shakespeare. It was originally written for an evening entertainment of the “Old Cambridge Shakespeare Association.” No one in that cultivated company misunderstood the author’s aim, and all heartily enjoyed it. I believe that it will give no less pleasure to the larger audience to whom it is now presented in print.

Transcriber’s Note:

Words may have multiple spelling variations or inconsistent hyphenation in the text. These have been left unchanged. Obsolete words, alternative spellings, and misspelled words were not corrected.

Words and phrases in italics are surrounded by underscores, _like this_. Obvious printing errors, such as backwards, reversed, upside down, or partially printed letters and punctuation, were corrected. Final stops missing at the end of sentences and abbreviations were added. Duplicate words at line endings were removed. Right-aligned stage directions were adjusted so that all are preceded by an open bracket.