Portia; nothing undervalued
To Cato's daughter, Brutus' Portia.
Nor is the wide world ignorant of her worth;
For the four winds blow in from every coast
Renowned suitors.
O, my Antonio! had I but the means
To hold a rival place with one of them,
I have a mind presages me such thrift.
That I should questionless be fortunate.

_Ant_. Thou know'st that all my fortunes are at sea;
Neither have I money, nor commodity
To raise a present sum: therefore go forth,
Try what my credit can in Venice do;
That shall be rack'd, even to the uttermost,
To furnish thee to Belmont, to fair Portia.
Go, presently inquire, and so will I,
Where money is; and I no question make,
To have it of my trust, or for my sake.

[_Exeunt_.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 1: This procession is copied from a print in the British
Museum, by Josse Amman, who died in 1591.]

[Footnote 2: _--argosies_; A name given, in our author's time, to ships
of great burthen. The name is supposed by some to be derived from the
classical ship, Argo, as a vessel eminently famous.]

[Footnote 3: _Plucking the_; By holding up the grass, or any light body
that will bend by a gentle blast, the direction of the wind is found.]

[Footnote 4: _--my wealthy Andrew_; The name of the ship.]

[Footnote 5: Vailing _her high-top_; To _vail_ is "_to lower_," or "_let
fall_."]

[Footnote 6: _Let me play the fool_; Alluding to the common comparison
of human life to a stage-play. So that he desires his may be the fool's
or buffoon's part, which was a constant character in the old farces;
from whence came the phrase, _to play the fool_.--WARBURTON.]

[Footnote 7: _--whose visages do_ cream; The poet here alludes to the
manner in which the film extends itself over milk in scalding; and he
had the same appearance in his eye when writing a foregoing line: "_With
mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come_."--HENLEY.]

[Footnote 8: _--a wilful stillness entertain,; Id est_, an obstinate
silence.]

[Footnote 9: _let no dog bark_!; This seems to be a proverbial
expression.]

[Footnote 10: _--'twould almost damn, those ears_; The author's meaning
is this:--That some people are thought wise whilst they keep silence;
who, when they open their mouths, are such stupid praters, that the
hearers cannot help calling them _fools_, and so incur the judgment
denounced in the Gospel.--THEOBALD.]

[Footnote 11: _I'll end my exhortation after dinner_.'; The humour of
this consists in its being a