vage bent "to the last hour of
act," springs on his victim--"A sentence come, prepare!" then the
smothered scorn, indignation, and disgust, burst forth with an
impetuosity which interferes with the judicial solemnity she had at
first affected;--particularly in the speech--

Therefore, prepare thee to cut off the flesh.
Shed thou no blood; nor cut thou less, nor more,
But just the pound of flesh; if thou tak'st 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 scale do turn
But in the estimation of a hair,--
Thou diest, and all thy goods are confiscate.

But she afterwards recovers her propriety, and triumphs with a cooler
scorn and a more self-possessed exultation.

It is clear that, to feel the full force and dramatic beauty of this
marvellous scene, we must go along with Portia as well as with Shylock;
we must understand her concealed purpose, keep in mind her noble
motives, and pursue in our fancy the under current of feeling, working
in her mind throughout. The terror and the power of Shylock's
character,--his deadly and inexorable malice,--would be too oppressive;
the pain and pity too intolerable, and the horror of the possible issue
too overwhelming, but for the intellectual relief afforded by this
double source of interest and contemplation.

I come now to that capacity for warm and generous affection, that
tenderness of heart, which render Portia not less lovable as a woman,
than admirable for her mental endowments. The affections are to the
intellect, what the forge is to the metal; it is they which temper and
shape it to all good purposes, and soften, strengthen, and purify it.
What an exquisite stroke of judgment in the poet, to make the mutual
passion of Portia and Bassanio, though unacknowledged to each other,
anterior to the opening of the play! Bassanio's confession very properly
comes first:--

BASSANIO.

In Belmont is a lady richly left,
And she is fair, and fairer than that word,
Of wond'rous virtues: sometimes from her eyes
I did receive fair speechless messages;

* * * *

and prepares us for Portia's half betrayed, unconscious election of this
most graceful and chivalrous admirer--

NERISSA.

Do you not remember, lady, in your father's time, a
Ve