almost said terror--of such a revolution, that they
render it more intense. The sources of thought multiply beyond
calculation the sources of feeling; and mingled, they rush together, a
torrent deep as strong. Because Portia is endued with that enlarged
comprehension which looks before and after, she does not feel the less,
but the more: because from the height of her commanding intellect she
can contemplate the force, the tendency, the consequences of her own
sentiments--because she is fully sensible of her own situation, and the
value of all she concedes--the concession is not made with less
entireness and devotion of heart, less confidence in the truth and worth
of her lover, than when Juliet, in a similar moment, but without any
such intrusive reflections--any check but the instinctive delicacy of
her sex, flings herself and her fortunes at the feet of her lover:

And all my fortunes at thy foot I'll lay,
And follow thee, my lord, through all the world.[11]

In Portia's confession, which is not breathed from a moonlit balcony,
but spoken openly in the presence of her attendants and vassals, there
is nothing of the passionate self-abandonment of Juliet, nor of the
artless simplicity of Miranda, but a consciousness and a tender
seriousness, approaching to solemnity, which are not less touching.

You see me, Lord Bassanio, where I stand,
Such as I am: though for myself alone,
I would not be ambitious in my wish,
To wish myself much better; yet, for you,
I would be trebled twenty times myself;
A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times
More rich; that only to stand high in your account,
I might in virtues, beauties, livings, friends,
Exceed account; but the full sum of me
Is sum of something; which to term in gross,
Is an unlesson'd girl, unschool'd, unpractis'd,
Happy in this, she is not yet so old
But she may learn; and happier than this,
She is not bred so dull but she can learn;
Happiest of all is, that her gentle spirit
Commits itself to yours to be directed,
As from her lord, her governor, her king.
Myself and what is mine, to you and yours
Is now converted. But now, I was the lord,
Of this fair mansion, master of my servants,
Queen o'er myself; and even now, but now,
This house, these servants, and this same myself,
Are yours, my lord.

We must also remark that the sweetness, the solicitude, the subd