ued
fondness which she afterwards displays, relative to the letter, are as
true to the softness of her sex, as the generous self-denial with which
she urges the departure of Bassanio, (having first given him a husband's
right over herself and all her countless wealth,) is consistent with a
reflecting mind, and a spirit at once tender, reasonable, and
magnanimous.

It is not only in the trial scene that Portia's acuteness, eloquence,
and lively intelligence are revealed to us; they are displayed in the
first instance, and kept up consistently to the end. Her reflections,
arising from the most usual aspects of nature, and from the commonest
incidents of life are in such a poetical spirit, and are at the same
time so pointed, so profound, that they have passed into familiar and
daily application, with all the force of proverbs.

If to do, were as easy as to know what were good to do,
chapels had been churches, and poor men's cottages princes'
palaces.

I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than be
one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching.

The crow doth sing as sweetly as the lark,
When neither is attended; and, I think,
The nightingale, if she should sing by day,
When every goose is cackling, would be thought
No better a musician than the wren.
How many things by season, seasoned are
To their right praise and true perfection!

How far that little candle throws his beams!
So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
A substitute shines as brightly as a king,
Until a king be by; and then his state
Empties itself, as doth an inland brook,
Into the main of waters.

Her reflections on the friendship between her husband and Antonio are as
full of deep meaning as of tenderness; and her portrait of a young
coxcomb, in the same scene, is touched with a truth and spirit which
show with what a keen observing eye she has looked upon men and things.

----I'll hold thee any wager,
When we are both accouter'd like young men.
I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two,
And wear my dagger with the braver grace
And speak, between the change of man and boy
With a reed voice; and turn two mincing steps
Into a manly stride; and speak of frays,
Like a fine bragging youth; and tell quaint lies--
How honorable ladies sought my love,
Which I denying, they fell sick and died;
I could not do withal