: then I'll repent,
And wish, for all that, that I had not killed them;
And twenty of these puny lies I'll tell,
That men should swear, I have discontinued school
Above a twelvemonth!

And in the description of her various suitors, in the first scene with
Nerissa, what infinite power, wit, and vivacity! She half checks herself
as she is about to give the reins to her sportive humor: "In truth, I
know it is a sin to be a mocker."--But if it carries her away, if is so
perfectly good-natured, so temperately bright, so lady-like, it is ever
without offence; and so far, most unlike the satirical, poignant,
unsparing wit of Beatrice, "misprising what she looks on." In fact, I
can scarce conceive a greater contrast than between the vivacity of
Portia and the vivacity of Beatrice. Portia, with all her airy
brilliance, is supremely soft and dignified; every thing she says or
does, displays her capability for profound thought and feeling, as well
as her lively and romantic disposition; and as I have seen in an Italian
garden a fountain flinging round its wreaths of showery light, while the
many-colored Iris hung brooding above it, in its calm and soul-felt
glory; so in Portia the wit is ever kept subordinate to the poetry, and
we still feel the tender, the intellectual, and the imaginative part of
the character, as superior to, and presiding over its spirit and
vivacity.

In the last act, Shylock and his machinations being dismissed from our
thoughts, and the rest of the _dramatis personae_ assembled together at
Belmont, all our interest and all our attention are riveted on Portia,
and the conclusion leaves the most delightful impression on the fancy.
The playful equivoque of the rings, the sportive trick she puts on her
husband, and her thorough enjoyment of the jest, which she checks just
as it is proceeding beyond the bounds of propriety, show how little she
was displeased by the sacrifice of her gift, and are all consistent with
her bright and buoyant spirit. In conclusion; when Portia invites her
company to enter her palace to refresh themselves after their travels,
and talk over "these events at full," the imagination, unwilling to lose
sight of the brilliant group, follows them in gay procession from the
lovely moonlight garden to marble halls and princely revels, to splendor
and festive mirth, to love and happiness.

Many women have possessed many of those qualities which render Portia so
delightful. S