t vow,
To live in prayer and contemplation,
Only attended by Nerissa here;
There is a monastery two miles off,
And there we will abide. I do desire you
Not to deny this imposition;
To which my love, and some necessity,
Now lays upon you.

_Lor_. Madam, with all my heart,
I shall obey you in all fair commands.

_Por_. My people do already know my mind,
And will acknowledge you and Jessica
In place of lord Bassanio and myself.
So fare you well, till we shall meet again.

_Lor_. Fair thoughts and happy hours attend on you!

_Jes_. I wish your ladyship all heart's content.

_Por_. I thank you for your wish, and am well pleas'd
To wish it back on you: fare you well, Jessica!

_Exeunt_ JESSICA _and_ LORENZO.

Now, Balthazar,
As I have ever found thee honest, true,
So let me find thee still: Take this same letter;
See thou render this
Into my cousin's hand, doctor Bellario;
And, look, what notes and garments he doth give thee
Bring them, I pray thee, with imagin'd speed[93]
Unto the tranect,[94] to the common ferry
Which trades to Venice:--waste no time in words,
But get thee gone; I shall be there before thee.

_Bal_. Madam, I go with all convenient speed.

[_Exit_.

_Por_. Come on, Nerissa; I have work in hand,
That you yet know not of: we'll see our husbands,
Before they think of us.

_Ner_. Shall they see us?

_Por_. They shall, Nerissa:
But come, I'll tell thee all my whole device
When I am in my coach, which stays for us
At the park gate; and therefore haste away,
For we must measure twenty miles to-day.

[_Exeunt_.

END OF ACT THIRD.

HISTORICAL NOTES TO ACT THIRD.

(A) The present stone structure superseded an older one of wood. This
celebrated edifice was commenced in 1588.

(B) That the swan uttered musical sounds at the approach of death was
credited by Plato, Chrysippus, Aristotle, Euripides, Philostratus,
Cicero, Seneca, and Martial. Pliny, Aelian, and Athenaeus, among the
ancients, and Sir Thomas More among the moderns, treat this opinion as a
vulgar error. Luther believed in it. See his _Colloquia_, par. 2, p.
125, edit. 1571, 8vo. Our countryman, Bartholomew Glanville, thus
mentions the singing of the swan: "And whan she shal dye and that a
fether is pyght in the brayn, then she syngeth, as Ambrose sayth," _De
propr. rer_. 1. xii., c. 11. Monsieur Morin has written a dissertation
on this subject in vol. v. of the _Mem. de l'acad. det inscript_. There
are likewise som