XXI THE MERCHANT OF VENICE-ITS SOURCES-ITS CHAR- We learn from Ben Jonson's Volpone (iv. 1) that the traveller names of the Jews and Jewesses who appear in Contai (x. 24) the name Salah (Hebrew Schelach; at rl reject The England, of studying the Jewish character and manne noenacked in sion. Shakespeare seems to have availed himseéjects of expresVenice he has taken from the Old Testament.prom Merchant of as the name of a Maronite from Lebanones for de find in Genesis Shakespeare has made Shylock; and in t whoey that time appearing occurs the name Iscah (she who looks, and it rscialac) out of which fondness for "clambering up to easemhe three ca 1549 and 1551, out of which he made his Jessica, the girlwhordance wi out who spies), spelt of the story of the Jew who relentleen Gossonents" and "thrusting her "Jeska" in the English translations of head into the public street" to see the humblest c Shakespeare's audiences were fespeare made flesh pledged to him by his Christiented "the empty and baffled away, and everies of usurers. The story has been found in By Merchant of ssly demanded the pound of ever, have migrated in just the dies which bringaddhist legends (along with the many believe that it came to Evented by the forced to become a Christian. adventure of the Three Caskets akespeare has in debtor, and was at last sent take payment in the flesh of th melancholy and sirope from India. It may, howas one of Shakespeare's author merchant, who, a here interwoven with it), and transferred it from old and, in the years imme insolvent debtor was admitted in the Twelve Tables of ancienter, Shakespeare opposite direction. Certain it is, antique trait was quite inter nature. Antonio'sities points out, that the right to forcement of strict laws to ch at this period is semi-barbarous times to the Venice o Lain As You Like It, i Rome. As a matter of fact, this The story illustrates tbet. It forms a sort ofational, and Shakespeare has only ais own day. Thus it afforded an openinads, after a certain tir justice and mercy, whichi eitransition from the unconditional e the more modern principle of equi g for Portia's eloquent contrast betw dhe public understood as an assert. Ophelia's open grave: "This fellow might be in 's time a great buyer of land, with his statutes, his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers, his recoveries: is this the fine of his fines, and the recovery of his recoveries, to have his fine pate full of fine dirt?" And-to return to our point of departure-we see that when Shakespeare, in The Merchant of Venice, makes the whole play turn upon the different relations of different men to property, position, and wealth, the problem was one with which he was at the moment personally preoccupied. XXI THE MERCHANT OF VENICE-ITS SOURCES-ITS CHARACTERS, ANTONIO, PORTIA, SHYLOCK-MOONLIGHT AND MUSIC-SHAKESPEARE'S RELATION TO MUSIC WE learn from Ben Jonson's Volpone (iv. 1) that the traveller who arrived in Venice first rented apartments, and then applied to a Jew dealer for the furniture. If the traveller happened to be a poet, he would thus have an opportunity, which he lacked in England, of studying the Jewish character and manner of expression. Shakespeare seems to have availed himself of it. The names of the Jews and Jewesses who appear in The Merchant of Venice he has taken from the Old Testament. We find in Genesis (x. 24) the name Salah (Hebrew Schelach; at that time appearing as the name of a Maronite from Lebanon: Scialac) out of which Shakespeare has made Shylock; and in Genesis (xi. 29) there occurs the name Iscah (she who looks out, who spies), spelt "Jeska" in the English translations of 1549 and 1551, out of which he made his Jessica, the girlwhom Shylock accuses of a fondness for "clambering up to casements" and "thrusting her head into the public street" to see the masquers pass. Shakespeare's audiences were familiar with several versions of the story of the Jew who relentlessly demanded the pound of flesh pledged to him by his Christian debtor, and was at last sent empty and baffled away, and ever forced to become a Christian. The story has been found in Baddhist legends (along with the adventure of the Three Caskets here interwoven with it), and many believe that it came to Europe from India. It may, however, have migrated in just the opposite direction. Certain it is, as o of Shakespeare's authorities points out, that the right to take payment in the flesh of the insolvent debtor was admitted in the Twelve Tables of ancient Rome. As a matter of fact, this antique trait was quite international, and Shakespeare has only ransferred it from old and semi-barbarous times to the Venice of his own day. tails on The story illustrates the transition from the unconditional enforcement of strict laws to the more modern principle of equity. Thus it afforded an opening for Portia's eloquent contrast between justice and mercy, whichthe public understood as an assertion of the superiority of Christian ethics to the Jewish insistence on the letter of the law. One of the sources on which Shakespeare drew for the figure of Shylock, and especially for his speeches in the trial scene, is The Orator of Alexander Silvayn. The 95th Declamation of this work bears the title: "Of a Jew who would for his debt have a pound of the flesh of a Christian." Since an English translation of Silvayn's book by Anthony Munday appeared in 1596, and The Merchant of Venice is mentioned by Meres in 1598 as one of Shakespeare's works, there can scarcely be any doubt that the play was produced between these dates. In The Orator both the Merchant and the Jew make speeches, and the invective against the Jew is interesting in so far as it gives a lively impression of the current accusations of the period against the Israelitish race : But it is no marvaile if this race be so obstinat and cruell against us, for they doe it of set purpose to offend our God whom they have crucified and wherefore? Because he was holie, as he is yet so reputed of this worthy Turkish nation: but what shall I say? Their own bible is full of their rebellion against God, against their Priests, Judges, and leaders. What did not the verie Patriarks themselves, from whom they have their beginning? They sold their brother. . . ." &c. Shakespeare's chief authority, however, for the whole play was obviously the story of Gianetto, which occurs in the collection entitled Il Pecorone, by Ser Giovanni Fiorentino, published in Milan in 1558. A young merchant named Gianetto comes with a richly laden ship to a harbour near the castle of Belmonte, where dwells a lovely young widow. She has many suitors, and is, indeed, prepared to surrender her hand and her fortune, but only on one condition, which no one has hitherto succeeded in fulfilling, and which is stated with medieval simplicity and directness. She challenges the aspirant, at nightfall, to share her bed and make her his own; but at the same time she gives him a sleeping-draught which plunges him in profound unconsciousness from the moment his head touches the pillow, so that at daybreak he has forfeited his ship and its cargo to the fair lady, and is sent on his way, despoiled and put to shame. api or This misfortune happens to Gianetto; but he is so deeply in love that he returns to Venice and induces his kind foster-father, Ansaldo, to fit out another ship for him But his second visit to Belmonte ends no less disastrously, and in order to enable him to make a third attempt his foster-father is forced to borrow 10,000 ducats from a Jew, upon the conditions which we know. By following the advice of a kindly-disposed waiting-woman, the young man this time escapes the dangribecomes a happy bridegroom, and in his rapture forgets Ansald's obligation to the Jew. He is not reminded of it until the very day when it falls due, and then his wife insists that he shall instantly start for Venice, taking with him a sum of 100,000 ducats. She herself presently follows, dressed as an advocate, and appears in Venice as a young lawyer of great reputation, from Bologna. The Jew rejects every proposition for the deliverance of Ansaldo, even the 100,000 ducats. Then the trial-scene proceeds, just as in Shakespeare; Gianetto's young wife delivers judgment, like Portia; the Jew receives not a stiver, and dares not shed a drop of Ansaldo's blood. When Gianetto, in his gratitude, offers the young advocate the whole 100,000 ducats, she, as in the play, demands nothing but the ring which Gianetto has received from his wife; and the tale ends with the same gay unravelling of the sportive complication, which gives Shakespeare the matter for his fifth act. Being unable to make use of the condition imposed by the fair lady of Belmonte in Il Pecorone, Shakespeare cast about for another, and found it in the Gesta Romanorum, in the tale of the three caskets, of gold, silver, and lead. Here it is a young girl who makes the choice in order to win the Emperor's son. The inscription on the golden casket promises that whoever chooses that shall find what he deserves. The girl rejects this out of humility, and rightly, since it proves to contain dead men's bones. The inscription on the silver casket promises to whoever chooses it what his nature craves. The girl rejects that also; for, as she says naïvely, "My nature craves for fleshly delights." Finally, the leaden casket promises that whoever chooses it shall find what God has decreed for him; and it proves to be full of jewels. In Shakespeare, Portia, in accordance with her father's will, makes her suitors choose between the three caskets (here furnished with other legends), of which the humblest contains her portrait. It is not probable that Shakespeare made any use of an older play, now lost, of which Stephen Gosson, in his School of Abuse (1579), says that it represented "the greedinesse of worldly chusers, and the bloody mindes of usurers." The great value of The Merchant of Venice lies in the depth and seriousness which Shakespeare has imparted to the vague outlines of character presented by the old stories, and in the ravishing moonlight melodies which bring the drama to a close. In Antonio, the royal merchant, who, amid all his fortune and splendour, is a victim to melancholy and spleen induced by forebodings of coming disaster, Shakespeare has certainly expressed something of his own nature. Antonio's melancholy is closely related to that which, in the years immediately following, we shall find in Jaques in As You Like It, in the Duke in Twelfth Night, and in Hamlet. It forms a sort of mournful undercurrent to the joy of life which at this period is still dominant in Shakespeare's soul. It leads, after a certain time, to the substitution of |