Page:Merchant of Venice (1923) Yale.djvu/19

The Merchant of Venice, I. i

I'll end my exhortation after dinner.

Lor. Well, we will leave you then till dinner-time.

I must be one of these same dumb-wise men,

For Gratiano never lets me speak.

Gra. Well, keep me company but two years moe,

Thou shalt not know the sound of thine own tongue.

Ant. Farewell: I'll grow a talker for this gear.

Gra. Thanks, i' faith; for silence is only commendable

In a neat's tongue dried and a maid not vendible.

Exit [Gratiano with Lorenzo].

Ant. Is that anything now?

Bass. Gratiano speaks an infinite deal of

nothing, more than any man in all Venice. His

reasons are as two grains of wheat hid in two

bushels of chaff: you shall seek all day ere you

find them, and, when you have them, they are

not worth the search.

Ant. Well, tell me now, what lady is the same

To whom you swore a secret pilgrimage,

That you to-day promis'd to tell me of?

Bass. 'Tis not unknown to you, Antonio,

How much I have disabled mine estate,

By something showing a more swelling port

Than my faint means would grant continuance:

Nor do I now make moan to be abridg'd

From such a noble rate; but my chief care

Is, to come fairly off from the great debts

Wherein my time, something too prodigal,

Hath left me gag'd. To you, Antonio,

I owe the most, in money and in love;

 108 moe: more

110 gear: indefinite word for business of any kind

112 In a neat's, etc.; cf. n.

116 reasons: sensible ideas

122 That: cf. n.

125 By living in a somewhat more lavish way

127 abridg'd: obliged to desist

128 rate: standard of life

130 time: time of life, youth

131 gag'd: entangled 