Page:Merchant of Venice (1923) Yale.djvu/67

The Merchant of Venice, III. ii

And shuddering fear, and green-ey'd jealousy.

O love! be moderate; allay thy ecstasy;

In measure rain thy Joy; scant this excess;

I feel too much thy blessing; make it less,

For fear I surfeit!

Bass.What find I here?

[Opening the leaden casket.]

Fair Portia's counterfeit! What demi-god

Hath come so near creation? Move these eyes?

Or whether, riding on the balls of mine,

Seem they in motion? Here are sever'd lips,

Parted with sugar breath; so sweet a bar

Should sunder such sweet friends. Here, in her hairs

The painter plays the spider, and hath woven

A golden mesh to entrap the hearts of men

Faster than gnats in cobwebs: but her eyes!—

How could he see to do them? having made one,

Methinks it should have power to steal both his

And leave itself unfurnish'd: yet look, how far

The substance of my praise doth wrong this shadow

In underprizing it, so far this shadow

Doth limp behind the substance. Here's the scroll,

The continent and summary of my fortune.

'You that choose not by the view,

Chance as fair and choose as true!

Since this fortune falls to you,

Be content and seek no new.

If you be well pleas'd with this

And hold your fortune for your bliss,

Turn you where your lady is

And claim her with a loving kiss.'

 112 rain; cf. n.

126 unfurnish'd: unaccompanied by its mate

130 continent: that which contains 