Merchant of Venice. - Repositories

134 NOTES [ACT i.
substituted for an iambus. Where do you find any rhymes^
Find three lines with feminine endings.
SCENE
III
public place. We may imagine the place to be an open
plaza, cleanly paved. Lounging in the shade of the buildings,
and talking here and there in little groups, we may fancy the
richly dressed Venetian gentlemen and merchants, while an
occasional street vender strolls by trying to dispose of the
wares that he carries in his basket.
Shylock. Edwin Booth, one of the best actors that ever took
the part of Shylock, writes: " My costume for Shylock . . .
consists of a long, dark-green gown, trimmed at the edge of the
skirt with an irregular device of brown colour. A dark-brown
gaberdine, with flowing sleeves and hood, lined with green, and
trimmed as the gown. A variegated scarf about the waist, from
which depends a leather pouch. Red-leather pojnted shoes, and
a hat of orange-tawny colour. . . . Head gray and pretty bald;
beard of same colour and quite long. Ear-rings and several
finger-rings, one on the thumb and one on forefinger; a long^
knotted staff." (Quoted by Dr. Furness.)
Booth: "Shylock enters with slow, shuffling gait; restless,
half-closed eyes, and the fingers of his disengaged hand (one
holds his staff) ever moving, as if from the constant habit of
feeling and caressing the ducats that are passing through them.
Speaks with a measured and rather a gruff voice."
G. H. Lewes, speaking of another famous actor, Kean, writes:
''From the first moment that he appeared and leant upon his