Merchant of Venice. - Repositories

152 NOTES [ACT II.
L 43. office of discovery.
which a path is discovered."
1. 44. should; i.e. ought to be,
1. 47. close. Secret.
1. 50. mo. Has this occurred before P
1. 51. hood; i.e. of the masking costume.
*^ Holding a torch is the office by
(E. H. Lewis.)
1. 52. Beshrew me. Gurse me. Here, however, the phrase
has come to be, like marry, simply an expletive.
1. 57. in my constant soul. What does Lorenzo mean ? Is
he right in his estimation of Jessica? Which attribute that he
assigns to her might we question ? Note that placed is dissyllabic.
I. 66, twenty. Had the feast broken up ? If so, why was
not Shylock home by this time? Was he really as suspicious
of Jessica as he seemed?
II. 1-68. Did Antonio know of the plans for Jessica's elope
ment ? What device has Shakespeare used in this scene to dispose
of a considerable amount of time ? Any extravagances of
speech in the scene? What is the principal fact, or subject, as
we may call it, of this scene ?
Write an outline, stating briefly, and in order, the subjects oi
the first six scenes of Act IL
SCENE VII
1. 1. discover. Show.
1. 5. who. In Shakespeare's time which was not yet required
m referring to inanimate things. In the next line, however,
^6 read loliich.