Merchant of Venice. - Repositories

SCENE 2.] NOTES 183
1.6. advice. Reflection.
I. 15. old. Copious.
SCENE
II. 1-19. Would anything be lost to the dramatic effect of the
play, or to our conception of any of the characters, if this scene
were entirely omitted ?
Review.
acts.
II
Review scene by scene the story of the last two
ACT V.
SCENE I
Belmont. If it could be represented on the stage, we might
(following Hunter) imagine a large, -far-reaching estate, comprising
grassy lawns, smooth terraces, and shady groves, surrounding
the palace of Portia. We are reminded all through
the scene of summer zephyrs in the tree-tops, of trickling water
flowing from marble fountains, and of soft moonbeams that
stray in here and there through the foliage and shrubbery to
rest on some graceful statue, or the dainty arch of a Venetian
summer-house. Music may occasionally be heard from within,
and the horn of a post echoes faintly and far off among the
quiet hills.
1. 4. Troilus. Troilus, one of the sons of Priam, was deeply
in love with Cressid (Cressida). She was taken by the Greeks,
however, in an exchange of prisoners, and, in spite of her vow
to remain faithful to Troilus, she shortly forgot him altogether
for his deadly foe, the Grecian Diomedes. Troilus was finally
slain by Achilles. In what other one of Shakespeare's plays do
these two personages appear ?