Page 419 - Shakespeare - Vol. 2

Serve you, sir. [140]

GOBBO
That is the very defect of the matter, sir.

BASSANIO
I know thee well, thou hast obtained thy suit.
Shylock thy master spoke with me this day,
And hath preferred thee, if it be preferment

To leave a rich Jew’s service to become [145]
The follower of so poor a gentleman.

LAUNCELOT
The old proverb is very well parted between my master Shylock and you, sir.
You have ‘the grace of God’, sir, and he hath ‘enough’.

BASSANIO
Thou speak’st it well. Go, father, with thy son; [150]

Take leave of thy old master and inquire
My lodging out. (To a Servant) Give him a livery
More guarded than his fellows’. See it done.

LAUNCELOT
Father, in. I cannot get a service, no! I have ne’er a tongue in my head, well!
If any man in [155] Italy have a fairer table which doth offer to swear upon a

book, I shall have good fortune! Go to, here’s a simple line of life, here’s a
small trifle of wives, alas, fifteen wives is nothing; eleven widows and nine
maids is a simple coming-in for one man. And [160] then to scape drowning

thrice, and to be in peril of my life with the edge of a feather-bed, here are
simple scapes. Well, if Fortune be a woman, she’s a good wench for this gear.
Father, come. I’ll take my leave of the Jew in the twinkling. [165]
Exit Launcelot, with old Gobbo.

BASSANIO
I pray thee, good Leonardo, think on this.

These things being bought and orderly bestowed,
Return in haste, for I do feast tonight