A PLEA FOR OLD SHYLOCK.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume V, Issue 507, 24 May 1881, Page 3

A PLEA FOR OLD SHYLOCK.

The following clever localised skit is from the Wanganui Herald. The writer, whoever he may be, appears to possess a large fund of caustic humor :— I went last week to see tbe •* Merchant of Venice," and was gratified to find that it received excellent tieatment at the hands of the company now at the Princess Theatre. It is not of their meritorious representation that I am about to write, but of W. Shakespeare's play itself. I have heard Shylock deplore the loss of his ducats and his daughter, and seen him whet his knife for Antonio's breast, on a great variety of stages— in Drury-lane. and in a barn of Gloucestershire ; in the old Melbourne Rovnl, and in a slab-sided theatre in Bendigo; in Geelong and Dublin ; in Paris ar.d Capetown ; but whatever has been the place, or the quality of the acting, I have always had a kind of impression that the Jew was, on the whole, a hardly used tnnn. Amongst those by whom he was surrounded and who did well out of him, that miserable old -duffer came to grief. By his own admission the merchant of Venice was in the habit of heating Shylock shamefully, booting him, spitting on; his beard and clothes, and making use of abusive and insulting language towards him calculted to provoke a breach of the peace. Had the occurrence taken place in America the Jew would have knifed him, gouged him, or drilled a hole in him with a six-shooter, and a jury would have said " Served him right." Then this same Antonio, whose current account at the Venice bant cAnnot have bave been worth much, allows his name to be hawked about in the streets by Mr Bassanio, who has spent all his money and is up to the handle in debt. " Look* here, old man," says he, "lam up a tree ; I owe a lot of sugar all round the town, and you are the principal creditor. You will never see a red cent back unless you lend me more. If you help me to make a good show I can get married, and after the wedding I will act square and pay everybody twenty shillings in the pound—out of my wife's property. I can't say fairer than that." Antonio jumps at once, though he has to fly a kite to get the money. He leares all the arrangements to Mr Bassanio who trots off at once to the Jew, thinking his best chance lies in that quarter. Whilst they are about it—in the street, it seems—Antonio comes along, and after some snarling, in which he threatens to kick the Jew again, the bargain is strtfck. Shylock is to find the money, and Antonio is to have a pound of flesh sliced off him if his bill is not duly retired at maturity. Then they ask the Jew out to supper, and though he at'first refuses, he goes when Mr Bassanio sends him a written invitation. A soon as the old man's back is turned his daughter passes all his cash and jewels through the window to Lorenzo, one of Antoniq's.fiiends. She has a good look round the cupboards nnd places to see that nothing worth taking has been, left, and then bolts off with her lover. They go off on a sort of wedding tour, knocking down Shylock's money at an awful rate, spending £36 (English) on the night's spree, and buying a monkey with his favorite ring. All this was very rough on the Jew »nd there is no doubt that Lorenzo was guilty of larceny in a dwelling, and might have been lagged for four- j teen years. In the meanwhile Mr Bassanio gets the accomodation, goes off to Belmont, and wins Portia in a raffle. She seems very well pleased about it, though Mr Bassanio told her beforehand that he had nothing to call his own but the things he stood in (which by-the-bj-e he most likely bought ready-made, with some of Shylock's money) ; but he did not tell her about his debts, or about the pound of flesh business, until Antonio writes to say that the time is up, the ships all lost, the money not paid, and Shylock praiieing round with a shoemaker's knife looking out for the most convenient place from which to carve his principal and interest. There is some little hitch about getting the Duke's permission to begin, and though Antonio himself sees no way out of the scrape. Mrs Bassanio—Portia that was — sends tier husband back by the mail steamer to see what can be done, and gives him a sackful of gold to square the: Jew.. Then she wheedles a letter '"from Dr Cellario, a barrister to whom the Duke had sent to come and decide whether Shylock was legally entitled to cut into Antonio. She also borrows Dr Bellario's gown and " ventilating' wi_;." The letter states that Dr Bellario is laid up .with a severe attack of the gout and cannot come, but will bond a smart young chap who knows quite as much about promissory notes and those

t sorts of things as he does himself. She l follows Mr Bassanio to Venice in another } steamer, and arrives in time to attend the Court where Shylock's matter ia being debated. She appears as Dr BeLario's sub stitute—a kind of half-judge half-barrist c i and finds as much to say as if she had jus - been admitted to the New Zealand bar and ) was talking to two J.P.s made the day . before yesterday. The Duke backs her up in everything ; there is no counsel on the other side, and nobody at the reporters' r table. She asks Shylock to take the money, L but he wants to get at Antonio's ribs, and • commences to shaapen his knife on his , boot, which looks much like business, and • calls forth some uncomplimentary remarks . from the bystanders. Then she tells him to take an exact pound weight of Antonio's meat, but not to let o.it his blood, or the law will make it hot for tlie crsditor. Shylock declines the experiment, and says he will tako money, but, as he would not have it when it was offered, he is refused. To wind up they tell him half of his fortune is to go to Antonio, and half to the State, and the $Duke is at liberty to chop his head off. Antonio begs off the State's share of the forfeiture, but takes care to stick to_ his own, and stipulates that the Jew shall make a will iv favor of his daughter, who had run away, aud that ho shall become a Christian. Then Shylock drops down to it, and owns that he has been had. He says that he is very far from feeling' well, and they had better send the documents after him for signature. Now, who can say that this old bird was, not very badly used ? Antonio first does all he can to insult and injure him in his business because he takes interest for his money; he is kicked and spit upon ; then Antonio borrows his money to give to a broken down swell who wants to entrap an heiress. One of the said swell's friends runs off with Shylock's favorite daughter, robs his house, and squanders the plunder. Then the lent money is lost. Who would nqt have been wi d, and prepared to have ifcout of somebody ? Taking that pound of flesh in the figurative sense, I am afraid there are people besides Shy- < lock who would go for it under similar circumstances, and plenty more who would j forebear merely because their love of • money or reputation is greater than their ! craving for revenge. Shylock was abominably treated. He should have come better ' through his troubles, and finished by being made agent for a £5,000,000 Venice loan, with a half per cent commission, and nobody to ask any questions. Antonio should have been made bankrupt, and had his certificate suspended for two years. Mr Bassanio should have found his wife a Tartar, and been forced to earn his living at " the salary of a North Island Telegraph clerk, with Mr Reader Wood's 2G per cent re- j" duction. Mrs Lorenzo— nee Jessica Shy- , lock—should have repented her desertion of her father, and thrown herself into the 8 Grand Canal, and her husband been sen- p fenced to penal servitude. But the green w curtain is down, the footlights are out, fl " Her Majesty's servants " are going home, the theatre is a dreary waste of empty benches, and my printer is calling aloud for copy.