179I* ON THE MERCHANT OF VENICr. jrt 



" It is true, without any (lips of prolixity,, or crolT- 

 ** ing the plain high-way of t;iik, that the good An- 

 *" thonio, the honed Anthonio — that I had a title 

 " good enough to keep his name company .'" 



Gratiano is likewife a charafter of exquifite enter- 

 tainment. His reply to Baffanio, who had exhorted 

 him to cantion, is in that fort of foleoin ludicrous ftile, 

 almoil er.tirely peculiar to Shakefpeare. 



" Signior Baffimio, hear me ; 

 " If 1 do not put on a fober habit, 

 " Talk with rcfpeiSl, andf-wear but noTU and then" Scj:, 



In his addrefs to Shylock, however, in the begin- 

 ning of the fourth aft, he kindles into the moft gene- 

 rous and eloq^utjnt indignation ^We fee, with much fa- 



tisfaclion, that good humour does not merely play on 

 the furface of his mind, but is ingrafted on a manly 

 feeling heart. — During the trial that follows, he pre- 

 ferves a drift and becoming filence : But the moment that 

 his friend is out of danger, the poet, ever attentive to 

 chaftity of charafter and to nature, reprefents himrelap- 

 Cng into the moft tumultuous exultation — Tliere is a 

 whimfical portrait of this charming plhantom drawn by 

 BaiVanio, which I beg leave to recommend to James 

 Bofwell, Efquire, as a motto- for the title page of his 

 Life of Dr. Samuel Jobnfon, if print and paper fliall 

 ever be proftituted on a fecond edition- 



" Gratiano fpeaks an infinite deal of nothing, mdre 

 *' than any man in all Venice : his reafons are as two 

 " grains of wheat hid in two bulhels of chafF! you 

 " Ihall feek all day e'er you find them ;. and when you 

 " have them, they ars not worth the fearch." 



The learned and facetious Lord Monboddo was con- 

 verling fome years ago on this laft topic : " I have 

 " lived," faid his Lordfhip, " to fee my country hum- 

 " bled in arts, and humbled in arms; but I never ex- 

 " pefted to have feen England humbled to the admira- 

 " tion oi Dr. Samuel 'Johnfon^'' 



Laurence-Kirk, 1 Timothy Thunderproof. 



June 24^ 177*- J 



