on one point we are sure that we shall agree with the ladies, and that is in a sincere denunciation of the habit of smoking at a tender age. and although, in accordance with the tendency of the times, the school-boy whom we caught attached to a long-nine would consistently reply, _civis americanus sum_! we shall persist in claiming the censorship of age over those on whose chins the callow down of adolescence is yet ungrown. shakspeare done into french. in the first place, it really was an immense success, and shylock, or sheeloque, as they dubbed him, was called before the curtain seven times, and in most appropriate humility nearly laid his nose on his insteps as he bowed, and quite showed his spine. it certainly was like shakspeare in this, that it had five acts; but when i have made that concession, and admitted that sheeloque was _le juif de venise_, i think i have named all the cardinal points of similarity in the merchant of venice and le juif of that same unwholesome place. to be sure, there is a suspicion of _le devin williams_, as they will call him, continually cropping out; but a conscientious man would not swear to one line of it, and i do not think shakspeare would be justified in suing the french author for compensation under the national copyright-act. i speak of shakspeare as existing, because it is my belief he does, in a manner so to speak. i have intimated that le juif has five acts; but i have not yet committed myself to the assertion that he was in seven _tableaux_, and possessed a prologue. it is now my pleasing duty to force you through the five acts, and the one prologue, and the seven _tableaux_,every one of them. this prologue is divided as to the theatre into two parts: to left, sheeloques domestic interior,to right, a practicable canal. in the very first line out crops shylocks love of good bargains; and i give the reader my word, the little frenchmen saw that this was characteristic, and applauded vehemently. _bon_, said i,if they applaud the first line, what will they do with the last act? it need not be said that shylock dabbles in those bills which venetian swells of the fifteenth century, in common with those of a later age and more western land, will manipulate, in spite of all the political economy from confucius down to mr. mill; and in this particular instance and prologue the names of the improvidents are leone and ubaldo, neither of which, if my memory serve me, is shakspearian. these gentlemen considerably shake my traditional respect for sixteenth-century venetian _aristos_, for they insult that jew till i wonder where a count and a duke have learnt such language: but they serve a purpose; they trot shylock out, so to speak, and give our author an opportunity of doing his best with a 1. shylocks great speech. here is the apostrophe: but yesterdayno later past than yesterdaythou didst bid thy mistress call at me from her balcony; thy servants by thy will did cast mud on me, and thy hounds sped snapping after me,whereby we may infer they went hunting in venice, in the fifteenth century. it must have been rather dangerous running. nor could the venetian nobles of that good old time have been very proper; for leone and ubaldo justify themselves by saying they were drunk. it is after this pretty excuse that shylock has a soliloquy as long as his beard,and i hear really loud opposition to this didacticism in the pit; but, however, this slow work soon meets compensation in violent action. shylock wont renew, and the nobles get indignant; so they propose to pay shylock with more kicks than halfpence. here the action begins; for shylock protests he will bite a bit out of them; and though one of these long-sleeved swells warns him that all threats by jews against christians are an imprisonment manner, shylock rashly prepares for a defence. away fly the lords after shylock, over go the chairs, down goes the table, and i suppose shylock _does_ hit one of them; for the two lords go off quite triumphantly, with the intimation that he will be in prison in one hour from that. then the jew calls forsarah; and this same comes in on tiptoe, for fear of waking the baby. this shylock _fils_ sarah proceeds to describe as equally beautiful with abel and moses, which seems to give shylock _père_ great comfort,though i am bound to admit the lowly whispered doubt on the part of a pit-neighbor of mine as to sarahs capability of judging in the matter. shylock is preparing for prison, it seems, and one little necessity is a prayer for said son. sarah comes in with a response, shylock leaves off praying immediate, to tell sarah she is no vulgar servant, which assurance is received in the tearful manner. and here it comes a little faint whiff of the real play. in leaving home, shylocks french plagiarizes the jews speech to jessica, even down to the doubt the jew has about leaving his house at all. there has been no necessity for stating that sara supposes herself the widow of a libel on his sex, a man unspeakable; and the moment i hear he is, or was, a man of crime unspeakable, i know he will turn up. shylock having gone away,i do not know where,up comes a gondola to the front-door, and, of course, in walks sarahs husband. good evening, maam, says he. god of israel! says she. and then such an explanation as this infamous husband gives! he puts in, that he is a pirate; that his captain, whom he describes as a _vénus en corsaire_, has lost a son, and wants another; hence speaker, name arnheim, wants that little israelite who is so much like abel and moses at one and the same moment: though how arnheim should know of that little creation, or how he should know him to be also like the lost infantile pirate as well as abel and moses, does not sufficiently appear,as, indeed, my neighbor, who is suggestive of a greek chorus in a blue blouse, discovers in half a dozen disparaging syllables. of course, when the supposed widow hears this, her cries ought to wake up all hearing venice, but not one venetian comes to her aid; and though she uses her two hands enough for twenty, she has not got her way when thoroughly breathed. sarah, says that energetic womans husband, sarah, dont be a fool! then i know the baby is coming: there never yet was a french prologue without a baby,it seems a french unity; sometimes there are two babies, who always get mixed up. but to our business. out comes the baby, (they never scream,) andalas that for effect he should thus commit himself!arnheim rips sarah up, and down she goes as dead as the queen of sheba. then comes a really fine scene. shylock enters, learns all; in come soldiers for shylock, and, of course, accuse him of the murder; whereupon shylock shows on the blade a cross. doth a jew wear a knife with a cross on it? says he. go to!tis a christian murder. to this the soldier-head has nothing to say; so he hurries shylock off to prison, and down comes the curtain. hum! says the greek chorus,it might be worse. act i. it is clear there must be lady characters, or i am quite sure the greek chorus would find fault wofully,and the only one we have had, sarah, to wit, cant decently appear again, except in the spiritual form. well, there is the original portia,alas for that clever, virtuous, and noble lady!how is she fallen in the french!she is noble-looking and clever,but the third quality, oh, dear me! this disreputable is named imperia, and the real bassanio becomes one honorius, who is, as he should be, the bosom friend of one andronic, which is antonio, i would have you know. i have thought over it two minutes, and have come to the conclusion that the less i say about imperia the better, and i know the anglo-saxon would not agree with imperia,but, as the frenchman does, i offer you one, or part of one of imperias songs, as bought by me for two disgraceful _sous_. déjà laube rayonne et luit, la nuit finit; maîtresse, lheure enchanteresse passe et fuit. a ton arrêt je dois me rendre. sort jaloux! (_bis._) hâtons-nous, il faut descendre sans réveiller son vieil époux!. well,what do you think of it? now i will not mention her again,i will refer to her, when i shall have vexatious occasion, as that woman. and, indeed, that woman and honorius set us up in comprehension of matters progressing. it seems that quite twenty years have passed since sarahs soul slid through a knife-gash; that honorius and andronic, who have come from smyrna, (why?) are almost brothers; that honorius is good in this fact only, that he knows he is really bad; and that andronic is the richest and most moral man in venice,though why, under those circumstances, he should be friendly with such a rip as honorius, honorius does not inform us. i shall pass over the next scenes, and come to that in which all the creditors of all the lords are brought on to the stage in a state which calls for the interference of the doge: they are all drunk,except shylock. this scene really is a startler. shylock, now dashed with gray, and nearly double, comes up to that woman and calls her sister; whereupon she demanding that explanation which i and the greek chorus simultaneously want, shylock states that _he_ is usury and _she_ luxury, and they have one father. queer old man!!! says that woman. here follow dice, in which the jew is requested to join, all of which naturally brings about a discussion on the rate of usage, which that dog andronic is bringing down, and a further statement that _that_ imprisonment lasted two years. then comes a _coup dthéâtre_: shylock reminds everybody that a just doge reigns now, (nor can i help pointing out the frenchmans ingenuity here: in the _play_, the doge must be just, or where would the pound of flesh be?while, if the doge of the _prologue_ were just, shylock would not have been committed for two years,ergo, kill no. 1. doge, install no. 2.)shylock reminds everybody that a just doge reigns. shylock has it all his own way, and honorius is arrested before the very eyes of that woman. then comes the necessary _deus ex machina_ in the shape of andronic, who pays everybody everything, saves his friend, and play proceeds. andronic reproaches jew touching his greed, whereon the jew offers this not profound remark,i amwhat i am,and goes on counting his money. oh, if you only knew the secret! this cash payment winds up the act. act ii. decidedly, the beginning of act second proves andronic is no fool, for he advises honorius to flee that creature,and what better advice in those matters is there than that of retreating? decidedly, too, the virtuous doge is worth having,really a middle-age electric telegraph,for he gives all about him such a dose of news as in this day would sell every penny-paper printed: and such bad news!venice down everywhere, and a loan wanted. here comes a fine scene for andronic, (for, after all, the lords have hitched out of the proposed loan, whereby i take it they are not such fools as people take them to be,)andronic declares, that, if he were rich enough, the doge should not ask for money, but ships are but frail and his have gone to pieces. here, you see, comes another faint whiff of the real original play. then, clearly, the doge can only apply to the jews. enter shylock _à propos_. the next scene is so awful to the greek chorus, who may be of a business turn, that i am charitable enough not to reproduce it here; but the percentage the jew wants for the loan seems to be quite a multiplication-table of tangible securities, and i only wonder the doge does not order him into the adriatic. amongst other demands, the jew procures all the dogic jewels,and then he wants all the jewels of the doges daughter; indeed, shylock becomes a most unreasonable party. no sooner does he speak of the daughter, ginevra by name, than in she comes, jewel-casket in hand,which leads the cynical greek chorus to suppose that mademoiselle is either _clairvoyante_ or prefers going about with a box. the way in which that best of her sex offers up the jewels on the patriotic shrine is really worthy of the applause bestowed on the act; but when that pig of a jew is not satisfied, when he insists upon the diamond necklace ginevra wears, as another preliminary to the loan, people in the theatre quite shake with indignation. now the jewel has been the pattern young ladys mothers; and here comes an opening for that appeal to the filial love of frenchmen which is never touched in vain. it is really a great and noble trait in the french character, that filial love, not too questionable to be demonstrative,tis a sure dramatists french card, that appeal to the love of mothers and fathers by their children. having procured the weight of this chain, which has caused shylock the loss of many friends in the house who have been inclined to like him consequent upon the loss of that abel-moses-photograph,shylock departs with this information, that he will bring the money to-morrow: which assertion proves shylock to be a strong man, if a hundred thousand marks are as heavy as i take them to be. upon what little things do dramas, in common with lives, turn! that necklace is the brilliant groundwork of the rest of the plot. whywhywhywhy didnt shakspeare think of the necklace? and as i always must tell love-affairs as soon as i hear of them,for, as a rule, i live in country towns,i may at once state that ginevra loved andronic, and latter loved former, and they would not tell each other, and the doge knew nothing about it. yes, decidedly, the necklace is the first character in le juif de venise. you see, ginevra loved the necklace, and andronic loved ginevra; so he is forced to procure that charming necklace for her, _coûte qui coûte_, and so he goes to shylock for it. and here you will see its value: shylock will sell it only for a large sum. andronic, seeing his losses, hasnt the money,but will have;glorious opening for the clause about the pound of flesh! signed, sealed, and delivered. how superior is andronic to antonio, the old ! this latter pawns his breast for a friend only: the great andronic risks the flesh about _his_ heart for sacred love. io venus! yet, nevertheless, notwithstanding, it is the opinion of the greek chorus that andronic is a _joli_ fool,which choral remark i hear with pain, as reflecting upon unhesitating love, and especially as the remarker has been eminently touched at the abduction. act iv. as for the fourth act,it is very tender and terrible. i need not say that the tenderness arises through the necklace,and indeed, for that matter, so also does the terror. touching the first, of course it is the discovery by ginevra of the return of those maternal diamonds,which are handed to her by a _femme-de-chambre_, who has had them from andronics _valet-de-chambre_, who is in love with the _femme-de-chambre_, who reciprocates, etc., etc., etc. but touching the terrible,that woman hears of the necklace, and sends honorius for it to shylock