"
_Merchant of Venice_, act i.
_Merchant of Venice_, act i.
Byron
[451] {435}Historical fact. See Sanuto, Appendix, Note A [_vide post_,
p. 466].
[452] {436}["I know what Foscolo means about Calendaro's _spitting_ at
Bertram: _that's_ national--the _objection_, I mean. The Italians and
French, with those 'flags of Abomination,' their pocket handkerchiefs,
spit there, and here, and every where else--in your face almost, and
therefore _object_ to it on the Stage as _too familiar_. But we who
_spit_ nowhere--but in a man's face when we grow savage--are not likely
to feel this. Remember _Massinger_, and Kean's Sir Giles Overreach--
'Lord! _thus_ I _spit_ at thee and thy Counsel! '"
Letter to Murray, October 8, 1820, _Letters_, v. 1901, 89.
"Sir Giles Overreach" says to "Lord Lovel," in _A New Way to Pay Old
Debts_, act v. sc. 1, "Lord! thus I spit at thee, and at thy counsel. "
Compare, too--
"You call me misbeliever, cut-throat dog,
And spit upon my Jewish gaberdine.
"
_Merchant of Venice_, act i. sc. 3, lines 106, 107. ]
[fd] {437}_It is impending_----. --[Alternative reading. MS. M. ]
[453] {438}["Is [Solon] cum interrogaretur, cur nullum supplicium
constituisset in eum qui parentem necasset, respondit se id neminem
facturum putasse. "--Cicero, _Pro Sext. Roscio Amerino_, cap, 25. ]
[454] ["Signory" is used loosely to denote the State or Government of
Venice, not the "_collegio_" or "_Signoria Serenissima_. "]
[455] [This statement is strictly historical. On the death of Andrea
Dandolo (September 7, 1334) the _Maggior Consiglio_ appointed a
commission of five "savi" to correct and modify the "promissione," or
ducal oath. The alterations which the commissioners suggested were
designed to prevent the Doge from acting on his own initiative in
matters of foreign policy. --_La Congiura_, pp. 30, 31.
