Chapter 3

I took up that man’s history, and I found it animated by the spirit of Him who had “compassion on the multitude.” John Pounds was a clever man besides; and, like Paul, if he could not win a poor boy in (+auf+) any other way, he won him by art. He would be seen chasing a ragged boy along the quays, and compelling him to come to school, not by (+durch+) the power of a policeman, but by the power of a hot potato. He knew the love an Irishman has for a potato; and John Pounds might be seen holding under a boy’s nose a very hot potato, and wearing a coat as ragged as the boy himself wore. When the day comes when honour shall be done to whom honour is due, I can fancy the crowd of those whose fame poets (S. 3, N. 2) have sung, and to whose memory monuments have been raised, dividing like a wave, and passing the great, and the noble, and the mighty of the land, this poor, obscure old man stepping forward and receiving the especial notice of Him who said: “Inasmuch as ye did it to one of the least of those, ye did it also to me.”—DR. GUTHRIE.

I followed up (verfolgen) the life of this man.

+von.+

of Him, +dessen+.

who (der da) had compassion with the poor.

+auch+, placed after the verb.

+wie Paulus+, which place after ‘him’; by art = through cunning (+List+).

He — seen = One saw him often; to chase a person, +einem nach´laufen+. Read S. 78, N. 14, 2.

+zur Schule.+

+Macht+, f.

Say ‘of an I. for a hot potato’.

and one could often see how J. P. held a hot potato under a boy’s nose.—To hold a potato under one’s nose, +einem eine Kartoffel unter die Nase halten+.

and (insert here +dabei+) wore as ragged a coat as the boy himself.

+an dem Ehre erwiesen wird.+

to be due, +gebühren+.

Say ‘then I see (+dann sehe ich im Geiste+) how all those’, etc.

+besingen.+

+sich gleich einer Woge auseinanderteilen.+

and — said = see, how this poor, unknown old man steps forward (+hervor´treten+) and passes by (+an einem vorü´berschreiten+) the great, noble and mighty of the land, and is received (S. 2, N. 1) with especial attention by Him (+von Ihm+, which place after the conj. ‘and’) who (insert +da+) said.

Say ‘What you (+ihr+) have done to the least (+dem Geringsten+) of (+unter+) these, that have you done to me’.

Section 126.

SHYLOCK MEDITATING REVENGE.

If it will feed nothing else (S. 27, N. 8), it will feed my revenge. He has disgraced me, and hindered me of half a million! laughed at my losses, mocked at my gains, scorned my nation, thwarted my bargains, cooled my friends, heated my enemies! And what’s his reason? I am a Jew! Has not a Jew eyes? Has not a Jew hands, organs, senses, affections, passions? Is (S. 2, N. 1) he not fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapon, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same summer and winter, as a Christian is? If you stab us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? and if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest (S. 27, N. 8), we will resemble you in that! If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge! The villany you teach (S. 42, N. 4) me I will execute; and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction.—WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, “THE MERCHANT OF VENICE.”

+Shylock auf Rache sinnend.+

feed = satisfy.

Insert the adv. +doch+ after the subject.

disgraced = insulted, +beschimpft+.

+einen um etwas bringen.+

Supply ‘has’ to begin this clause; at, +über+, with acc.

to mock at a thing, +etwas verspotten+, v. tr.; ‘my gains’ may be rendered by meinen Profit.

crossed (+durchkreu´zen+) my enterprises.

cooled = made indifferent.

heated = incited (+auf´reizen+).

And for what (+aus welchem+) reason?

=As a rule the English ‘not a’ or ‘not an’ is best rendered by the indef. numeral +kein+.= Say ‘Has a Jew no eyes’?

feelings.

+von.+

Say ‘is he not subject to’, etc.; to be subject to a thing, +einer Sache unterworfen sein+.

This verb requires again the passive voice, and copula and subject must be supplied; by, +durch+.

Say ‘not warmed’, the auxiliary need not be repeated here.

Begin with the principal sentence in this and the two following passages. ‘You’, here +ihr+.

Say ‘and we shall not revenge ourselves, if you wrong us (+Unrecht zufügen+)’.

to be like, +gleichen+, with dat.; in the rest, +in allem übrigen+.

in that, +darin+.

what is = in what (wherein) consists.

+In der Rache.+

in what (wherein) shall according to the Christian example consist his sufferance (+Dulden+, n., or +Duldung+, f.)?

+Nun, doch wohl in der Rache!+

+ich will sie anwenden.+

and — hard, +und es müßte seltsam zugehen+.

but — instruction = if I should not even (+noch+, after ‘not’) excel (‘should excel’ Imperf. of the Subj. of +übertreffen+; App. § 33) my teachers.

Section 127.

CHARACTER OF CHARLEMAGNE.