Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Apology For The Character And Conduct Of Shylock.
traffic , but not so by the Jews . Having been long debarred fr ° m every other mode of improving their temporal property , usury has been their hereditary profession , from the capture of Jerusalem to the present time ; and the defence Sh ylock * makes in its favour , however inconclusive it may appear to a Christian moralist , will . I doubt not , in the opinion of those , to whom STOCK is terra firma , and
quarterly interest and dividends (' a breed from barren metal' ) its living produce , be unanswerable : they will admit the full force of his observation , 'that thrift is blessing , if men steal it not . ' Nay , farther , the Divine permission to take usury of a stranger , ' - } - has ' in latter times been pretty generally understood by the Jews as an injunction to do so . Men ' s inclinations are commonly admirable casuists in their own favour ; and that they should strain a precer-t , to overreach those who
i cruelly oppressed them , cannot be thought highly criminal by the most rigid moralist ; for , at the time when the most enlightened rations of Europe were putting Jews , infidels , and heretics to the sword , for the glory of Gor > , the more tolerant disci ples of Moses were content to pillage the purse , without taking the lives of those whom they conceived to be misbelievers . It is in fact no less absurd to condemn a Jew for usury , than a Mohammedan for pol .
ygamy It may be alledged likewise that Shylock was vindictive and cruel . But those who condemn him for his stern unforgiving disposition , do not consider that he had suffered the most intolerable injuries from Antonio—that he had been publicly insulted , been spurned and spit upon by him , been deprived , by his means , ' of his well tvon thrift , ' and been robbed of his daughter and property by one of his associates . Who can reflect on this , and not make great allowance for his
meditating so severe a retaliation ! Besides , in this instance also he ought not to be tried by the mild precepts of Christianity , but by the Jess perfect law of Moses . ' An eye for an eye , and a tooth for a tooth , ' was , with his followers , legal reparation and sound morality . This accorded with their ideas of retributive justice ; they had a right to expect it , and for that riht could lead divine prescription !
g p The account which Solarino gives of Shylock ' s distress , on his daughter ' s elopement with Lorenzo , always excites , as was intended , laughter . But to place this circumstance in a fair point of view , to consider it impartially , let us again reverse the , case ; let us suppose that a dissipated young Israelite stole an only child from a Christian parent , with a considerable treasure , either acquired by his own in-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
An Apology For The Character And Conduct Of Shylock.
traffic , but not so by the Jews . Having been long debarred fr ° m every other mode of improving their temporal property , usury has been their hereditary profession , from the capture of Jerusalem to the present time ; and the defence Sh ylock * makes in its favour , however inconclusive it may appear to a Christian moralist , will . I doubt not , in the opinion of those , to whom STOCK is terra firma , and
quarterly interest and dividends (' a breed from barren metal' ) its living produce , be unanswerable : they will admit the full force of his observation , 'that thrift is blessing , if men steal it not . ' Nay , farther , the Divine permission to take usury of a stranger , ' - } - has ' in latter times been pretty generally understood by the Jews as an injunction to do so . Men ' s inclinations are commonly admirable casuists in their own favour ; and that they should strain a precer-t , to overreach those who
i cruelly oppressed them , cannot be thought highly criminal by the most rigid moralist ; for , at the time when the most enlightened rations of Europe were putting Jews , infidels , and heretics to the sword , for the glory of Gor > , the more tolerant disci ples of Moses were content to pillage the purse , without taking the lives of those whom they conceived to be misbelievers . It is in fact no less absurd to condemn a Jew for usury , than a Mohammedan for pol .
ygamy It may be alledged likewise that Shylock was vindictive and cruel . But those who condemn him for his stern unforgiving disposition , do not consider that he had suffered the most intolerable injuries from Antonio—that he had been publicly insulted , been spurned and spit upon by him , been deprived , by his means , ' of his well tvon thrift , ' and been robbed of his daughter and property by one of his associates . Who can reflect on this , and not make great allowance for his
meditating so severe a retaliation ! Besides , in this instance also he ought not to be tried by the mild precepts of Christianity , but by the Jess perfect law of Moses . ' An eye for an eye , and a tooth for a tooth , ' was , with his followers , legal reparation and sound morality . This accorded with their ideas of retributive justice ; they had a right to expect it , and for that riht could lead divine prescription !
g p The account which Solarino gives of Shylock ' s distress , on his daughter ' s elopement with Lorenzo , always excites , as was intended , laughter . But to place this circumstance in a fair point of view , to consider it impartially , let us again reverse the , case ; let us suppose that a dissipated young Israelite stole an only child from a Christian parent , with a considerable treasure , either acquired by his own in-