The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-09-17

dred years when the Merchant of Ven
ice was written. Many slanderous sto-
ries relating to the Jews who had been
banished from the country i'll 1890, were
undoubtedly eXtant III Shakespeare
time, stories which grow by telling.
as Il SNOWFALL does by rolling, and which
prepared playgoers to believe Jews ca
pable of violating all at once every
commandment in the Sacred Ten. Thus
the character of Shylock was at once
welcomed as true representation of
that mysterious people" whom they
had been taught to hate.
where did Shakespeare get his plot
for this drama? The first story Of the
pound of flesh we find in ancient Hin
doc mythology. Thence it must have
travelled westward and with the hatred
borne toward the jew, was brought
into connection with his relations to the
Christian. Many thoughtless persons
are in the habit of making foolish wa
gers, as L would bet my life and so
on. and il appears to have been an an
cient custom in Italy to use the ex-
preston "Scometto una libra di care
del MIC corpo;" Il wager you pound of
flesh from my body" with no intention
of literally FORGETTING a pound of flesh.
The following and only historical foun-
dation of the pound of flesh reverses the
position of the jew and Christian:
In his life of Pope SiXtus ", GregOrio
Lett, the biographer, records the follow
ing episode: In 1887, Paul Mario Secchi,
merchant of Rome, gained the infor-
nation that Sir Francis Drake, the
English admiral, had conquered San
Domingo. He communicated this piece
of news to Samson Cenado, a Jewish
merchant, to whom it appeared incredi-
BILE, and he said: II bet a pound of
flesh that it is untrue"
"And / lay one thousand schulz
against il" replied Secchi. A bond was
drawn up to that effect. After a few
days, news arrived of brakes achieve
ment, and the Christian insisted on the
fulfllment of the bond. In vain the
Jew pleaded. but Secchi swore that moth
ing could satisfy him but pound of
the Jews flesh. In his extremity the
Jew went to the governor The governor
of the city promised his assistance, COM
municated the case to Pope Slstus ",
who condemned both to the galleys-
the Jew for making such wager, the
Christian for accepting it, They releas-
ed themselves from Imprisonment by
each paying fine of two thousand
schulz toward the hospital of the Sixtus
Bridge which the Pope was then re-
building.
William Cullen Bryant on the occa-
sion of Edwin Booths presentation of
Shylock, wrote:
I'm terming Shylock the Jew whom
Shakespeare drew there is perfect
logic, for Shylock is, of all Shake
speare's characters, the only one I'm,
true to nature He is not Jew, but
fiend presented in the form of one;
and whereas he is made a ruling type,
he is but an exception, if even that, and
the exception is not to be met either in
the Ghettos of Venice or Rome.
Shakespeare holds up the love of money
that marks the race, although he does
not show that this passion was but the
effect of that persecution which, by
crowding the jew out of every honorable
pursuit, and thus cutting off his nature
from every sympathy with the world
around, sharpened and edged the Keen
corners of his brain for the only pur.
suit left to him.
1T is true that. money-changers, once
spat on in the Ghetto, are now Rugged
in the palace. But we fear it is not that
the prejudice against the Jews has ceas-
ed, but that the love of money among
the Christians has increased. Shake
speare was not true in the picture he
has drawn of the Jews cravings for
revenge, and in the contempt with which
he is treated by his daughter. Revenge
is not characteristic of the Jew. he