| Bassinio, a spendthrift Venetian, borrows a large sum of money fom Shylock, a Jew, (a moneylender, much abused by those who make use of him), to enable him to court a rich heiress, Portia, living in Belmont (bot far from Venice). He pursuades his friend Antoniom a rich merchant, to stand surety fro him, but the document which Antonio signs - 'a merrie bond' - binds him to forfeit a pound of his felsh should he fail to repay the money on time. Bassinio goes to Belmont to try to win Portia (by a peculia kind of guessing game): while he is there Antonio hears that the ships in which his fortune is tied up have all foundered, and he cannot repay Shylock his money - now, as they used to say in romantic serials, read on... |
