Page 171 - William_Shakespeare_-_The_Merchant_of_Venice_191

—Lorenzo
Who comes so fast in silence of the night? 12

—Stephano
A friend.

—Lorenzo What friend? Your name, I pray you, friend? 13

—Stephano
Stephano is my name, and I bring word:
My mistress will, before the break of day,
Be here at Belmont. She doth pause nearby° {stray about} / stop beside
14
The holy crosses where° she kneels and prays / Each holy cross, and there
For happy wedlock hours.

—Lorenzo Who comes with her?

—Stephano
None but a holy hermit and her maid.
I pray you, is my master yet returned?

—Lorenzo
He is not, and we have not heard from him.
But go we in,° I pray thee, Jessica / But let’s go in
And, with respect and love,° let us prepare {ceremoniously} / with good graciousness
Some welcome for the mistress of the house.

Trumpet sound, made by Launcelet, is heard offstage.
Enter Launcelet

—Launcelet
15
Da-doo! Da-doo! Wo ha ho! Do-ta-da-do-ta-da-doooo!

12. This line has five iambs which, when combined with the next line (of one iamb), creates a line of six iambs. To
rectify this, one iamb could be removed. Hence: / Who comes in silence of the night? / Who comes to break the
night’s silence? / Who comes so fast to break the silence?
13. The original seems to have a stray iamb, which suggests that the phrase, ‘a friend,’ was mistakenly repeated by
Lorenzo. Q1 reads as follows:
Mess: A friend!
Lor: A friend, what friend? Your name I pray you friend?
Rectified:
Mess: A friend!
Lor: What friend? Your name I pray you friend?
14. {She doth stray about | By holy crosses, where she kneels and prays}
15. {Sola! Wo ha, ho! Sola, sola!}
Some commentators hold that this is an imitation of a post horn and that Launcelet is mouthing this tune to
announce the arrival of himself, as a postman or courier (‘a post’), who has come to deliver a message. Sola is used
as a hunting cry in Love’s Labor Lost and Launcelet could be imitating this cry or bleating out the sound of a hunting
horn. Wo ha, ho is used as a falconer’s call. What we have here, then, is another case of Launcelet’s mis-mashing.
Consistent with the fool’s with mocking and irreverent tone—found amply in 3.5, and also in the next few lines— it