Page 173 - William_Shakespeare_-_The_Merchant_of_Venice_191

And bring musicians° forth into the air. 21 {your music} / some music

Exit Stephano

How sweet the moonlight sleeps upon the bank.
Here we will sit and let the sounds° of music / strains
Creep in our ears. Soft stillness and the night / Let
Become the touches of sweet harmony. 22
Sit, Jessica. Look how the floor° of heaven° / vault // the nighted sky
Is thick inlaid with patterns° of bright gold. {patens} 23
In but° the smallest orb° which thou behold’st / Even // star / light
24 25
There sounds° the heavenly voice of an angel / plays / shines
26 27
In the e’erlasting° choir of cherubim. / eternal / unending
Such harmony is in immortal souls,
But whilst this earthly body° of decay {muddy vesture}
28 29
Doth grossly close it in,° we cannot hear it. / cover it

Enter musicians

[to the musicians]
30 31
Come ho, and wake Diana° with a hymn; / the moonlight

21. / And have the players fill the air with music.
22. touches: notes produced by the fingers touching the strings of an instrument, especially a harp
23. patens: small dishes or plates, often made of gold, used in Holy Communion. F2 emends patens with patterns,
which is in keeping with the imagery of harmony—especially since constellations were thought to reflect the patterns
of human life—but less precise. Herein pattern is used, not because it is more apt, but because it is more readily
understood than patens.
24. / There, in his motion, sings as would an angel / Sings in his motion like a blessed angel / There, in his motion,
like an angel sings / His motion plays like the song of an angel / His motion sings with the voice of an angel / His
motion sounds as does an angel sing
25. {There’s not the smallest orb which thouh behold’st | But in his motion like an angel sings}
/ There’s not the smallest orb which thou behold’st | That, in his motion, sings not like an angel
26. {Still choiring to the young-eyed cherubins} Q1: still quiring
still choiring: eternally singing, always singing in perfect harmony.
cherubins: This is an irregular plural form, which, along with cherubims, was used up til the mid seventeenth
century. (The common plural for cherub is cherubim). Young-eyed cherubins refers to their sight being ever-
young—eternally clear-sighted, but also it could refer to a child’s sight which is ever-innocent, accepting, and non-
judgmental. Being young-eyed could also refer to cherubim who appear as young-eyed, as beautiful children (with
wings), which is the way they were often represented in Renaissance art. [See Additional Notes, 5.1.62]
27. Even the motion of the smallest orb,
Is part of a grand symphony, his motion
Plays a song which none but an angel sings, / Plays notes which only an angel could sing.
In a choir of heavenly voices.
28. Lorenzo is saying that we cannot hear the ‘music of the spheres’—which resonates with our immortal soul—
because our soul is entombed in this gross body which, through its senses, is not keen or refined enough to hear the
divine music.
29. This philosophical (and lovely) exposition is impersonal and neither speaks of nor reflects any feelings of love
he might have for Jessica. Such a discourse does not compare in sentiment to the single line: ‘If music be the food of
love, play on.’
30. Diana is the goddess of the moon. Lorenzo is asking the musicians to play so as to coax out Diana (the moon)
and have her come out from behind a cloud.
31. An additional line could be added to clarify the reference to Diana, as goddess of the moon: +And let her shining
face alight the sky, / + Let her illumine the sky with her face. ,