ABSTRACT
HereasinShakespearetheusurerpretendsnottoregardthe bondseriously,butthereisnojest,nomerrybond,andthemisgivingsofthevictimsaredeeper.Truculentohasadaughter whomheallowstomarryRodolfowhenheexpectstomarry theyoungman'ssisterhimself.DiscoveringthatCorneliahas marriedStrabinohesummonsthetwobridegroomstoappear beforetheJudgewherehemakesalongspeechdemandinghis rightsverymuchinthemannerofSylvain.Thetwobridesdisguisethemselves;'Corneliaa,pparallethherselfeallinblacke likeaSchollerandBrisanaattyrethherselfeinthesamesorte', andgotocourt,wheretheyheartheargumentsandbidetheir time.Astheextractgivenbelowshows[IV]thisversionhas incommonwithShakespeare'stheJudge'sappealformercy, whichTruculentorejects.Therearesomecloseparallelsin TheMerchantofVenice,IV.I,e.g.thesuggestionthatinGod's sightweareallsinnersand
Thatinthecourseofjustice,noneofus Shouldseesalvation....(I97,8)
theallusionto'stubbornTurks'(32);andtheusurer'sinsistenceontheletterofthelawthroughoutthescene.(Thislast isnotpeculiartoMunday).Thenovelgivesotherarguments notinShakespeare,butthereisenoughlikenessbetweenthe to-fro-movementofthedebatein.<,elautoandinourplayto makeitseempossiblethatShakespeareremembered,Zelautoin draftinghisCourtScene.Incidentally,thefatherofStrabinois VincentiawhohassenthissontoVerona'theretobetrayned upinsuchvertuouseducationsaswasmeeteforoneofhis tendertime.'ThisrecallsTheTamingoftheShrew,whereVincentiaisfathertoLucentiowhohasbeensenttoPaduato study'Virtueandthatpartofphilosophy•..thattreatsof happiness',etc.(T.Sh.I.I.Ig).HadShakespearereadMunday's talesomeyearsbeforewritingTheMerchantandalreadytaken ahintfromit?NothingwaslostinShakespeare'sexperience. Tracesofhisreadingremainedbelowthesurfaceofhismind,
454 waiting for an opportunity to float up as images or names or incidents or ideas maybe years later. It has been suggested that -?,elauto, Book III, may be based on the old play; but if so, why is not Truculento a Jew? Munday's story goes back to the other version of the story which persisted side by side with the antiSemitic one.
