Tell me where is fancy bred, 65 Or in the heart, or in the head?
PORTIA
Live thou , I live. With much much more dismay 63
I view the fight than thou that mak’st the fray . 64
A song the whilst Bassanio comments on the caskets to himself.
Tell me where is fancy bred, 65
Or in the heart, or in the head? 66
How begot, how nourishèd? 67 Reply, reply. 68
It is engendered in the eye, 69
With gazing fed, and fancy dies 70
In the cradle where it lies. 71
Let us all ring fancy’s knell . 72
I’ll begin it.—Ding, dong, bell. 73
ALL
Ding, dong, bell. 74
Footnotes
64 . thou that mak’st the fray: i.e., you who fight
65 –73. Tell . . . bell: The early printings of this play do not specify who sings this song. Only line 74 , “ Ding, dong, bell, ” is said to be sung by “All.”
65 . fancy: i.e., desire
72 . knell: the solemn bell marking a death
