TALE I - PORTIA; THE HEIRESS OF BELMONT

Summary

“If two gods should play some heavenly match,

And on the wager lay two earthly women,

And Portia one, there must be something else

Pawn'd with the other; for the poor world

Hath not her fellow.”

Merchant of Venice.

In the University of Padua, were, once upon a time, two fellow-students, who entertained for each other a more than usually lively regard. This regard seemed to grow out of a peculiar sympathy of feeling, which sometimes exists between two lads of like age, though of dissimilar conditions; for one of these students was lively, ardent, and prosperous, while the other was calm, reserved, and very poor. But though Guido di Belmonte revelled in every good gift of fortune,–was the son of a rich Italian Count, and the indulged heir of a fond father, yet his prosperity, instead of injuring his nature and rendering him imperious and selfish, did but make him frank and generous, with a strong capability of enjoyment; while Bellario, the other student, the less favored of fortune,–being the child of a retired officer, possessed of little but his honorably-acquired wounds and an unblemished name,–found cheerfulness in a sedate reflective habit of mind, hope in the thought of achieving renown in the future employment of his talents, and enjoyment in the present epoch of study and intellectual culture.