—I am prest unto it:; Ready.

[16]

—Sometimes from her eyes; In old English, sometimes is synonymous with formerly; id est, some time ago, at a certain time. It appears by the subsequent scene, that Bassanio was at Belmont with the Marquis de Montferrat, and saw Portia in her father's lifetime.

[17]

—superfluity comes sooner by white hairs,; Id est, superfluity sooner acquires white hairs—becomes old. We still say, how did he come by it—MALONE.

[18]

—the Neapolitan prince.; The Neapolitans in the time of Shakespeare were eminently skilled in all that belonged to horsemanship.