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الاثنين، 10 أغسطس 2009

The Jew Of Malta يهودى مالطا






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اسم المسرجية

 The jew of malta

الكاتب

كريستوفر مارلو
الترجمة

متوفرة 


تحميل

غلاف

The Jew of Malta

 

 

THE PROLOGUE SPOKEN AT COURT.

 

Gracious and Great, that we so boldly dare,

(‘Mongst other plays that now in fashion are)

To present this, writ many years agone,

And in that age thought second unto none,

We humbly crave your pardon: We pursue

The story of a rich and famous Jew

Who lived in Malta: you shall find him still,

In all his projects, a sound Machiavill;

And that's his character. He that hath past

So many censures, is now come at last

To have your princely ears: grace you him; then

You crown the action, and renown the pen.



THE PROLOGUE TO THE STAGE, AT THE COCK-PIT.

We know not how our play may pass this stage,

But by the best of poets in that age

The Malta Jew had being, and was made;

And he, then by the best of actors played;

In Hero and Leander, one did gain

A lasting memory: in Tamburlaine,

This Jew, with others many, th' other wan

The attribute of peerless, being a man

Whom we may rank with (doing no one wrong)

Proteus for shapes, and Roscius for a tongue,

So could he speak, so vary; nor is't hate

To merit, in him who doth personate

Our Jew this day; nor is it his ambition

To exceed or equal, being of condition

More modest: this is all that he intends,

(And that too, at the urgence of some friends)

To prove his best, and, if none here gainsay it,

The part he hath studied, and intends to play it

 

 

Act 1

 

Scene 1

Enter Barabasin his counting-house, with heaps of gold before
him.

Barabasin

So that of thus much that return was made:

And of the third part of the Persian ships,

There was the venture summed and satisfied.

As for those Sabans, and the men of Uz,

That bought my Spanish oils and wines of Greece,

Here have I purst their paltry silverlings.

Fie; what a trouble 'tis to count this trash.

Well fare the Arabians, who so richly pay

The things they traffic for with wedge of gold,

Whereof a man may easily in a day

Tell that which may maintain him all his life.

The needy groom that never fingered groat,

Would make a miracle of thus much coin:

But he whose steel-barred coffers are crammed full,

And all his lifetime hath been tirèd,

Wearying his fingers' ends with telling it,

Would in his age be loth to labour so,

And for a pound to sweat himself to death.

Give me the merchants of the Indian mines,

That trade in metal of the purest mould;

The wealthy Moor, that in the eastern rocks

Without control can pick his riches up,

And in his house heap pearls like pebble-stones,

Receive them free, and sell them by the weight;

Bags of fiery opals, sapphires, amethysts,

Jacinths, hard topaz, grass-green emeralds,

Beauteous rubies, sparkling diamonds,

And seld-seen costly stones of so great price,

As one of them indifferently rated,

And of a carat of this quantity,

May serve in peril of calamity

To ransom great kings from captivity.

This is the ware wherein consists my wealth;

And thus methinks should men of judgment frame

Their means of traffic from the vulgar trade,

And as their wealth increaseth, so inclose

Infinite riches in a little room.

But now how stands the wind?

Into what corner peers my halcyon's bill?

Ha! to the east? yes: see, how stands the vanes?

East and by south: why then I hope my ships

I sent for Egypt and the bordering isles

Are gotten up by Nilus' winding banks:

Mine argosy from Alexandria,

Loaden with spice and silks, now under sail,

Are smoothly gliding down by Candy shore

To Malta, through our Mediterranean sea.

But who comes here? How now!



Enter a Merchant.

Merch.

Barabas, thy ships are safe,

Riding in Malta Road: and all the merchants

With other merchandise are safe arrived,

And have sent me to know whether yourself

Will come and custom them.

Bar.

The ships are safe thou say'st, and richly fraught.

Merch.

They are.

Bar.

Why then go bid them come ashore,

And bring with them their bills of entry:

I hope our credit in the custom-house

Will serve as well as I were present there.

Go send 'em threescore camels, thirty mules,

And twenty waggons to bring up the ware.

But art thou master in a ship of mine,

And is thy credit not enough for that?

Merch.

The very custom barely comes to more

Than many merchants of the town are worth,

And therefore far exceeds my credit, sir.

Bar.

Go tell 'em the Jew of Malta sent thee, man:

Tush! who amongst 'em knows not Barabas?

Merch.

I go.

Bar.

So then, there's somewhat come.

Sirrah, which of my ships art thou master of?

Merch.

Of the Speranza, sir.

Bar.

And saw'st thou not

Mine argosy at Alexandria?

Thou could'st not come from Egypt, or by Caire,

But at the entry there into the sea,

Where Nilus pays his tribute to the main,

Thou needs must sail by Alexandria.

Merch.

I neither saw them, nor inquired of them:

But this we heard some of our seamen say,

They wondered how you durst with so much wealth

Trust such a crazèd vessel, and so far.

Bar.

Tush, they are wise! I know her and her strength.

But go, go thou thy ways, discharge thy ship,

And bid my factor bring his loading in.

Exit Merch.

And yet I wonder at this argosy.

Enter a second Merchant.

2 Merch.

Thine argosy from Alexandria,

Know, Barabas, doth ride in Malta Road,

Laden with riches, and exceeding store

Of Persian silks, of gold, and orient pearl.

Bar.

How chance you came not with those other ships That sailed by
Egypt?

2 Merch.

Sir, we saw 'em not.

Bar.

Belike they coasted round by Candy shore

About their oils, or other businesses.

But 'twas ill done of you to come so far

Without the aid or conduct of their ships.

2 Merch.

Sir, we were wafted by a Spanish fleet,

That never left us till within a league,

That had the galleys of the Turk in chase.

Bar.

O!—they were going up to Sicily:—

Well, go,

And bid the merchants and my men despatch

And come ashore, and see the fraught discharged.

2 Merch.

I go.

Exit.

Bar.

Thus trowls our fortune in by land and sea,

And thus are we on every side enriched:

These are the blessings promised to the Jews,

And herein was old Abram's happiness:

What more may heaven do for earthly man

Than thus to pour out plenty in their laps,

Ripping the bowels of the earth for them,

Making the sea[s] their servants, and the winds

To drive their substance with successful blasts?

Who hateth me but for my happiness?

Or who is honoured now but for his wealth?

Rather had I a Jew be hated thus,

Than pitied in a Christian poverty:

For I can see no fruits in all their faith,

But malice, falsehood, and excessive pride,

Which methinks fits not their profession.

Haply some hapless man hath conscience,

And for his conscience lives in beggary.

They say we are a scattered nation:

I cannot tell, but we have scambled1 up

More wealth by far than those that brag of faith.

There's Kirriah Jairim, the great Jew of Greece,

Obed in Bairseth, Nones in Portugal,

Myself in Malta, some in Italy,

Many in France, and wealthy every one;

Ay, wealthier far than any Christian.

I must confess we come not to be kings;

That's not our fault: alas, our number's few,

And crowns come either by succession,

Or urged by force; and nothing violent,

Oft have I heard tell, can be permanent.

Give us a peaceful rule, make Christians kings,

That thirst so much for principality.

I have no charge, nor many children,

But one sole daughter, whom I hold as dear

As Agamemnon did his Iphigen:

And all I have is hers. But who comes here?

Enter three Jews.

1 Jew.

Tush, tell not me; 'twas done of policy.

2 Jew.

Come, therefore, let us go to Barabas,

For he can counsel best in these affairs;

And here he comes.

Bar.

Why, how now, countrymen!

Why flock you thus to me in multitudes?

What accident's betided to the Jews?

1 Jew.

A fleet of warlike galleys, Barabas,

Are come from Turkey, and lie in our road:

And they this day sit in the council-house

To entertain them and their embassy.

Bar.

Why, let 'em come, so they come not to war;

Or let 'em war, so we be conquerors—

Nay, let 'em combat, conquer, and kill all!

So they spare me, my daughter, and my wealth.

Aside.

1 Jew.

Were it for confirmation of a league,

They would not come in warlike manner thus.

2 Jew.

I fear their coming will afflict us all.

Bar.

Fond men! what dream you of their multitudes.

What need they treat of peace that are in league?

The Turks and those of Malta are in league.

Tut, tut, there is some other matter in't.

1 Jew.



Why, Barabas, they come for peace or war.

Bar.

Haply for neither, but to pass along

Towards Venice by the Adriatic Sea;

With whom they have attempted many times,

But never could effect their stratagem.

3 Jew.

And very wisely said. It may be so.

2 Jew.

But there's a meeting in the senate-house,

And all the Jews in Malta must be there.

Bar.

Hum; all the Jews in Malta must be there?

Ay, like enough, why then let every man

Provide him, and be there for fashion-sake.

If anything shall there concern our state,

Assure yourselves I'll look—unto myself.

Aside.

1 Jew.

I know you will; well, brethren, let us go.

2 Jew.

Let's take our leaves; farewell, good Barabas.

Bar.

Farewell, Zaareth; farewell, Temainte.

Exeunt Jews.

And, Barabas, now search this secret out;

Summon thy senses, call thy wits together:

These silly men mistake the matter clean.

Long to the Turk did Malta contribute;

Which tribute, all in policy I fear,

The Turks have let increase to such a sum

As all the wealth of Malta cannot pay;

And now by that advantage thinks belike

To seize upon the town: ay, that he seeks.

However the world go, I'll make sure for one,

And seek in time to intercept the worst,

Warily guarding that which I ha' got.

Ego mihimet sum semper proximus.

Why, let 'em enter, let 'em take the town.

Exit.

 

Scene 2

Enter Governor of Malta, Knights, and Officers; met by
Bassoes of the Turk, Calymath.

Gov.

Now, Bassoes, what demand you at our hands?

1 Bas.

Know, Knights of Malta, that we came from Rhodes,

From Cyprus, Candy, and those other Isles

That lie betwixt the Mediterranean seas.

Gov.

What's Cyprus, Candy, and those other Isles

To us, or Malta? What at our hands demand ye?

Cal.

The ten years' tribute that remains unpaid.

Gov.

Alas! my lord, the sum is over-great,

I hope your highness will consider us.

Cal.

I wish, grave governor, 'twere in my power

To favour you, but 'tis my father's cause,

Wherein I may not, nay, I dare not dally.

Gov.

Then give us leave, great Selim Calymath.

Consults apart with the Knights.

Cal.

Stand all aside, and let the Knights determine,

And send to keep our galleys under sail,

For happily we shall not tarry here;

Now, governor, [say,] how are you resolved?

Gov.

Thus: since your hard conditions are such

That you will needs have ten years' tribute past,

We may have time to make collection

Amongst the inhabitants of Malta for't.

1 Bas.

That's more than is in our commission.

Cal.

What, Callipine! a little courtesy.

Let's know their time, perhaps it is not long;

And 'tis more kingly to obtain by peace

Than to enforce conditions by constraint.

What respite ask you, governor?

Gov.

But a month.

Cal.

We grant a month, but see you keep your promise.

Now launch our galleys back again to sea,

Where we'll attend the respite you have ta'en,

And for the money send our messenger.

Farewell, great governor1 and brave Knights of Malta.

Gov.

And all good fortune wait on Calymath!

Exeunt Calymath and Bassoes.

Go one and call those Jews of Malta hither:

Were they not summoned to appear to-day?

Off.

They were, my lord, and here they come.

Enter Barabas and three Jews.

1 Knight.

Have you determined what to say to them?

Gov.

Yes, give me leave:—and, Hebrews, now come near.

From the Emperor of Turkey is arrived

Great Selim Calymath, his highness' son,

To levy of us ten years' tribute past,

Now then, here know that it concerneth us—

Bar.

Then, good my lord, to keep your quiet still,

Your lordship shall do well to let them have it.

Gov.

Soft, Barabas, there's more 'longs to 't than so.

To what this ten years' tribute will amount,

That we have cast, but cannot compass it

By reason of the wars that robbed our store;

And therefore are we to request your aid.

Bar.

Alas, my lord, we are no soldiers:

And what's our aid against so great a prince?

1 Knight.

Tut, Jew, we know thou art no soldier;

Thou art a merchant and a moneyed man,

And 'tis thy money, Barabas, we seek.

Bar.

How, my lord! my money?

Gov.

Thine and the rest.

For, to be short, amongst you't must be had.

1 Jew.

Alas, my lord, the most of us are poor.

Gov.

Then let the rich increase your portions.

Bar.

Are strangers with your tribute to be taxed?

2 Knight.

Have strangers leave with us to get their wealth?

Then let them with us contribute.

Bar.

How! equally?

Gov.

No, Jew, like infidels.

For through our sufferance of your hateful lives,

Who stand accursèd in the sight of Heaven,

These taxes and afflictions are befallen,

And therefore thus we are determinèd.

Read there the articles of our decrees.

Reader.

First, the tribute-money of the Turks shall all be levied
amongst the Jews, and each of them to pay one half of his estate.

Bar.

How, half his estate? I hope you mean not mine.

Aside.

Gov.

Read on.

Reader.

Secondly, he that denies to pay shall straight become a
Christian.

Bar.

How! a Christian? Hum, what's here to do?

Aside.

Reader.

Lastly, he that denies this shall absolutely lose all he has.

All 3 Jews.

O my lord, we will give half.

Bar.

O earth-mettled villains, and no Hebrews born!

And will you basely thus submit yourselves

To leave your goods to their arbitrament?

Gov.

Why, Barabas, wilt thou be christenèd?

Bar.

No, governor, I will be no convertite.

Gov.

Then pay thy half.

Bar.

Why, know you what you did by this device?

Half of my substance is a city's wealth.

Governor, it was not got so easily;

Nor will I part so slightly therewithal.

Gov.

Sir, half is the penalty of our decree,

Either pay that, or we will seize on all.

Bar.

Corpo di Dio! stay! you shall have the half;

Let me be used but as my brethren are.

Gov.

No, Jew, thou hast denied the articles,

And now it cannot be recalled.

Exeunt Officers, on a sign from the Governor.

Bar.

Will you then steal my goods?

Is theft the ground of your religion?

Gov.

No, Jew, we take particularly thine

To save the ruin of a multitude:

And better one want for the common good

Than many perish for a private man:

Yet, Barabas, we will not banish thee,

But here in Malta, where thou gott'st thy wealth,

Live still; and, if thou canst, get more.

Bar.

Christians, what or how can I multiply?

Of naught is nothing made.

1 Knight.

From naught at first thou cam'st to little wealth,

From little unto more, from more to most:

If your first curse fall heavy on thy head,

And make thee poor and scorned of all the world,

'Tis not our fault, but thy inherent sin.

Bar.

What, bring you scripture to confirm your wrongs?

Preach me not out of my possessions.

Some Jews are wicked, as all Christians are:

But say the tribe that I descended of

Were all in general cast away for sin,

Shall I be tried by their transgression?

The man that dealeth righteously shall live:

And which of you can charge me otherwise?

Gov.

Out, wretched Barabas!

Sham'st thou not thus to justify thyself,

As if we knew not thy profession?

If thou rely upon thy righteousness,

Be patient and thy riches will increase.

Excess of wealth is cause of covetousness:

And covetousness, O, 'tis a monstrous sin.

Bar.

Ay, but theft is worse: tush! take not from methen,

For that is theft! and if you rob me thus,

I must be forced to steal and compass more.

1 Knight.

Grave governor, listen not to his exclaims.

Convert his mansion to a nunnery;

His house will harbour many holy nuns.

Gov.

It shall be so.

Enter Officers.

Now, officers, have you done?

Off.

Ay, my lord, we have seized upon the goods

And wares of Barabas, which being valued,

Amount to more than all the wealth in Malta,

And of the other we have seizèd half.

Gov.

Then we'll take order for the residue.

Bar.

Well then, my lord, say, are you satisfied?

You have my goods, my money, and my wealth,

My ships, my store, and all that I enjoyed;

And, having all, you can request no more;

Unless your unrelenting flinty hearts

Suppress all pity in your stony breasts,

And now shall move you to bereave my life.

Gov.

No, Barabas, to stain our hands with blood

Is far from us and our profession.

Bar.

Why, I esteem the injury far less

To take the lives of miserable men

Than be the causers of their misery.

You have my wealth, the labour of my life,

The comfort of mine age, my children's hope,

And therefore ne'er distinguish of the wrong.

Gov.

Content thee, Barabas, thou hast naught but right.

Bar.

Your extreme right does me exceeding wrong:

But take it to you, i' the devil's name.

Gov.

Come, let us in, and gather of these goods

The money for this tribute of the Turk.

1 Knight.

'Tis necessary that be looked unto:

For if we break our day, we break the league,

And that will prove but simple policy.

Exeunt, all exceptBarabasand the Jews.

Bar.

Ay, policy! that's their profession,

And not simplicity, as they suggest.

The plagues of Egypt, and the curse of Heaven,

Earth's barrenness, and all men's hatred

Inflict upon them, thou great Primus Motor!

And here upon my knees, striking the earth,

I ban their souls to everlasting pains

And extreme tortures of the fiery deep,

That thus have dealt with me in my distress.

1 Jew.

O yet be patient, gentle Barabas.

Bar.

O silly brethren, born to see this day;

Why stand you thus unmoved with my laments?

Why weep you not to think upon my wrongs?

Why pine not I, and die in this distress?

1 Jew.

Why, Barabas, as hardly can we brook

The cruel handling of ourselves in this;

Thou seest they have taken half our goods.

Bar.

Why did you yield to their extortion?

You were a multitude, and I but one:

And of me only have they taken all.

1 Jew.

Yet, brother Barabas, remember Job.

Bar.

What tell you me of Job? I wot his wealth

Was written thus: he had seven thousand sheep,

Three thousand camels, and two hundred yoke

Of labouring oxen, and five hundred

She-asses: but for every one of those,

Had they been valued at indifferent rate,

I had at home, and in mine argosy,

And other ships that came from Egypt last,

As much as would have bought his beasts and him,

And yet have kept enough to live upon:

So that not he, but I may curse the day,

Thy fatal birth-day, forlorn Barabas;

And henceforth wish for an eternal night,

That clouds of darkness may inclose my flesh,

And hide these extreme sorrows from mine eyes:

For only I have toiled to inherit here

The months of vanity and loss of time,

And painful nights, have been appointed me.

2 Jew.

Good Barabas, be patient.

Bar.

Ay, I pray, leave me in my patience.

You that were ne'er possessed of wealth, are pleased with want;

But give him liberty at least to mourn,

That in a field amidst his enemies

Doth see his soldiers slain, himself disarmed,

And knows no means of his recovery:

Ay, let me sorrow for this sudden chance;

'Tis in the trouble of my spirit I speak;

Great injuries are not so soon forgot.

1 Jew.

Come, let us leave him; in his ireful mood

Our words will but increase his ecstasy.

1 Jew.

On, then; but trust me 'tis a misery

To see a man in such affliction.—

Farewell, Barabas!

Exeunt.

Bar.

Ay, fare you well.

See the simplicity of these base slaves,

Who, for the villains have no wit themselves,

Think me to be a senseless lump of clay

That will with every water wash to dirt:

No, Barabas is born to better chance,

And framed of finer mould than common men,

That measure naught but by the present time.

A reaching thought will search his deepest wits,

And cast with cunning for the time to come:

For evils are apt to happen every day.—

But whither wends my beauteous Abigail?

Enter Abigail, the Jew's daughter.

O! what has made my lovely daughter sad?

What, woman! moan not for a little loss:

Thy father hath enough in store for thee.

Abig.

Nor [not?] for myself, but agèd Barabas:

Father, for thee lamenteth Abigail:

But I will learn to leave these fruitless tears,

And, urged thereto with my afflictions,

With fierce exclaims run to the senate-house,

And in the senate reprehend them all,

And rend their hearts with tearing of my hair,

Till they reduce the wrongs done to my father.

Bar.

No, Abigail, things past recovery

Are hardly cured with exclamations.

Be silent, daughter, sufferance breeds ease,

And time may yield us an occasion

Which on the sudden cannot serve the turn.

Besides, my girl, think me not all so fond

As negligently to forego so much

Without provision for thyself and me.

Ten thousand portagues, besides great pearls,

Rich costly jewels, and stones infinite,

Fearing the worst of this before it fell,

I closely hid.

Abig.

Where, father?

Bar.

In my house, my girl.

Abig.

Then shall they ne'er be seen of Barabas:

For they have seized upon thy house and wares.

Bar.

But they will give me leave once more, I trow,

To go into my house.

Abig.

That may they not:

For there I left the governor placing nuns,

Displacing me; and of thy house they mean

To make a nunnery, where none but their own sect

Must enter in; men generally barred.

Bar.

My gold! my gold! and all my wealth is gone!

You partial heavens, have I deserved this plague?

What, will you thus oppose me, luckless stars,

To make me desperate in my poverty?

And knowing me impatient in distress,

Think me so mad as I will hang myself,

That I may vanish o'er the earth in air,

And leave no memory that e'er I was?

No, I will live; nor loathe I this my life:

And, since you leave me in the ocean thus

To sink or swim, and put me to my shifts,

I'll rouse my senses and awake myself.

Daughter! I have it: thou perceiv'st the plight

Wherein these Christians have oppressèd me:

Be ruled by me, for in extremity

We ought to make bar of no policy.

Abig.

Father, whate'er it be to injure them

That have so manifestly wrongèd us,

What will not Abigail attempt?

Bar.

Why, so;

Then thus, thou told'st me they have turned my house

Into a nunnery, and some nuns are there?

Abig.

I did.

Bar.

Then, Abigail, there must my girl

Entreat the abbess to be entertained.

Abig.

How, as a nun?

Bar.

Ay, daughter, for religion

Hides many mischiefs from suspicion.

Abig.

Ay, but, father, they will suspect me there.

Bar.

Let'em suspect; but be thou so precise

As they may think it done of holiness.

Entreat 'em fair, and give them friendly speech,

And seem to them as if thy sins were great,

Till thou hast gotten to be entertained.

Abig.

Thus, father, shall I much dissemble.

Bar.

Tush!

As good dissemble that thou never mean'st,

As first mean truth and then dissemble it,—

A counterfeit profession is better

Than unseen hypocrisy.

Abig.

Well, father, say [that] I be entertained,

What then shall follow?

Bar.

This shall follow then;

There have I hid, close underneath the plank

That runs along the upper-chamber floor,

The gold and jewels which I kept for thee.

But here they come; be cunning, Abigail.

Abig.

Then, father, go with me.

Bar.

No, Abigail, in this

It is not necessary I be seen:

For I will seem offended with thee for't:

Be close, my girl, for this must fetch my gold.

They draw back.

Enter Friar Jacomo, Friar Barnardine, Abbess, and a Nun.

F. Jac.

Sisters, we now are almost at the new-made nunnery.

Abb.

The better; for we love not to be seen:

'Tis thirty winters long since some of us

Did stray so far amongst the multitude.

F. Jac.

But, madam, this house

And waters of this new-made nunnery

Will much delight you.

Abb.

It may be so; but who comes here?

Abigail comes forward.

Abig.

Grave abbess, and you, happy virgins' guide,

Pity the state of a distressèd maid.

Abb.

What art thou, daughter?

Abig.

The hopeless daughter of a hapless Jew,

The Jew of Malta, wretched Barabas;

Sometimes the owner of a goodly house,

Which they have now turned to a nunnery.

Abb.

Well, daughter, say, what is thy suit with us?

Abig.

Fearing the afflictions which my father feels

Proceed from sin, or want of faith in us,

I'd pass away my life in penitence,

And be a novice in your nunnery,

To make atonement for my labouring soul.

F. Jac.

No doubt, brother, but this proceedeth of the spirit.

F. Barn.

Ay, and of a moving spirit too, brother; but come,

Let us entreat she may be entertained.

Abb.

Well, daughter, we admit you for a nun.

Abig.

First let me as a novice learn to frame

My solitary life to your strait laws,

And let me lodge where I was wont to lie,

I do not doubt, by your divine precepts

And mine own industry, but to profit much.

Bar.

As much, I hope, as all I hid is worth.

Aside.

Abb.

Come, daughter, follow us.

Bar.

Why, how now, Abigail,

What makest thou amongst these hateful Christians?

F. Jac.

Hinder her not, thou man of little faith,

For she has mortified herself.

Bar.

How! mortified?

F. Jac.

And is admitted to the sisterhood.

Bar.

Child of perdition, and thy father's shame!

What wilt thou do among these hateful fiends?

I charge thee on my blessing that thou leave

These devils, and their damnèd heresy.

Abig.

Father, give me—

She goes to him.

Bar.

Nay, back, Abigail,

And think upon the jewels and the gold; Whispers to her.

The board is markèd thus that covers it.

Away, accursèd, from thy father's sight.

F. Jac.

Barabas, although thou art in misbelief,

And wilt not see thine own afflictions,

Yet let thy daughter be no longer blind.

Bar.

Blind friar, I reck not thy persuasions,

The board is markèd thus2 that covers it.

For I had rather die than see her thus.

Wilt thou forsake me too in my distress,

Seducèd daughter? (Go, forget not, go. )

Becomes it Jews to be so credulous?

(To-morrow early I'll be at the door.)

No, come not at me; if thou wilt be damned,

Forget me, see me not, and so be gone.

(Farewell, remember to-morrow morning.)

Out, out, thou wretch!

Exeunt, on one side Barabas, on the other side Friars,
Abbess, Nun and Abigail; as they are going out, Enter Mathias.

Math.

Who's this? fair Abigail, the rich Jew's daughter,

Become a nun! her father's sudden fall

Has humbled her and brought her down to this:

Tut, she were fitter for a tale of love,

Than to be tirèd out with orisons:

And better would she far become a bed,

Embracèd in a friendly lover's arms,

Than rise at midnight to a solemn mass.

Enter Lodowick.

Lod.

Why, how now, Don Mathias! in a dump?

Math.

Believe me, noble Lodowick, I have seen

The strangest sight, in my opinion,

That ever I beheld.

Lod.

What was't, I prithee?

Math.

A fair young maid, scarce fourteen years of age,

The sweetest flower in Cytherea's field,

Cropt from the pleasures of the fruitful earth,

And strangely metamorphos'd [to a] nun.

Lod.

But say, what was she?

Math.

Why, the rich Jew's daughter.

Lod.

What, Barabas, whose goods were lately seized?

Is she so fair?

Math.

And matchless beautiful;

As had you seen her 'twould have moved your heart,

Though countermined with walls of brass, to love,

Or at the least to pity.

Lod.

And if she be so fair as you report,

'Twere time well spent to go and visit her:

How say you, shall we?

Math.

I must and will, sir; there's no remedy.

Lod.

And so will I too, or it shall go hard.

Farewell, Mathias.

Math.

Farewell, Lodowick.

Exeunt severally.

Act 2

Scene 1

Enter Barabas with a light.

Bar.

Thus, like the sad presaging raven, that tolls

The sick man's passport in her hollow beak,

And in the shadow of the silent night

Doth shake contagion from her sable wings;

Vexed and tormented runs poor Barabas

With fatal curses towards these Christians.

The uncertain pleasures of swift-footed time

Have ta'en their flight, and left me in despair;

And of my former riches rests no more

But bare remembrance, like a soldier's scar,

That has no further comfort for his maim.

O thou, that with a fiery pillar led'st

The sons of Israel through the dismal shades,

Light Abraham's offspring; and direct the hand

Of Abigail this night; or let the day

Turn to eternal darkness after this!

No sleep can fasten on my watchful eyes,

Nor quiet enter my distempered thoughts,

Till I have answer of my Abigail.

Enter Abigail above.

Abig.

Now have I happily espied a time

To search the plank my father did appoint;

And here behold, unseen, where I have found

Bar.

Now I remember those old women's words,

Who in my wealth would tell me winter's tales,

And speak of spirits and ghosts that glide by night

About the place where treasure hath been hid:

And now methinks that I am one of those:

For whilst I live, here lives my soul's sole hope,

And, when I die, here shall my spirit walk.

Abig.

Now that my father's fortune were so good

As but to be about this happy place;

Tis not so happy: yet when we parted last,

He said he would attend me in the morn.

Then, gentle sleep, where'er his body rests,

Give charge to Morpheus that he may dream

A golden dream, and of the sudden wake,1

Come and receive the treasure I have found.

Bar.

Bueno para todos mi ganado no era:

As good go on as sit so sadly thus.

But stay, what star shines yonder in the east?3

The loadstar of my life, if Abigail.

Who's there?

Abig.

Who's that?

Bar.

Peace, Abigail, 'tis I.

Abig.

Then, father, here receive thy happiness.

Throws down bags.

Bar.

Hast thou't?

Abig.

Here,

Throws down the bags

hast thou't?

There's more, and more, and more.

Bar.

O my girl,

My gold, my fortune, my felicity!

Strength to my soul, death to mine enemy!

Welcome the first beginner of my bliss!

O Abigail, Abigail, that I had thee here too!

Then my desires were fully satisfied:

But I will practise thy enlargement thence:

O girl! O gold! O beauty! O my bliss!

Hugs his bags.

Abig.

Father, it draweth towards midnight now,

And about this time the nuns begin to wake;

To shun suspicion, therefore, let us part.

Bar.

Farewell, my joy, and by my fingers take

A kiss from him that sends it from his soul.

Exit Abigail above.

Now Phœbus ope the eyelids1 of the day,

And for the raven wake the morning lark,

That I may hover with her in the air;

Singing o'er these, as she does o'er her young.

Hermoso Piarer de les Denirch.

Exit.

Scene 2

Enter Governor, Martindel Bosco, and Knights.

Gov.

Now, captain, tell us whither thou art bound?

Whence is thy ship that anchors in our road?

And why thou cam'st ashore without our leave?

Bosc.

Governor of Malta, hither am I bound;

My ship, the Flying Dragon, is of Spain,

And so am I: Del Bosco is my name;

Vice-admiral unto the Catholic King.

1 Knight.

'Tis true, my lord, therefore entreat him well.

Bosc.

Our fraught is Grecians, Turks, and Afric Moors.

For late upon the coast of Corsica,

Because we vailed1 not to the Turkish2 fleet,

Their creeping galleys had us in the chase:

But suddenly the wind began to rise,

And then we luffed and tacked, and fought at ease:

Some have we fired, and many have we sunk;

But one amongst the rest became our prize:

The captain's slain, the rest remain our slaves,

Of whom we would make sale in Malta here.

Gov.

Martin del Bosco, I have heard of thee;

Welcome to Malta, and to all of us;

But to admit a sale of these thy Turks

We may not, nay, we dare not give consent

By reason of a tributary league.

1 Knight.

Del Bosco, as thou lov'st and honour'st us,

Persuade our governor against the Turk;

This truce we have is but in hope of gold,

And with that sum he craves might we wage war.

Bosc.

Will Knights of Malta be in league with Turks,

And buy it basely too for sums of gold?

My lord, remember that, to Europe's shame,

The Christian Isle of Rhodes, from whence you came,

Was lately lost, and you were stated4 here

To be at deadly enmity with Turks.

Gov.

Captain, we know it, but our force is small.

Bosc.

What is the sum that Calymath requires?

Gov.

A hundred thousand crowns.

Bosc.

My lord and king hath title to this isle,

And he means quickly to expel you hence;

Therefore be ruled by me, and keep the gold:

I'll write unto his majesty for aid,

And not depart until I see you free.

Gov.

On this condition shall thy Turks be sold:

Go, officers, and set them straight in show.

Exeunt Officers.

Bosco, thou shalt be Malta's general;

We and our warlike Knights will follow thee

Against these barb'rous misbelieving Turks.

Bosc.

So shall you imitate those you succeed:

For when their hideous force environed Rhodes,

Small though the number was that kept the town,

They fought it out, and not a man survived

To bring the hapless news to Christendom.

Gov.

So will we fight it out; come, let's away:

Proud daring Calymath, instead of gold,

We'll send thee bullets wrapt1 in smoke and fire:

Claim tribute where thou wilt, we are resolved,

Honour is bought with blood and not with gold.

Exeun

Scene 3

Enter Officers with Thamore and other slaves.

1 Off.

This is the market-place, here let 'em stand:

Fear not their sale, for they'll be quickly bought.

2 Off.

Every one's price is written on his back,

And so much must they yield or not be sold.

1 Off.

Here comes the Jew; had not his goods been seized,

He'd given us present money for them all.

EnterBarabas.

Bar.

In spite of these swine-eating Christians,—

Unchosen nation, never circumcised,

Such as (poor villains!) were ne'er thought upon

Till Titus and Vespasian conquered us,—

Am I become as wealthy as I was:

They hoped my daughter would ha' been a nun;

But she's at home, and I have bought a house

As great and fair as is the Governor's;

And there in spite of Malta will I dwell,

Having Ferneze's hand, whose heart I'll have;

Ay, and his son's too, or it shall go hard.

I am not of the tribe of Levi, I,

That can so soon forget an injury.

We Jews can fawn like spaniels when we please:

And when we grin we bite, yet are our looks

As innocent and harmless as a lamb's.

I learned in Florence how to kiss my hand,

Heave up my shoulders when they call me dog,

And duck as low as any barefoot friar;

Hoping to see them starve upon a stall,

Or else be gathered for in our Synagogue,

That, when the offering-basin comes to me,

Even for charity I may spit into't.

Here comes Don Lodowick, the Governor's son,

One that I love for his good father's sake.

EnterLodowick.

Lod.

I hear the wealthy Jew walkèd this way:

I'll seek him out, and so insinuate,

That I may have a sight of Abigail;

Bar.

Now will I show myself

To have more of the serpent than the dove;

That is—more knave than fool.

Lod.

Yond' walks the Jew; now for fair Abigail.

Bar.

Ay, ay, no doubt but she's at your command.

Aside.

Lod.

Barabas, thou know'st I am the Governor's son.

Bar.

I would you were his father too, sir;

That's all the harm I wish you.—The slave looks

Like a hog's-cheek new singed.

Aside.

Lod.

Whither walk'st thou, Barabas?

Bar.

No farther: 'tis a custom held with us,

That when we speak with Gentiles like to you,

We turn into the air to purge ourselves:

For unto us the promise doth belong.

Lod.

Well, Barabas, canst help me to a diamond?

Bar.

O, sir, your father had my diamonds.

Yet I have one left that will serve your turn:—

I mean my daughter: but ere he shall have her

I'll sacrifice her on a pile of wood.

I ha' the poison of the city [?] for him,

And the white leprosy.

Aside.

Lod.

What sparkle does it give without a foil?

Bar.

The diamond that I talk of ne'er was foiled:—

But when he touches it, it will be foiled:—

Aside.

Lord Lodowick, it sparkles bright and fair.

Lod.

Is it square or pointed, pray let me know.

Bar.

Pointed it is, good sir—but not for you.

Aside.

Lod.

I like it much the better.

Bar.

So do I too.

Lod.

How shows it by night?

Bar.

Outshines Cynthia's rays:

You'll like it better far o' nights than days.

Aside.

Lod.

And what's the price?

Bar.

Your life an' if you have it. [Aside.] O my lord,

We will not jar about the price; come to my house

And I will give't your honour—with a vengeance.

Aside.

Lod.

No, Barabas, I will deserve it first.

Bar.

Good sir,

Your father has deserved it at my hands,

Who, of mere charity and Christian truth,

To bring me to religious purity,

And as it were in catechising sort,

To make me mindful of my mortal sins,

Against my will, and whether I would or no,

Lod.

No doubt your soul shall reap the fruit of it.

Bar.

Ay, but, my lord, the harvest is far off

And yet I know the prayers of those nuns

And holy friars, having money for their pains,

Are wondrous;—and indeed do no man good:

Aside.

And seeing they are not idle, but still doing,

'Tis likely they in time may reap some fruit,

I mean in fulness of perfection.

Lod.

Good Barabas, glance not at our holy nuns.

Bar.

No, but I do it through a burning zeal,—

Hoping ere long to set the house afire;

For though they do a while increase and multiply,

I'll have a saying to1 that nunnery.—

Aside.

As for the diamond, sir, I told you of,

Come home and there's no price shall make us part,

Even for your honourable father's sake.—

It shall go hard but I will see your death.—

Aside.

But now I must be gone to buy a slave.

Lod.

And, Barabas, I'll bear thee company.

Bar.

Come then—here's the market-place.

What's the price of this slave? Two hundred crowns!

Do the Turks weigh so much?

1 Off.

Sir, that's his price.

Bar.

What, can he steal that you demand so much?

Belike he has some new trick for a purse;

And if he has, he is worth three hundred plates,2

So that, being bought, the town-seal might be got

To keep him for his lifetime from the gallows:

The sessions day is critical to thieves,

And few or none 'scape but by being purged.

Lod.

Rat'st thou this Moor but at two hundred plates?

1 Off.

No more, my lord.

Bar.

Why should this Turk be dearer than that Moor?

1 Off.

Because he is young and has more qualities.

Bar.

What, hast the philosopher's stone? and thou hast, break my head
with it, I'll forgive thee.

Slave.1

No, sir; I can cut and shave.

Bar.

Let me see, sirrah, are you not an old shaver?2

Slave 3

Alas, sir! I am a very youth.

Bar.

A youth? I'll buy you, and marry you to Lady Vanity,4 if you do
well.

Slave. 3.

I will serve you, sir.

Bar.

Some wicked trick or other. It may be, under colour of shaving,
thou'lt cut my throat for my goods. Tell me, hast thou thy

health well?

Slave. 3.

Ay, passing well.

Bar.

So much the worse; I must have one that's sickly, an't be but
for sparing victuals: 'tis not a stone of beef a day will maintain

you in these chops; let me see one that's somewhat leaner.

1 Off.

Here's a leaner, how like you him?

Bar.

Where wast thou born?

Itha.

In Thrace; brought up in Arabia.

Bar.

So much the better, thou art for my turn.

An hundred crowns? I'll have him; there's the coin.

1 Off.

Then mark him, sir, and take him hence.

Bar.

Ay, mark him, you were best, for this is he

That by my help shall do much villainy.

Aside.

My lord, farewell: Come, sirrah, you are mine.

As for the diamond, it shall be yours;

I pray, sir, be no stranger at my house,

All that I have shall be at your command.

Enter Mathias and his Mother.

Math.

What makes the Jew and Lodowick so private?

I fear me 'tis about fair Abigail.

Aside.

Bar.

Yonder comes Don Mathias, let us stay;

Exit Lodowick

He loves my daughter, and she holds him dear:

But I have sworn to frustrate both their hopes,

And be revenged upon the Governor.

Moth.

This Moor is comeliest, is he not? speak, son.

Math.

No, this is the better, mother; view this well.

Bar.

Seem not to know me here before your mother,

Lest she mistrust the match that is in hand:

When you have brought her home, come to my house;

Think of me as thy father; son, farewell.

Math.

But wherefore talked Don Lodowick with you?

Bar.

Tush! man, we talked of diamonds, not of Abigail.

Moth.

Tell me, Mathias, is not that the Jew?

Bar.

As for the comment on the Maccabees,

I have it, sir, and 'tis at your command.

Math.

Yes, madam, and my talk with him was [but]1

About the borrowing of a book or two.

Moth.

Converse not with him, he's cast off from heaven.

Thou hast thy crowns, fellow; come, let's away.

Math.

Sirrah, Jew, remember the book.

Bar.

Marry will I, sir.

Exeunt Mathias and his Mother. Off.

Come, I have made

A reasonable market; let's away.

Exeunt Officers with slaves.

Bar.

Now let me know thy name, and therewithal

Thy birth, condition, and profession.

Itha.

Faith, sir, my birth is but mean: my name's

Ithamore, my profession what you please.

Bar.

Hast thou no trade? then listen to my words,

And I will teach [thee] that shall stick by thee:

First be thou void of these affections,

Compassion, love, vain hope, and heartless fear,

Be moved at nothing, see thou pity none,

But to thyself smile when the Christians moan.

Itha.

O brave! master, I worship your nose2 for this.

Bar.

As for myself, I walk abroad o' nights

And kill sick people groaning under walls:

Sometimes I go about and poison wells;

And now and then, to cherish Christian thieves,

I am content to lose some of my crowns,

That I may, walking in my gallery,

See 'em go pinioned along by my door.

Being young, I studied physic, and began

To practise first upon the Italian;

There I enriched the priests with burials,

And always kept the sextons' arms in ure2

With digging graves and ringing dead men's knells:

And after that was I an engineer,

And in the wars 'twixt France and Germany,

Under pretence of helping Charles the Fifth,

Slew friend and enemy with my stratagems.

Then after that was I an usurer,

And with extorting, cozening, forfeiting,

And tricks belonging unto brokery,

I filled the jails with bankrupts in a year,

And with young orphans planted hospitals,

And every moon made some or other mad,

And now and then one hang himself for grief,

Pinning upon his breast a long great scroll

How I with interest tormented him.

But mark how I am blest for plaguing them;

I have as much coin as will buy the town.

But tell me now, how hast thou spent thy time?

Itha.

'Faith, master,

In setting Christian villages on fire,

Chaining of eunuchs, binding galley-slaves.

One time I was an hostler in an inn,

And in the night-time secretly would I steal

To travellers' chambers, and there cut their throats:

Once at Jerusalem, where the pilgrims kneeled,

I strewèd powder on the marble stones,

And therewithal their knees would rankle so

That I have laughed a-good1 to see the cripples

Go limping home to Christendom on stilts.

Bar.

Why this is something: make account of me

As of thy fellow; we are villains both:

Both circumcisèd, we hate Christians both:

Be true and secret, thou shalt want no gold.

But stand aside, here comes Don Lodowick.

Enter Lodowick.

Lod.

O Barabas, well met;

Where is the diamond you told me of?

Bar.

I have it for you, sir; please you walk in with me:

What ho, Abigail! open the door, I say.

EnterAbigail.

Abig.

In good time, father; here are letters come

From Ormus, and the post stays here within.

Bar.

Give me the letters.—Daughter, do you hear,

Entertain Lodowick the Governor's son

With all the courtesy you can afford;

Provided that you keep your maidenhead.

Use him as if he were a Philistine,

Dissemble, swear, protest, vow love1 to him,

He is not of the seed of Abraham.

Aside.

I am a little busy, sir, pray pardon me.

Abigail, bid him welcome for my sake.

Abig.

For your sake and his own he's welcome hither.

Bar.

Daughter, a word more; kiss him, speak him fair,

And like a cunning Jew so cast about,

That ye be both made sure2 ere you come out.

Aside.

Abig.

O father! Don Mathias is my love.

Bar.

I know it: yet I say, make love to him;

Do, it is requisite it should be so—

Nay, on my life, it is my factor's hand—

But go you in, I'll think upon the account.

Exeunt Abigai land Lodowick.

The account is made, for Lodowick [he] dies.

My factor sends me word a merchant's fled

That owes me for a hundred tun of wine:

I weigh it thus much [snapping his fingers]; I have wealth
enough.

For now by this has he kissed Abigail;

And she vows love to him, and he to her.

As sure as heaven rained manna for the Jews,

So sure shall he and Don Mathias die:

His father was my chiefest enemy.

Enter Mathias.

Whither goes Don Mathias? stay awhile.

Math.

Whither, but to my fair love Abigail?

Bar.

Thou know'st, and Heaven can witness this is true,

That I intend my daughter shall be thine.

Math.

Ay, Barabas, or else thou wrong'st me much.

Bar.

O, Heaven forbid I should have such a thought.

Pardon me though I weep: the Governor's son

Will, whether I will or no, have Abigail:

He sends her letters, bracelets, jewels, rings.

Math.

Does she receive them?

Bar.

She? No, Mathias, no, but sends them back,

And when he comes, she locks herself up fast;

Yet through the keyhole will he talk to her,

While she runs to the window looking out,

When you should come and hale him from the door.

Math.

O treacherous Lodowick!

Bar.

Even now as I came home, he slipt me in,

And I am sure he is with Abigail.

Math.

I'll rouse him thence.

Bar.

Not for all Malta, therefore sheathe your sword;

If you love me, no quarrels in my house;

But steal you in, and seem to see him not;

I'll give him such a warning ere he goes

As he shall have small hopes of Abigail.

Away, for here they come.

Enter Lodowick and Abigail.

Math.

What, hand in hand! I cannot suffer this.

Bar.

Mathias, as thou lovest me, not a word.

Math.

Well, let it pass, another time shall serve.

Exit.

Lod.

Barabas, is not that the widow's son?

Bar.

Ay, and take heed, for he hath sworn your death.

Lod.

My death? what, is the base-born peasant mad?

Bar.

No, no, but happily he stands in fear

Of that which you, I think, ne'er dream upon,

My daughter here, a paltry silly girl.

Lod.

Why, loves she Don Mathias?

Bar.

Doth she not with her smiling answer you?

Abig.

He has my heart; I smile against my will.

Aside.

Lod.

Barabas, thou know'st I've loved thy daughter long.

Bar.

And so has she done you, even from a child.

Lod.

And now I can no longer hold my mind.

Bar.

Nor I the affection that I bear to you.

Lod.

This is thy diamond, tell me shall I have it?

Bar.

Win it, and wear it, it is yet unsoiled.

O! but I know your lordship would disdain

To marry with the daughter of a Jew;

And yet I'll give her many a golden cross1

With Christian posies round about the ring.

Lod.

'Tis not thy wealth, but her that I esteem.

Yet crave I thy consent.

Bar.

And mine you have, yet let me talk to her.—

This offspring of Cam, this Jebusite,

That never tasted of the Passover,

Nor e'er shall see the land of Canaan,

Nor our Messias that is yet to come;

This gentle maggot, Lodowick, I mean,

Must be deluded: let him have thy hand,

But keep thy heart till Don Mathias comes.

Aside.

Abig.

What, shall I be betrothed to Lodowick?

Bar.

It's no sin to deceive a Christian;

For they themselves hold it a principle,

Faith is not to be held with heretics;

But all are heretics that are not Jews;

This follows well, and therefore, daughter, fear not.

Aside.

I have entreated her, and she will grant.

Lod.

Then, gentle Abigail, plight thy faith to me.

Abig.

I cannot choose, seeing my father bids.—

Nothing but death shall part my love and me.

Aside.

Lod.

Now have I that for which my soul hath longed.

Bar.

So have not I, but yet I hope I shall.

Aside.

Abig.

O wretched Abigail, what hast thou1 done?

Aside.

Lod.

Why on the sudden is your colour changed?

Abig.

I know not, but farewell, I must be gone.

Bar.

Stay her, but let her not speak one word more.

Lod.

Mute o' the sudden! here's a sudden change.

Bar.

O, muse not at it, 'tis the Hebrews' guise,

That maidens new betrothed should weep awhile:

Trouble her not; sweet Lodowick, depart:

She is thy wife, and thou shalt be mine heir.

Lod.

O, is't the custom? then I am resolved:

But rather let the brightsome heavens be dim,

And nature's beauty choke with stifling clouds,

Than my fair Abigail should frown on me.—

There comes the villain, now I'll be revenged.

Enter Mathias.

Bar.

Be quiet, Lodowick, it is enough

That I have made thee sure to Abigail.

Lod.

Well, let him go.

Exit.

Bar.

Well, but for me, as you went in at doors

You had been stabbed, but not a word on't now;

Math.

Suffer me, Barabas, but to follow him.

Bar.

No; so shall I, if any hurt be done,

Be made an accessary of your deeds;

Revenge it on him when you meet him next.

Math.

For this I'll have his heart.

Bar.

Do so; lo here I give thee Abigail.

Math.

What greater gift can poor Mathias have?

Shall Lodowick rob me of so fair a love?

My life is not so dear as Abigail.

Bar.

My heart misgives me, that, to cross your love,

He's with your mother; therefore after him.

Math.

What, is he gone unto my mother?

Bar.

Nay, if you will, stay till she comes herself.

Math.

I cannot stay; for if my mother come,

She'll die with grief.

Exit.

Abig.

I cannot take my leave of him for tears:

Father, why have you thus incensed them both?

Bar.

What's that to thee?

Abig.

I'll make 'em friends again.

Bar.

You'll make 'em friends!

Are there not Jews enow in Malta,

Abig.

I will have Don Mathias, he is my love.

Bar.

Yes, you shall have him: go put her in.

Itha.

Ay, I'll put her in.

Puts her in.

Bar.

Now tell me, Ithamore, how lik'st thou this?

Itha.

Faith, master, I think by this

You purchase both their lives; is it not so?

Bar.

True; and it shall be cunningly performed.

Itha.

O master, that I might have a hand in this.

Bar.

Ay, so thou shalt, 'tis thou must do the deed:

Take this, and bear it to Mathias straight,

Gives a letter.

And tell him that it comes from Lodowick.

Itha.

'Tis poisoned, is it not?

Bar.

No, no, and yet it might be done that way:

It is a challenge feigned from Lodowick.

Itha.

Fear not; I will so set his heart afire,

That he shall verily think it comes from him.

Bar.

I cannot choose but like thy readiness:

Yet be not rash, but do it cunningly.

Itha.

As I behave myself in this, employ me hereafter.

Bar.

Away then.

Exit.

So, now will I go in to Lodowick,

And, like a cunning spirit, feign some lie,

Till I have set 'em both at enmity.

Exit.

Act 3

Scene 1

Enter Bellamira, a courtesan.

Bell.

Since this town was besieged, my gain grows cold:

The time has been that, but for one bare night,

A hundred ducats have been freely given:

But now against my will I must be chaste;

And yet I know my beauty doth not fail.

From Venice merchants, and from Padua

Were wont to come rare-witted gentlemen,

Scholars I mean, learnèd and liberal;

And now, save Pilia-Borsa, comes there none,

And he is very seldom from my house;

And here he comes.

Enter Pilia-Borsa.

Pilia.

Hold thee, wench, there's something for thee to spend.

Bell.

'Tis silver. I disdain it.

Pilia.

Ay, but the Jew has gold,

And I will have it, or it shall go hard.

Court.

Tell me, how cam'st thou by this?

Pilia.

'Faith, walking the back-lanes, through the gardens, I chanced
to cast mine eye up to the Jew's counting-house, where I saw

some bags of money, and in the night I clambered up with my
hooks, and, as I was taking my choice, I heard a rumbling in

the house; so I took only this, and run my way: but here's the
Jew's man.

Bell.

Hide the bag.

Enter Ithamore.

Pilia.

Look not towards him, let's away: zoon's, what a looking thou
keep'st; thou'lt betray 's anon.

Exeunt Courtesan and Pilia-Borsa.

Itha.

O the sweetest face that ever I beheld! I know she is a
courtesan by her attire: now would I give a hundred of the Jew's

crowns that I had such a concubine. Well,

I have delivered the challenge in such sort,

As meet they will, and fighting die; brave sport.

Exit.

Scene 2

Enter Mathias.

Math.

This is the place, now Abigail shall see Whether Mathias holds
her dear or no.

Enter Lodowick.

What, dares the villain write in such base terms?

Reading a letter.

Lod.

I did it; and revenge it if thou dar'st.

They fight.

Enter Barabas, above

Bar.

O! bravely fought; and yet they thrust not home.

Now, Lodowick! now, Mathias! So—

Both fall.

So now they have showed themselves to be tall3 fellows.

Cries within. Part 'em, part 'em.

Bar.

Ay, part 'em now they are dead. Farewell, farewell.

Exit.

Enter Governor and Mathias' Mother.

Gov.

What sight is this?—my Lodowick4 slain!

These arms of mine shall be thy sepulchre.

Mother.

Who is this? my son Mathias slain!

Gov.

O Lodowick! had'st thou perished by the Turk,

Wretched Ferneze might have 'venged thy death.

Mother.

Thy son slew mine, and I'll revenge his death.

Gov.

Look, Katherine, look!— thy son gave mine these wounds.

Mother.

O leave to grieve me, I am grieved enough.

Gov.

O! that my sighs could turn to lively breath;

Gov.

And these my tears to blood, that he might live.

Mother.

Who made them enemies?

Gov.

I know not, and that grieves me most of all.

Mother.

My son loved thine.

Gov.

And so did Lodowick him.

Mother.

Lend me that weapon that did kill my son,

And it shall murder me.

Gov.

Nay, madam, stay; that weapon was my son's,

And on that rather should Ferneze die.

Mother.

Hold, let's inquire the causers of their deaths,

That we may 'venge their blood upon their heads.

Gov.

Then take them up, and let them be interred

Within one sacred monument of stone;

Upon which altar1 I will offer up

My daily sacrifice of sighs and tears,

And with my prayers pierce impartial2 heavens,

Till they [reveal] the causers of our smarts,

Which forced their hands divide united hearts:

Come, Katherine, our losses equal are,

Then of true grief let us take equal share.

Exeunt with the bodies.

Scene 3

Enter Ithamore.

Itha.

Why, was there ever seen such villainy,

So neatly plotted, and so well performed?

Both held in hand, and flatly both beguiled?

Enter Abigail.

Abig.

Why, how now, Ithamore, why laugh'st thou so?

Itha.

O mistress, ha! ha! ha!

Abig.

Why, what ail'st thou?

Itha.

O my master!

Abig.

Ha!

Itha.

O mistress! I have the bravest, gravest, secret, subtle,
bottle-nosed knave to my master, that ever gentleman had.

Abig.

Say, knave, why rail'st upon my father thus?

Itha.

O, my master has the bravest policy.

Abig.

Wherein?

Itha.

Why, know you not?

Abig.

Why, no.

Itha.

Know you not of Mathia[s'] and Don Lodo-wick['s] disaster?

Abig.

No, what was it?

Itha.

Why, the devil invented a challenge, my master writ it, and I
carried it, first to Lodowick, and imprimis to Mathia[s].

And then they met, [and,] as the story says,

In doleful wise they ended both their days.

Abig.

And was my father furtherer of their deaths?

Itha.

Am I Ithamore?

Abig.

Yes.

Itha.

So sure did your father write, and I carry the challenge.

Abig.

Well, Ithamore, let me request thee this,

Go to the new-made nunnery, and inquire

For any of the Friars of St. Jaques,

And say, I pray them come and speak with me.

Itha.

I pray, mistress, will you answer me but one question?

Abig.

Well, sirrah, what is't?

Itha.

A very feeling one; have not the nuns fine sport with the friars
now and then?

Abig.

Go to, sirrah sauce, is this your question? get ye gone.

Itha.

I will, forsooth, mistress.

Exit.

Abig.

Hard-hearted father, unkind Barabas!

Was this the pursuit of thy policy!

To make me show them favour severally,

That by my favour they should both be slain?

Admit thou lov'dst not Lodowick for his sire,2

Yet Don Mathias ne'er offended thee:

But thou wert set upon extreme revenge,

Because the Prior dispossessed thee once,

And could'st not 'venge it, but upon his son;

Nor on his son, but by Mathias' means;

Nor on Mathias, but by murdering me.

But I perceive there is no love on earth,

Pity in Jews, or piety in Turks.

But here comes cursed Ithamore, with the friar.

Enter Ithamore and Friar Jacomo.

F. Jac. Virgo, salve.

Itha.

When! duck you!

Abig.

Welcome, grave friar; Ithamore, begone.

Exit Ithamore.

Know, holy sir, I am bold to solicit thee.

F. Jac.

Wherein?

Abig.

To get me be admitted for a nun.

F. Jac.

Why, Abigail, it is not yet long since

That I did labour thy admission,

And then thou did'st not like that holy life.

Abig.

Then were my thoughts so frail and unconfirmed,

And I was chained to follies of the world:

But now experience, purchasèd with grief,

Has made me see the difference of things.

My sinful soul, alas, hath paced too long

The fatal labyrinth of misbelief,

Far from the sun that gives eternal life.

F. Jac.

Who taught thee this?

Abig.

The abbess of the house,

Whose zealous admonition I embrace:

O, therefore, Jacomo, let me be one,

F. Jac.

Abigail, I will, but see thou change no more,

For that will be most heavy to thy soul.

Abig.

That was my father's fault.

F. Jac.

Thy father's! how?

Abig.

Nay, you shall pardon me.—O Barabas,

Though thou deservest hardly at my hands,

Yet never shall these lips bewray thy life.

Aside

F. Jac.

Come, shall we go?

Abig.

My duty waits on you.

Exeunt.

Scene 4

Enter Barabas, reading a letter.

Bar.

What, Abigail become a nun again!

False and unkind; what, hast thou lost thy father?

And all unknown, and unconstrained of me,

Art thou again got to the nunnery?

Now here she writes, and wills me to repent.

Repentance! Spurca! what pretendeth2 this?

I fear she knows—'tis so—of my device

In Don Mathias' and Lodovico's deaths:

If so, 'tis time that it be seen into:

For she that varies from me in belief

Gives great presumption that she loves me not;

Or loving, doth dislike of something done.—

But who comes here?

Enter Ithamore.

O Ithamore, come near;

Come near, my love; come near, thy master's life,

My trusty servant, nay, my second self:1

For I have now no hope but even in thee,

And on that hope my happiness is built.

When saw'st thou Abigail?

Itha.

To-day.

Bar.

With whom?

Itha.

A friar.

Bar.

A friar! false villain, he hath done the deed.

Itha.

How, sir?

Bar.

Why, made mine Abigail a nun.

Itha.

That's no lie, for she sent me for him.

Bar.

O unhappy day!

False, credulous, inconstant Abigail!

But let 'em go: and, Ithamore, from hence

Ne'er shall she grieve me more with her disgrace;

Ne'er shall she live to inherit aught of mine,

Be blest of me, nor come within my gates,

But perish underneath my bitter curse,

Like Cain by Adam for his brother's death.

Itha.

O master!

Bar.

Ithamore, entreat not for her, I am moved,

And she is hateful to my soul and me:

And 'less thou yield to this that I entreat,

I cannot think but that thou hat'st my life.

Itha.

Who, I, master? Why, I'll run to some rock,

And throw myself headlong into the sea;

Bar.

O trusty Ithamore, no servant, but my friend:

I here adopt thee for mine only heir,

All that I have is thine when I am dead,

And whilst I live use half; spend as myself;

Here take my keys, I'll give 'em thee anon:

Go buy thee garments: but thou shall not want:

Only know this, that thus thou art to do:

But first go fetch me in the pot of rice

Itha.

I hold my head my master's hungry. I go, sir.

Exit

Bar.

Thus every villain ambles after wealth,

Although he ne'er be richer than in hope:

But, husht!

Enter Ithamore with the pot.

Itha.

Here 'tis, master.

Bar.

Well said, Ithamore; what, hast thou brought

The ladle with thee too?

Itha.

Yes, sir, the proverb says he that eats with the devil had need
of a long spoon.1 I have brought you a ladle.

Bar.

Very well, Ithamore, then now be secret;

And for thy sake, whom I so dearly love,

Now shalt thou see the death of Abigail,

That thou may'st freely live to be my heir.

Itha.

Why, master, will you poison her with a mess of rice porridge?
that will preserve life, make her round and plump, and batten

more than you are aware.

Bar.

Ay, but, Ithamore, seest thou this?

It is a precious powder that I bought

Of an Italian, in Ancona, once,

Whose operation is to bind, infect,

And poison deeply, yet not appear

In forty hours after it is ta'en.

Itha.

How, master?

Bar.

Thus, Ithamore.

This even they use in Malta here,—'tis called

Saint Jacques' Even,—and then I say they use

To send their alms unto the nunneries:

Among the rest bear this, and set it there;

There's a dark entry where they take it in,

Where they must neither see the messenger,

Nor make inquiry who hath sent it them.

Itha.

How so?

'Bar.

Belike there is some ceremony in't.

There, Ithamore, must thou go place this pot!1

Stay, let me spice it first.

Itha.

Pray do, and let me help you, master. Pray let me taste first.

Bar.

Prythee do: what say'st thou now?

Itha.

Troth, master, I'm loth such a pot of pottage should be spoiled.

Bar.'

Peace, Ithamore, 'tis better so than spared.

Assure thyself thou shalt have broth by the eye,2

My purse, my coffer, and myself is thine.

Itha.

Well, master, I go.

Bar.

Stay, first let me stir it, Ithamore.

As fatal be it to her as the draught

Of which great Alexander drunk and died:

And with her let it work like Borgia's wine,

Whereof his sire, the Pope, was poisonèd.

In few, the blood of Hydra, Lerna's bane:

The juice of hebon, and Cocytus' breath,

And all the poisons of the Stygian pool

Break from the fiery kingdom; and in this

Vomit your venom and invenom her

That like a fiend hath left her father thus.

“Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole

With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial.”

Itha.

What a blessing has he given't! was ever pot of rice porridge so
sauced! What shall I do with it?

Bar.

O, my sweet Ithamore, go set it down,

And come again so soon as thou hast done,

For I have other business for thee.

Itha.

Here's a drench to poison a whole stable of Flanders mares: I'll
carry 't to the nuns with a powder.

Bar.

And the horse pestilence to boot; away!

Itha.

I am gone.

Pay me my wages, for my work is done.

Exit.

Bar.

I'll pay thee with a vengeance, Ithamore.

Exit.

Scene 5

Enter Governor, Del Bosco, Knights, Basso.

Gov.

Welcome, great Basso; how fares Calymath,

What wind thus drives you into Malta Road?

Bas.

The wind that bloweth all the world besides,

Desire of gold.

Gov.

Desire of gold, great sir?

That's to be gotten in the Western Ind:

In Malta are no golden minerals.

Bas.

To you of Malta thus saith Calymath:

The time you took for respite is at hand,

For the performance of your promise passed,

And for the tribute-money I am sent.

Gov.

Basso, in brief, 'shalt have no tribute here,

Nor shall the heathens live upon our spoil:

First will we raze the city walls ourselves,

Lay waste the island, hew the temples down,

And, shipping off our goods to Sicily,

Open an entrance for the wasteful sea,

Whose billows beating the resistless banks,

Shall overflow it with their refluence.

Bas.

Well, Governor, since thou hast broke the league

By flat denial of the promised tribute,

Talk not of razing down your city walls,

You shall not need trouble yourselves so far,

For Selim Calymath shall come himself,

And with brass bullets batter down your towers,

And turn proud Malta to a wilderness

For these intolerable wrongs of yours;

And so farewell.

Gov.

Farewell:

And now, ye men of Malta, look about,

And let's provide to welcome Calymath:

Close your portcullis, charge your basilisks,

And as you profitably take up arms,

So now courageously encounter them;

For by this answer, broken is the league,

And naught is to be looked for now but wars,

And naught to us more welcome is than wars.

Exeunt.

Scene 6

Enter Friar Jacomoand Friar Barnardine.

F.Jac.

O brother, brother, all the nuns are sick,

And physic will not help them: they must die.

F. Barn.

The abbess sent for me to be confessed:

O, what a sad confession will there be!

F. Jac.

And so did fair Maria send for me:

I'll to her lodging: hereabouts she lies.

Exit.

F. Barn.

What, all dead, save only Abigail?

Abig.

And I shall die too, for I feel death coming.

Where is the friar that conversed with me?

F. Barn.

O, he is gone to see the other nuns.

Abig.

I sent for him, but seeing you are come,

Be you my ghostly father: and first know,

That in this house I lived religiously,

Chaste, and devout, much sorrowing for my sins;

But ere I came—

F. Barn.

What then?

Abig.

I did offend high Heaven so grievously,

As I am almost desperate for my sins:

And one offence torments me more than all.

You knew Mathias and Don Lodowick?

F. Barn.

Yes, what of them?

Abig.

My father did contract me to 'em both:

First to Don Lodowick; him I never loved;

Mathias was the man that I held dear,

And for his sake did I become a nun.

F. Barn.

So, say how was their end?

Abig.

Both jealous of my love, envied each other,

And by my father's practice, which is there

Gives a paper.

Set down at large, the gallants were both slain.

F. Barn.

O monstrous villainy!

Abig.

To work my peace, this I confess to thee;

Reveal it not, for then my father dies.

F. Barn.

Know that confession must not be revealed,

The canon law forbids it, and the priest

That makes it known, being degraded first,

Abig.

So I have heard; pray, therefore keep it close.

Death seizeth on my heart: ah gentle friar,

Convert my father that he may be saved,

And witness that I die a Christian.

Dies.

F. Barn.

Ay, and a virgin too; that grieves me most:

But I must to the Jew and exclaim on him,

And make him stand in fear of me.

Enter Friar Jacomo.

F. Jac.

O brother, all the nuns are dead, let's bury them.

F. Barn.

First help to bury this, then go with me And help me to exclaim
against the Jew.

F. Jac.

Why, what has he done?

F. Barn.

A thing that makes me tremble to unfold.

F. Jac.

What, has he crucified a child?

F. Barn.

No, but a worse thing: 'twas told me in shrift,

Thou know'st 'tis death an if it be revealed.

Come, let's away.

Exeunt.

Act 4 -

 Scene 1

Enter BARABAS [125] and ITHAMORE. Bells within.]

[Footnote 125: Enter BARABAS, &c.: Scene a street.]



BARABAS.

There is no music to [126] a Christian's knell:

How sweet the bells ring, now the nuns are dead,

That sound at other times like tinkers' pans!

I was afraid the poison had not wrought,

Or, though it wrought, it would have done no good,

For every year they swell, and yet they live:

Now all are dead, not one remains alive.



[Footnote 126: to: Which the Editor of 1826 deliberately altered to "like,"
means--compared to, in comparison of.
]



ITHAMORE.

That's brave, master: but think you it will not be known?

BARABAS.

How can it, if we two be secret?

ITHAMORE.

For my part, fear you not.

BARABAS.

I'd cut thy throat, if I did.

ITHAMORE.

And reason too.

But here's a royal monastery hard by;

Good master, let me poison all the monks.

BARABAS.

Thou shalt not need; for, now the nuns are dead,

They'll die with grief.

ITHAMORE.

Do you not sorrow for your daughter's death?

BARABAS.

No, but I grieve because she liv'd so long,

An Hebrew born, and would become a Christian:

Cazzo, [127] diabolo!



[Footnote 127: Cazzo: Old ed. "catho."--See Florio's WORLDE OF WORDES (Ital.
and Engl. Dict.) ed. 1598, in v.--"A petty oath, a cant exclamation, generally
expressive, among the Italian populace, who have it constantly in their mouth,
of defiance or contempt." Gifford's note on Jonson's WORKS, ii. 48.
]



ITHAMORE.

Look, look, master; here come two religious caterpillars.

[Enter FRIAR JACOMO and FRIAR BARNARDINE.]

BARABAS.

I smelt 'em ere they came.

ITHAMORE.

God-a-mercy, nose! [128] Come, let's begone.



[Footnote 128: nose: See note †, p. 157. [i.e. note 79.]]



FRIAR BARNARDINE.

Stay, wicked Jew; repent, I say, and stay.

FRIAR JACOMO.

Thou hast offended, therefore must be damn'd.

BARABAS.

I fear they know we sent the poison'd broth.

ITHAMORE.

And so do I, master; therefore speak 'em fair.

FRIAR BARNARDINE.

Barabas, thou hast--

FRIAR JACOMO.

Ay, that thou hast--

BARABAS.

True, I have money; what though I have?

FRIAR BARNARDINE.

Thou art a--

FRIAR JACOMO.

Ay, that thou art, a--

BARABAS.

What needs all this? I know I am a Jew.

FRIAR BARNARDINE.

Thy daughter--

FRIAR JACOMO.

Ay, thy daughter--

BARABAS.

O, speak not of her! then I die with grief.

FRIAR BARNARDINE.

Remember that--

FRIAR JACOMO.

Ay, remember that--

BARABAS.

I must needs say that I have been a great usurer.

FRIAR BARNARDINE.

Thou hast committed--

BARABAS.

Fornication: but that was in another country;

And besides, the wench is dead.

FRIAR BARNARDINE.

Ay, but, Barabas,

Remember Mathias and Don Lodowick.

BARABAS.

Why, what of them?

FRIAR BARNARDINE.

I will not say that by a forged challenge they met.

BARABAS.

She has confess'd, and we are both undone,

My bosom inmate! [129] but I must dissemble.--

[Aside to ITHAMORE.]

O holy friars, the burden of my sins

Lie heavy [130] on my soul! then, pray you, tell me,

Is't not too late now to turn Christian?

I have been zealous in the Jewish faith,

Hard-hearted to the poor, a covetous wretch,

That would for lucre's sake have sold my soul;

A hundred for a hundred I have ta'en;

And now for store of wealth may I compare

With all the Jews in Malta: but what is wealth?

I am a Jew, and therefore am I lost.

Would penance serve [to atone] for this my sin,

I could afford to whip myself to death,--



[Footnote 129: inmate: Old ed. "inmates."]

[Footnote 130: the burden of my sins Lie heavy, &c.: One of
the modern editors altered "LIE" to "Lies": but examples of similar
phraseology,--of a nominative singular followed by a plural verb when a plural
genitive intervenes,--are common in our early writers; see notes on Beaumont and
Fletcher's WORKS, vol. v. 7, 94, vol. ix. 185, ed. Dyce.
]



ITHAMORE.

And so could I; but penance will not serve.

BARABAS.

To fast, to pray, and wear a shirt of hair,

And on my knees creep to Jerusalem.

Cellars of wine, and sollars [131] full of wheat,

Warehouses stuff'd with spices and with drugs,

Whole chests of gold in bullion and in coin,

Besides, I know not how much weight in pearl

Orient and round, have I within my house;

At Alexandria merchandise untold; [132]

But yesterday two ships went from this town,

Their voyage will be worth ten thousand crowns;

In Florence, Venice, Antwerp, London, Seville,

Frankfort, Lubeck, Moscow, and where not,

Have I debts owing; and, in most of these,

Great sums of money lying in the banco;

All this I'll give to some religious house,

So I may be baptiz'd, and live therein.



[Footnote 131: sollars: "i.e. lofts, garrets." STEEVENS (apud Dodsley's O.
P.).
]

[Footnote 132: untold: i.e. uncounted.--Old ed. "vnsold."]



FRIAR JACOMO.

O good Barabas, come to our house!

FRIAR BARNARDINE.

O, no, good Barabas, come to our house!

And, Barabas, you know--

BARABAS.

I know that I have highly sinn'd:

You shall convert me, you shall have all my wealth.

FRIAR JACOMO.

O Barabas, their laws are strict!

BARABAS.

I know they are; and I will be with you.

FRIAR BARNARDINE.

They wear no shirts, and they go bare-foot too.

BARABAS.

Then 'tis not for me; and I am resolv'd

You shall confess me, and have all my goods.

FRIAR JACOMO.

Good Barabas, come to me.

BARABAS.

You see I answer him, and yet he stays;

Rid him away, and go you home with me.

FRIAR JACOMO.

I'll be with you to-night.

BARABAS.

Come to my house at one o'clock this night.

FRIAR JACOMO.

You hear your answer, and you may be gone.

FRIAR BARNARDINE.

Why, go, get you away.

FRIAR JACOMO.

I will not go for thee.

FRIAR BARNARDINE.

Not! then I'll make thee go.

FRIAR JACOMO.

How! dost call me rogue?

[They fight.]

ITHAMORE.

Part 'em, master, part 'em.

BARABAS.

This is mere frailty: brethren, be content.--

Friar Barnardine, go you with Ithamore:

You know my mind; let me alone with him.

FRIAR JACOMO.

Why does he go to thy house? let him be gone. [133]



[Footnote 133: BARABAS.

This is mere frailty: brethren, be content.--

Friar Barnardine, go you with Ithamore:

You know my mind; let me alone with him.]

FRIAR JACOMO. Why does he go to thy house? let him be gone

Old ed. thus;

"BAR. This is meere frailty, brethren, be content.

Fryar Barnardine goe you with Ithimore.

ITH. You know my mind, let me alone with him;

Why does he goe to thy house, let him begone."
]

 

BARABAS.

I'll give him something, and so stop his mouth.

[Exit ITHAMORE with Friar BARNARDINE.]

I never heard of any man but he

Malign'd the order of the Jacobins:

But do you think that I believe his words?

Why, brother, you converted Abigail;

And I am bound in charity to requite it,

And so I will. O Jacomo, fail not, but come.

FRIAR JACOMO.

But, Barabas, who shall be your godfathers?

For presently you shall be shriv'd.

BARABAS.

Marry, the Turk [134] shall be one of my godfathers,

But not a word to any of your covent. [135]



[Footnote 134: the Turk: "Meaning Ithamore." COLLIER (apud Dodsley's O. P.).
Compare the last line but one of Barabas's next speech.
]

[Footnote 135: covent: i.e. convent.]



FRIAR JACOMO.

I warrant thee, Barabas.

[Exit.]

BARABAS.

So, now the fear is past, and I am safe;

For he that shriv'd her is within my house:

What, if I murder'd him ere Jacomo comes?

Now I have such a plot for both their lives,

As never Jew nor Christian knew the like:

One turn'd my daughter, therefore he shall die;

The other knows enough to have my life,

Therefore 'tis not requisite he should live. [136]

But are not both these wise men, to suppose

That I will leave my house, my goods, and all,

To fast and be well whipt? I'll none of that.

Now, Friar Barnardine, I come to you:

I'll feast you, lodge you, give you fair [137] words,

And, after that, I and my trusty Turk--

No more, but so: it must and shall be done. [138]

[Exit]

[Footnote 136: Therefore 'tis not requisite he should live:
Lest the reader should suspect that the author wrote,

"Therefore 'tis requisite he should not live,"

I may observe that we have had before (p. 152, first col.)

a similar form of expression,--

"It is not necessary I be seen."
]

[Footnote 137: fair: See note |||, p. 15. ('15' sic.)

(note |||, p. 13, The First Part of Tamburlaine the Great:)

"In fair, &c.: Here "FAIR" is to be considered as a

dissyllable: compare, in the Fourth act of our author's

JEW OF MALTA,

"I'll feast you, lodge you, give you FAIR words,

And, after that," &c."
]

[Footnote 138: shall be done: Here a change of scene is
supposed, to the interior of Barabas's house.
] _

Scene 2

_ ACT IV - SCENE II

 

[Enter BARABAS and ITHAMORE.]

BARABAS.

Ithamore, tell me, is the friar asleep?

ITHAMORE.

Yes; and I know not what the reason is,

Do what I can, he will not strip himself,

Nor go to bed, but sleeps in his own clothes:

I fear me he mistrusts what we intend.

BARABAS.

No; 'tis an order which the friars use:

Yet, if he knew our meanings, could he scape?

ITHAMORE.

No, none can hear him, cry he ne'er so loud.

BARABAS.

Why, true; therefore did I place him there:

The other chambers open towards the street.

ITHAMORE.

You loiter, master; wherefore stay we thus?

O, how I long to see him shake his heels!

BARABAS.

Come on, sirrah:

Off with your girdle; make a handsome noose.--

[ITHAMORE takes off his girdle, and ties a noose on it.]

Friar, awake! [139]

[They put the noose round the FRIAR'S neck.]



[Footnote 139: Friar, awake: Here, most probably, Barabas drew a curtain, and
discovered the sleeping Friar.
]



FRIAR BARNARDINE.

What, do you mean to strangle me?

ITHAMORE.

Yes, 'cause you use to confess.

BARABAS.

Blame not us, but the proverb,--Confess and be

hanged.--Pull hard.

FRIAR BARNARDINE.

What, will you have [140] my life?



[Footnote 140: have: Old ed. "saue."]



BARABAS.

Pull hard, I say.--You would have had my goods.

ITHAMORE.

Ay, and our lives too:--therefore pull amain.

[They strangle the FRIAR.]

'Tis neatly done, sir; here's no print at all.

BARABAS.

Then is it as it should be. Take him up.

ITHAMORE.

Nay, master, be ruled by me a little.

[Takes the body, sets it upright against the wall,

and puts a staff in its hand.]

So, let him lean upon his staff; excellent!

he stands as if he were begging of bacon.

BARABAS.

Who would not think but that this friar liv'd?

What time o' night is't now, sweet Ithamore?

ITHAMORE.

Towards one. [141]



[Footnote 141: What time o' night is't now, sweet Ithamore?

ITHAMORE. Towards one: Might be adduced, among other

passages, to shew that the modern editors are right when they

print in Shakespeare's KING JOHN. act iii. sc. 3,

"If the midnight bell

Did, with his iron tongue and brazen mouth,

Sound ONE into the drowsy ear of NIGHT," &c.
]



BARABAS.

Then will not Jacomo be long from hence.

[Exeunt.] _

Scene 3

ACT IV - SCENE III

 

[Enter FRIAR JACOMO.] [142]

[Footnote 142: Enter FRIAR JACOMO: The scene is now before
Barabas's house,--the audience having had to SUPPOSE that the body of
Barnardine, which Ithamore had set upright, was standing outside the door.
]



FRIAR JACOMO.

This is the hour wherein I shall proceed; [143]

O happy hour, wherein I shall convert

An infidel, and bring his gold into our treasury!

But soft! is not this Barnardine? it is;

And, understanding I should come this way,

Stands here o' purpose, meaning me some wrong,

And intercept my going to the Jew.--

Barnardine!

Wilt thou not speak? thou think'st I see thee not;

Away, I'd wish thee, and let me go by:

No, wilt thou not? nay, then, I'll force my way;

And, see, a staff stands ready for the purpose.

As thou lik'st that, stop me another time!

[Takes the staff, and strikes down the body.]

[Enter BARABAS and ITHAMORE.]



[Footnote 143: proceed: Seems to be used here as equivalent to--succeed.]



BARABAS.

Why, how now, Jacomo! what hast thou done?

FRIAR JACOMO.

Why, stricken him that would have struck at me.

BARABAS.

Who is it? Barnardine! now, out, alas, he is slain!

ITHAMORE.

Ay, master, he's slain; look how his brains drop out

on's [144] nose.



[Footnote 144: on's: i.e. of his.]



FRIAR JACOMO.

Good sirs, I have done't: but nobody knows it but

you two; I may escape.

BARABAS.

So might my man and I hang with you for company.

ITHAMORE.

No; let us bear him to the magistrates.

FRIAR JACOMO.

Good Barabas, let me go.

BARABAS.

No, pardon me; the law must have his course:

I must be forc'd to give in evidence,

That, being importun'd by this Barnardine

To be a Christian, I shut him out,

And there he sate: now I, to keep my word,

And give my goods and substance to your house,

Was up thus early, with intent to go

Unto your friary, because you stay'd.

ITHAMORE.

Fie upon 'em! master, will you turn Christian, when

holy friars turn devils and murder one another?

BARABAS.

No; for this example I'll remain a Jew:

Heaven bless me! what, a friar a murderer!

When shall you see a Jew commit the like?

ITHAMORE.

Why, a Turk could ha' done no more.

BARABAS.

To-morrow is the sessions; you shall to it.--

Come, Ithamore, let's help to take him hence.

FRIAR JACOMO.

Villains, I am a sacred person; touch me not.

BARABAS.

The law shall touch you; we'll but lead you, we:

'Las, I could weep at your calamity!--

Take in the staff too, for that must be shown:

Law wills that each particular be known.

[Exeunt.] _

 

ACT IV - SCENE IV

 

[Enter BELLAMIRA [145] and PILIA-BORZA.]



[Footnote 145: Enter BELLAMIRA, &c.: The scene, as in p. 160, a veranda or
open portico of Bellamira's house.

(p. 160, this play:)

"Enter BELLAMIRA. (91)

BELLAMIRA. Since this town was besieg'd," etc.
]



BELLAMIRA.

Pilia-Borza, didst thou meet with Ithamore?

PILIA-BORZA.

I did.

BELLAMIRA.

And didst thou deliver my letter?

PILIA-BORZA.

I did.

BELLAMIRA.

And what thinkest thou? will he come?

PILIA-BORZA.

I think so: and yet I cannot tell; for, at the

reading of the letter, he looked like a man of another world.

BELLAMIRA.

Why so?

PILIA-BORZA.

That such a base slave as he should be saluted

by such a tall [146] man as I am, from such a

beautiful dame as you.



[Footnote 146: tall: Which our early dramatists generally use in the sense
of--bold, brave (see note ‡, p. 161), [i.e. note 94: is here perhaps equivalent
to--handsome. ("Tall or SEMELY." PROMPT. PARV. ed. 1499.)
]



BELLAMIRA.

And what said he?

PILIA-BORZA.

Not a wise word; only gave me a nod, as who should

say, "Is it even so?" and so I left him, being driven to a

non-plus at the critical aspect of my terrible countenance.

BELLAMIRA.

And where didst meet him?

PILIA-BORZA.

Upon mine own free-hold, within forty foot of the

gallows, conning his neck-verse, [147] I take it,

looking of [148] a friar's execution; whom I saluted

with an old hempen proverb, Hodie tibi, cras mihi,

and so I left him to the mercy of the hangman:

but, the exercise [149] being done, see where he comes.



[Footnote 147: neck-verse: i.e. the verse (generally the beginning of the
51st Psalm, MISERERE MEI, &c.) read by a criminal to entitle him to benefit of
clergy.]

[Footnote 148: of: i.e. on.]

[Footnote 149: exercise: i.e. sermon, preaching.]



[Enter ITHAMORE.]

ITHAMORE.

I never knew a man take his death so patiently as this friar; he was ready to
leap off ere the halter was about his neck; and, when the hangman had put on his
hempen tippet, he made such haste to his prayers, as if he had had another cure
to serve. Well, go whither he will, I'll be none of his followers in haste: and,
now I think on't, going to the execution, a fellow met me with a muschatoes
[150] like a raven's wing, and a dagger with a hilt like a warming-pan; and he
gave me a letter from one Madam Bellamira, saluting me in such sort as if he had
meant to make clean my boots with his lips; the effect was, that I should come
to her house: I wonder what the reason is; it may be she sees more in me than I
can find in myself; for she writes further, that she loves me ever since she saw
me; and who would not requite such love? Here's her house; and here she comes;
and now would I were gone! I am not worthy to look upon her.



[Footnote 150: with a muschatoes: i.e. with a pair of mustachios. The modern
editors print "with MUSTACHIOS," and "with a MUSTACHIOS": but compare,--

"My Tuskes more stiffe than are a Cats MUSCHATOES."

S. Rowley's NOBLE SPANISH SOLDIER, 1634, Sig. C.

"His crow-black MUCHATOES."

THE BLACK BOOK,--Middleton's WORKS, v. 516, ed. Dyce.
]



PILIA-BORZA.

This is the gentleman you writ to.

ITHAMORE.

Gentleman! he flouts me: what gentry can be in a poor

Turk of tenpence? [151] I'll be gone.

[Aside.]



[Footnote 151: Turk of tenpence: An expression not unfrequently used by our
early writers. So Taylor in some verses on Coriat;

"That if he had A TURKE OF TENPENCE bin," &c.

WORKES, p. 82, ed. 1630.

And see note on Middleton's WORKS, iii. 489, ed. Dyce.]



BELLAMIRA.

Is't not a sweet-faced youth, Pilia?

ITHAMORE.

Again, sweet youth! [Aside.]--Did not you, sir, bring

the sweet youth a letter?

PILIA-BORZA.

I did, sir, and from this gentlewoman, who, as

myself and the rest of the family, stand or fall at your service.

BELLAMIRA.

Though woman's modesty should hale me back,

I can withhold no longer: welcome, sweet love.

ITHAMORE.

Now am I clean, or rather foully, out of the way.

[Aside.]

BELLAMIRA.

Whither so soon?

ITHAMORE.

I'll go steal some money from my master to make me

handsome [Aside].--Pray, pardon me; I must go see a ship

discharged.

BELLAMIRA.

Canst thou be so unkind to leave me thus?

PILIA-BORZA.

An ye did but know how she loves you, sir!

ITHAMORE.

Nay, I care not how much she loves me.--Sweet

Bellamira, would I had my master's wealth for thy sake!

PILIA-BORZA.

And you can have it, sir, an if you please.

ITHAMORE.

If 'twere above ground, I could, and would have it;

but he hides and buries it up, as partridges do their eggs,

under the earth.

PILIA-BORZA.

And is't not possible to find it out?

ITHAMORE.

By no means possible.

BELLAMIRA.

What shall we do with this base villain, then?

[Aside to PILIA-BORZA.]

PILIA-BORZA.

Let me alone; do but you speak him fair.--

[Aside to her.]

But you know [152] some secrets of the Jew,

Which, if they were reveal'd, would do him harm.



[Footnote 152: you know: Qy. "you know, SIR,"?]



ITHAMORE.

Ay, and such as--go to, no more! I'll make him [153]

send me half he has, and glad he scapes so too: I'll write unto

him; we'll have money straight.



[Footnote 153: I'll make him, &c.: Old ed. thus:

"I'le make him send me half he has, & glad he scapes so too.

PEN AND INKE:

I'll write vnto him, we'le haue mony strait."

There can be no doubt that the words "Pen and inke" were a
direction to the property-man to have those articles on the stage.
]



PILIA-BORZA.

Send for a hundred crowns at least.

ITHAMORE.

Ten hundred thousand crowns.--[writing] MASTER BARABAS,--

PILIA-BORZA.

Write not so submissively, but threatening him.

ITHAMORE.

[writing]

SIRRAH BARABAS, SEND ME A HUNDRED CROWNS.

PILIA-BORZA.

Put in two hundred at least.

ITHAMORE.

[writing]

I CHARGE THEE SEND ME THREE HUNDRED BY THIS

BEARER, AND THIS SHALL BE YOUR WARRANT:

IF YOU DO NOT--NO MORE, BUT SO.

PILIA-BORZA.

Tell him you will confess.

ITHAMORE.

[writing]

OTHERWISE I'LL CONFESS ALL.--

Vanish, and return in a twinkle.

PILIA-BORZA.

Let me alone; I'll use him in his kind.

ITHAMORE.

Hang him, Jew!

[Exit PILIA-BORZA with the letter.]

BELLAMIRA.

Now, gentle Ithamore, lie in my lap.--

Where are my maids? provide a cunning [154] banquet;

Send to the merchant, bid him bring me silks;

Shall Ithamore, my love, go in such rags?



[Footnote 154: cunning: i.e. skilfully prepared.--Old ed. "running." (The
MAIDS are supposed to hear their mistress' orders WITHIN.)
]



ITHAMORE.

And bid the jeweller come hither too.

BELLAMIRA.

I have no husband; sweet, I'll marry thee.

ITHAMORE.

Content: but we will leave this paltry land,

And sail from hence to Greece, to lovely Greece;--

I'll be thy Jason, thou my golden fleece;--

Where painted carpets o'er the meads are hurl'd,

And Bacchus' vineyards overspread the world;

Where woods and forests go in goodly green;--

I'll be Adonis, thou shalt be Love's Queen;--

The meads, the orchards, and the primrose-lanes,

Instead of sedge and reed, bear sugar-canes:

Thou in those groves, by Dis above,

Shalt live with me, and be my love. [155]



[Footnote 155: Shalt live with me, and be my love: A line, slightly varied,
of Marlowe's well-known song. In the preceding line, the absurdity of "by Dis
ABOVE" is, of course, intentional.
]



BELLAMIRA.

Whither will I not go with gentle Ithamore?

[Re-enter PILIA-BORZA.]

ITHAMORE.

How now! hast thou the gold [?]

PILIA-BORZA.

Yes.

ITHAMORE.

But came it freely? did the cow give down her milk freely?

PILIA-BORZA.

At reading of the letter, he stared and stamped,

and turned aside: I took him by the beard, [156]

and looked upon him thus; told him he were best

to send it: then he hugged and embraced me.



[Footnote 156: beard: Old ed. "sterd."]



ITHAMORE.

Rather for fear than love.

PILIA-BORZA.

Then, like a Jew, he laughed and jeered, and told

me he loved me for your sake, and said what a

faithful servant you had been.

ITHAMORE.

The more villain he to keep me thus: here's goodly

'parel, is there not?

PILIA-BORZA.

To conclude, he gave me ten crowns.

[Delivers the money to ITHAMORE.]

ITHAMORE.

But ten? I'll not leave him worth a grey groat. Give

me a ream of paper: we'll have a kingdom of gold for't. [157]



[Footnote 157: give me a ream of paper: we'll have a kingdom of gold for't: A
quibble. REALM was frequently written ream; and frequently (as the following
passages shew), even when the former spelling was given, the L was not sounded;

"Vpon the siluer bosome of the STREAME

First gan faire Themis shake her amber locks,

Whom all the Nimphs that waight on Neptunes REALME

Attended from the hollowe of the rocks."

Lodge's SCILLAES METAMORPHOSIS, &c. 1589, Sig. A 2.

"How he may surest stablish his new conquerd REALME,

How of his glorie fardest to deriue the STREAME."

A HERINGS TAYLE, &c. 1598, Sig. D 3.

"Learchus slew his brother for the crowne;

So did Cambyses fearing much the DREAME;

Antiochus, of infamous renowne,

His brother slew, to rule alone the REALME."

MIROUR FOR MAGISTRATES, p. 78, ed. 1610.
]



PILIA-BORZA.

Write for five hundred crowns.

ITHAMORE.

[writing]

SIRRAH JEW, AS YOU LOVE YOUR LIFE, SEND ME

FIVE HUNDRED CROWNS, AND GIVE THE BEARER A HUNDRED.

--Tell him I must have't.

PILIA-BORZA.

I warrant, your worship shall have't.

ITHAMORE.

And, if he ask why I demand so much, tell him I scorn

to write a line under a hundred crowns.

PILIA-BORZA.

You'd make a rich poet, sir. I am gone.

[Exit with the letter.]

ITHAMORE.

Take thou the money; spend it for my sake.

BELLAMIRA.

'Tis not thy money, but thyself I weigh:

Thus Bellamira esteems of gold;

[Throws it aside.]

But thus of thee.

[Kisses him.]

ITHAMORE.

That kiss again!--She runs division [158] of my

lips. What an eye she casts on me! it twinkles like a star.

[Aside.]



[Footnote 158: runs division: "A musical term [of very common occurrence]."
STEEVENS (apud Dodsley's O. P.).
]

 

BELLAMIRA.

Come, my dear love, let's in and sleep together.

ITHAMORE.

O, that ten thousand nights were put in one, that

we might sleep seven years together afore we wake!

BELLAMIRA.

Come, amorous wag, first banquet, and then sleep.

[Exeunt.] _

 

Scene 5

ACT IV - SCENE V

 

[Enter BARABAS, [159] reading a letter.]

[Footnote 159: Enter BARABAS: The scene certainly seems to be
now the interior of Barabas's house, notwithstanding what he presently says to
Pilia-Borza (p. 171, sec. col.), "Pray, when, sir, shall I see you at my house?"
]



BARABAS.

BARABAS, SEND ME THREE HUNDRED CROWNS;--

Plain Barabas! O, that wicked courtezan!

He was not wont to call me Barabas;--

OR ELSE I WILL CONFESS;--ay, there it goes:

But, if I get him, coupe de gorge for that.

He sent a shaggy, tatter'd, [160] staring slave,

That, when he speaks, draws out his grisly beard,

And winds it twice or thrice about his ear;

Whose face has been a grind-stone for men's swords;

His hands are hack'd, some fingers cut quite off;

Who, when he speaks, grunts like a hog, and looks

Like one that is employ'd in catzery [161]

And cross-biting; [162] such a rogue

As is the husband to a hundred whores;

And I by him must send three hundred crowns.

Well, my hope is, he will not stay there still;

And, when he comes--O, that he were but here!

[Enter PILIA-BORZA.]



[Footnote 160: tatter'd: Old ed. "totter'd": but in a passage of our author's
EDWARD THE SECOND the two earliest 4tos have "TATTER'D robes":--and yet Reed in
a note on that passage (apud Dodsley's OLD PLAYS, where the reading of the third
4to, "tottered robes", is followed) boldly declares that "in every writer of
this period the word was spelt TOTTERED"! The truth is, it was spelt sometimes
one way, sometimes the other.
]

[Footnote 161: catzery: i.e. cheating, roguery. It is formed
from CATSO (CAZZO, see note *, p. 166 i.e. note 127), which our early writers
used, not only as an exclamation, but as an opprobrious term.
]



[Footnote 162: cross-biting: i.e. swindling (a cant term).--Something has
dropt out here.
]



PILIA-BORZA.

Jew, I must ha' more gold.

BARABAS.

Why, want'st thou any of thy tale? [163]



[Footnote 163: tale: i.e. reckoning.]



PILIA-BORZA.

No; but three hundred will not serve his turn.

BARABAS.

Not serve his turn, sir!

PILIA-BORZA.

No, sir; and therefore I must have five hundred more.

BARABAS.

I'll rather----

PILIA-BORZA.

O, good words, sir, and send it you were best! see,

there's his letter.

[Gives letter.]

BARABAS.

Might he not as well come as send? pray,

bid him come and fetch it: what he writes for you,

[164] ye shall have straight.



[Footnote 164: what he writes for you: i.e. the hundred crowns to be given to
the bearer: see p. 170, sec. col.

p. 170, second column, this play:

"ITHAMORE. [writing: SIRRAH JEW, AS YOU LOVE YOUR LIFE,

SEND ME FIVE HUNDRED CROWNS, AND GIVE THE BEARER A HUNDRED.

--Tell him I must have't."
]

 

PILIA-BORZA.

Ay, and the rest too, or else----

BARABAS.

I must make this villain away [Aside].--Please you dine

with me, sir--and you shall be most heartily poisoned.

[Aside.]

PILIA-BORZA.

No, God-a-mercy. Shall I have these crowns?

BARABAS.

I cannot do it; I have lost my keys.

PILIA-BORZA.

O, if that be all, I can pick ope your locks.

BARABAS.

Or climb up to my counting-house window: you know my meaning.

PILIA-BORZA.

I know enough, and therefore talk not to me of

your counting-house. The gold! or know, Jew,

it is in my power to hang thee.

BARABAS.

I am betray'd.--

[Aside.]

'Tis not five hundred crowns that I esteem;

I am not mov'd at that: this angers me,

That he, who knows I love him as myself,

Should write in this imperious vein. Why, sir,

You know I have no child, and unto whom

Should I leave all, but unto Ithamore?

PILIA-BORZA.

Here's many words, but no crowns: the crowns!

BARABAS.

Commend me to him, sir, most humbly,

And unto your good mistress as unknown.

PILIA-BORZA.

Speak, shall I have 'em, sir?

BARABAS. Sir, here they are.--

[Gives money.]

O, that I should part [165] with so much gold!--

[Aside.]

Here, take 'em, fellow, with as good a will----

As I would see thee hang'd [Aside]. O, love stops my breath!

Never lov'd man servant as I do Ithamore.



[Footnote 165: I should part: Qy. "I E'ER should part"?]



PILIA-BORZA.

I know it, sir.

BARABAS.

Pray, when, sir, shall I see you at my house?

PILIA-BORZA.

Soon enough to your cost, sir. Fare you well.

[Exit.]

BARABAS.

Nay, to thine own cost, villain, if thou com'st!

Was ever Jew tormented as I am?

To have a shag-rag knave to come [force from me]

Three hundred crowns, and then five hundred crowns!

Well; I must seek a means to rid [166] 'em all,

And presently; for in his villany

He will tell all he knows, and I shall die for't.

I have it:

I will in some disguise go see the slave,

And how the villain revels with my gold.

[Footnote 166: rid: i.e. despatch, destroy.]

[Exit.] _

Scene 6

_ ACT IV - SCENE VI

 

[Enter BELLAMIRA, [167] ITHAMORE, and PILIA-BORZA.]

[Footnote 167: Enter BELLAMIRA, &c.: They are supposed to be
sitting in a veranda or open portico of Bellamira's house: see note *, p. 168.
[i.e. note 145.
]



BELLAMIRA.

I'll pledge thee, love, and therefore drink it off.

ITHAMORE.

Say'st thou me so? have at it! and do you hear?

[Whispers to her.]

BELLAMIRA.

Go to, it shall be so.

ITHAMORE.

Of [168] that condition I will drink it up:

Here's to thee.



[Footnote 168: Of: i.e. on.]



BELLAMIRA.

[169] Nay, I'll have all or none.



[Footnote 169: BELLAMIRA.: Old ed. "Pil."]



ITHAMORE.

There, if thou lov'st me, do not leave a drop.

BELLAMIRA.

Love thee! fill me three glasses.

ITHAMORE.

Three and fifty dozen: I'll pledge thee.

PILIA-BORZA.

Knavely spoke, and like a knight-at-arms.

ITHAMORE.

Hey, Rivo Castiliano! [170] a man's a man.

 

[Footnote 170: Rivo Castiliano: The origin of this
Bacchanalian exclamation has not been discovered. RIVO generally is used alone;
but, among passages parallel to that of our text, is the following one (which
has been often cited),--



"And RYUO will he cry and CASTILE too."

LOOKE ABOUT YOU, 1600, Sig. L. 4.



A writer in THE WESTMINSTER REVIEW, vol. xliii. 53, thinks that it "is a
misprint for RICO-CASTELLANO, meaning a Spaniard belonging to the class of RICOS
HOMBRES, and the phrase therefore is--

'Hey, NOBLE CASTILIAN, a man's a man!'

'I can pledge like a man and drink like a man, MY WORTHY
TROJAN;' as some of our farce-writers would say." But the frequent occurrence of
RIVO in various authors proves that it is NOT a misprint.
]

 

BELLAMIRA.

Now to the Jew.

ITHAMORE.

Ha! to the Jew; and send me money he [171] were best.



[Footnote 171: he: Old ed. "you".]



PILIA-BORZA.

What wouldst thou do, if he should send thee none?

ITHAMORE.

Do nothing: but I know what I know; he's a murderer.

BELLAMIRA.

I had not thought he had been so brave a man.

ITHAMORE.

You knew Mathias and the governor's son; he and I

killed 'em both, and yet never touched 'em.

PILIA-BORZA.

O, bravely done!

ITHAMORE.

I carried the broth that poisoned the nuns; and he

and I, snicle hand too fast, strangled a friar. [172]



[Footnote 172: and he and I, snicle hand too fast, strangled a friar] There
is surely some corruption here. Steevens (apud Dodsley's O. P.) proposes to read
"hand TO FIST". Gilchrist (ibid.) observes, "a snicle is a north-country word
for a noose, and when a person is hanged, they say he is snicled." See too, in
V. SNICKLE, Forby's VOC. OF EAST ANGLIA, and the CRAVEN DIALECT.--The Rev. J.
Mitford proposes the following (very violent) alteration of this passage;

"Itha. I carried the broth that poisoned the nuns; and he and
I--

Pilia. Two hands snickle-fast--

Itha. Strangled a friar."
]

 

BELLAMIRA.

You two alone?

ITHAMORE.

We two; and 'twas never known, nor never shall be for me.

PILIA-BORZA.

This shall with me unto the governor.

[Aside to BELLAMIRA.]

BELLAMIRA.

And fit it should: but first let's ha' more gold.--

[Aside to PILIA-BORZA.]

Come, gentle Ithamore, lie in my lap.

ITHAMORE.

Love me little, love me long: let music rumble,

Whilst I in thy incony [173] lap do tumble.

[Enter BARABAS, disguised as a French musician, with a lute, and
a nosegay in his hat.]



[Footnote 173: incony: i.e. fine, pretty, delicate.--Old ed. "incoomy."]



BELLAMIRA.

A French musician!--Come, let's hear your skill.

BARABAS.

Must tuna my lute for sound, twang, twang, first.

ITHAMORE.

Wilt drink, Frenchman? here's to thee with a--Pox on

this drunken hiccup!

BARABAS.

Gramercy, monsieur.

BELLAMIRA.

Prithee, Pilia-Borza, bid the fiddler give me the

posy in his hat there.

PILIA-BORZA.

Sirrah, you must give my mistress your posy.

BARABAS.

A votre commandement, madame.

[Giving nosegay.]

BELLAMIRA.

How sweet, my Ithamore, the flowers smell!

ITHAMORE.

Like thy breath, sweetheart; no violet like 'em.

PILIA-BORZA.

Foh! methinks they stink like a hollyhock. [174]



[Footnote 174: they stink like a hollyhock: "This flower, however, has no
offensive smell. STEEVENS (apud Dodsley's O. P.). Its odour resembles that of
the poppy.
]



BARABAS.

So, now I am reveng'd upon 'em all:

The scent thereof was death; I poison'd it.

[Aside.]

ITHAMORE.

Play, fiddler, or I'll cut your cat's guts into chitterlings.

BARABAS.

Pardonnez moi, be no in tune yet: so, now, now all be in.

ITHAMORE.

Give him a crown, and fill me out more wine.

PILIA-BORZA.

There's two crowns for thee: play.

[Giving money.]

BARABAS.

How liberally the villain gives me mine own gold!

[Aside, and then plays.]

PILIA-BORZA.

Methinks he fingers very well.

BARABAS.

So did you when you stole my gold.

[Aside.]

PILIA-BORZA.

How swift he runs!

BARABAS.

You run swifter when you threw my gold out of my window.

[Aside.]

BELLAMIRA.

Musician, hast been in Malta long?

BARABAS.

Two, three, four month, madam.

ITHAMORE.

Dost not know a Jew, one Barabas?

BARABAS.

Very mush: monsieur, you no be his man?

PILIA-BORZA.

His man!

ITHAMORE.

I scorn the peasant: tell him so.

BARABAS.

He knows it already.

[Aside.]

ITHAMORE.

'Tis a strange thing of that Jew, he lives upon

pickled grasshoppers and sauced mushrooms. [175]



[Footnote 175: mushrooms: For this word (as, indeed, for most words) our
early writers had no fixed spelling. Here the old ed. has "Mushrumbs": and in
our author's EDWARD THE SECOND, the 4tos have "mushrump."
]



BARABAS.

What a slave's this! the governor feeds not as I do.

[Aside.]

ITHAMORE.

He never put on clean shirt since he was circumcised.

BARABAS. O rascal! I change myself twice a-day.

[Aside.]

ITHAMORE.

The hat he wears, Judas left under the elder when he

hanged himself. [176]



[Footnote 176: under the elder when he hanged himself: That Judas hanged
himself on an elder-tree, was a popular legend. Nay, the very tree was exhibited
to the curious in Sir John Mandeville's days: "And faste by, is zit the Tree of
Eldre, that Judas henge him self upon, for despeyt that he hadde, whan he solde
and betrayed oure Lorde." VOIAGE AND TRAVAILE, &c. p. 112. ed. 1725. But,
according to Pulci, Judas had recourse to a carob-tree:

"Era di sopra a la fonte UN CARRUBBIO,

L'ARBOR, SI DICE, OVE S'IMPICCO GIUDA," &c.

MORGANTE MAG. C. xxv. st. 77.
]



BARABAS.

'Twas sent me for a present from the Great Cham.

[Aside.]

PILIA-BORZA.

A nasty [177] slave he is.--Whither now, fiddler?



[Footnote 177: nasty: Old ed. "masty."]

BARABAS.

Pardonnez moi, monsieur; me [178] be no well.



[Footnote 178: me: Old ed. "we".]



PILIA-BORZA.

Farewell, fiddler

[Exit BARABAS.]

One letter more to the Jew.

BELLAMIRA.

Prithee, sweet love, one more, and write it sharp.

ITHAMORE.

No, I'll send by word of mouth now.

--Bid him deliver thee a thousand crowns, by the

same token that the nuns loved rice, that Friar

Barnardine slept in his own clothes; any of 'em

will do it.

PILIA-BORZA.

Let me alone to urge it, now I know the meaning.

ITHAMORE.

The meaning has a meaning. Come, let's in:

To undo a Jew is charity, and not sin.

[Exeunt.] _

 

Act 5 -

Scene 1

 

ACT V - SCENE I

 

Enter FERNEZE, [179] KNIGHTS, MARTIN DEL BOSCO, and OFFICERS.



[Footnote 179: Enter Ferneze, &c.: Scene, the interior of the Council-house.]



FERNEZE.

Now, gentlemen, betake you to your arms,

And see that Malta be well fortified;

And it behoves you to be resolute;

For Calymath, having hover'd here so long,

Will win the town, or die before the walls.

FIRST KNIGHT.

And die he shall; for we will never yield.

[Enter BELLAMIRA and PILIA-BORZA.]

BELLAMIRA.

O, bring us to the governor!

FERNEZE.

Away with her! she is a courtezan.

BELLAMIRA.

Whate'er I am, yet, governor, hear me speak:

I bring thee news by whom thy son was slain:

Mathias did it not; it was the Jew.

PILIA-BORZA.

Who, besides the slaughter of these gentlemen,

Poison'd his own daughter and the nuns,

Strangled a friar, and I know not what

Mischief beside.

FERNEZE.

Had we but proof of this----

BELLAMIRA.

Strong proof, my lord: his man's now at my lodging,

That was his agent; he'll confess it all.

FERNEZE.

Go fetch him [180] straight [Exeunt OFFICERS].

I always fear'd that Jew.

[Re-enter OFFICERS with BARABAS and ITHAMORE.]



[Footnote 180: him: Qy. "'em"?]



BARABAS.

I'll go alone; dogs, do not hale me thus.

ITHAMORE.

Nor me neither; I cannot out-run you, constable.--O, my belly!

BARABAS.

One dram of powder more had made all sure:

What a damn'd slave was I!

[Aside.]

FERNEZE.

Make fires, heat irons, let the rack be fetch'd.

FIRST KNIGHT.

Nay, stay, my lord; 't may be he will confess.

BARABAS.

Confess! what mean you, lords? who should confess?

FERNEZE.

Thou and thy Turk; 'twas that slew my son.

ITHAMORE.

Guilty, my lord, I confess. Your son and Mathias

were both contracted unto Abigail:

[he] forged a counterfeit challenge.

BARABAS.

Who carried that challenge?

ITHAMORE.

I carried it, I confess; but who writ it? marry,

even he that strangled Barnardine, poisoned the

nuns and his own daughter.

FERNEZE.

Away with him! his sight is death to me.

BARABAS.

For what, you men of Malta? hear me speak.

She is a courtezan, and he a thief,

And he my bondman: let me have law;

For none of this can prejudice my life.

FERNEZE.

Once more, away with him!--You shall have law.

BARABAS.

Devils, do your worst!--I['ll] live in spite of you.--

[Aside.]

As these have spoke, so be it to their souls!--

I hope the poison'd flowers will work anon.

[Aside.]

[Exeunt OFFICERS with BARABAS and ITHAMORE; BELLAMIRA, and
PILIA-BORZA.]

[Enter KATHARINE.]

KATHARINE.

Was my Mathias murder'd by the Jew?

Ferneze, 'twas thy son that murder'd him.

FERNEZE.

Be patient, gentle madam: it was he;

He forg'd the daring challenge made them fight.

KATHARINE.

Where is the Jew? where is that murderer?

FERNEZE.

In prison, till the law has pass'd on him.

[Re-enter FIRST OFFICER.]

FIRST OFFICER.

My lord, the courtezan and her man are dead;

So is the Turk and Barabas the Jew.

FERNEZE.

Dead!

FIRST OFFICER.

Dead, my lord, and here they bring his body.

MARTIN DEL BOSCO.

This sudden death of his is very strange.

[Re-enter OFFICERS, carrying BARABAS as dead.]

FERNEZE.

Wonder not at it, sir; the heavens are just;

Their deaths were like their lives; then think not of 'em.--

Since they are dead, let them be buried:

For the Jew's body, throw that o'er the walls,

To be a prey for vultures and wild beasts.--

So, now away and fortify the town.

[Exeunt all, leaving BARABAS on the floor.] [181]

[Footnote 181: Exeunt all, leaving Barabas on the floor: Here
the audience were to suppose that Barabas had been thrown over the walls, and
that the stage now represented the outside of the city.
] _

Scene 2

ACT V - SCENE II

 

[BARABAS discovered rising]



BARABAS.

What, all alone! well fare, sleepy drink!

I'll be reveng'd on this accursed town;

For by my means Calymath shall enter in:

I'll help to slay their children and their wives,

To fire the churches, pull their houses down,

Take my goods too, and seize upon my lands.

I hope to see the governor a slave,

And, rowing in a galley, whipt to death.

[Enter CALYMATH, BASSOES, <182> and TURKS.]



[Footnote 182: Bassoes: Here old ed. "Bashawes." See note Sec., p. 164.
[Footnote i.e. note 117.]]



CALYMATH.

Whom have we there? a spy?

BARABAS.

Yes, my good lord, one that can spy a place

Where you may enter, and surprize the town:

My name is Barabas; I am a Jew.

CALYMATH.

Art thou that Jew whose goods we heard were sold

For tribute-money?

BARABAS.

The very same, my lord:

And since that time they have hir'd a slave, my man,

To accuse me of a thousand villanies:

I was imprisoned, but scap [']d their hands.

CALYMATH.

Didst break prison?

BARABAS.

No, no:

I drank of poppy and cold mandrake juice;

And being asleep, belike they thought me dead,

And threw me o'er the walls: so, or how else,

The Jew is here, and rests at your command.

CALYMATH.

'Twas bravely done: but tell me, Barabas,

Canst thou, as thou report'st, make Malta ours?

BARABAS.

Fear not, my lord; for here, against the trench, [183]

The rock is hollow, and of purpose digg'd,

To make a passage for the running streams

And common channels [184] of the city.

Now, whilst you give assault unto the walls,

I'll lead five hundred soldiers through the vault,

And rise with them i' the middle of the town,

Open the gates for you to enter in;

And by this means the city is your own.



[Footnote 183: trench: A doubtful reading.--Old ed. "Truce."--"Query
'sluice'? 'TRUCE' seems unintelligible." COLLIER (apud Dodsley's O. P.).--The
Rev. J. Mitford proposes "turret" or "tower."
]

[Footnote 184: channels: i.e. kennels.]



CALYMATH.

If this be true, I'll make thee governor.

BARABAS.

And, if it be not true, then let me die.

CALYMATH.

Thou'st doom'd thyself.--Assault it presently.

[Exeunt.] _

Scene 3

_ ACT V - SCENE III

 

[Alarums within. Enter CALYMATH, [185] BASSOES, TURKS, and
BARABAS; with FERNEZE and KNIGHTS prisoners.]



[Footnote 185: Enter CALYMATH, &c.: Scene, an open place in the city.]



CALYMATH.

Now vail [186] your pride, you captive Christians,

And kneel for mercy to your conquering foe:

Now where's the hope you had of haughty Spain?

Ferneze, speak; had it not been much better

To kept [187] thy promise than be thus surpris'd?



[Footnote 186: vail: i.e. lower, stoop.]

[Footnote 187: To kept: i.e. To have kept.]



FERNEZE.

What should I say? we are captives, and must yield.

CALYMATH.

Ay, villains, you must yield, and under Turkish yokes

Shall groaning bear the burden of our ire:--

And, Barabas, as erst we promis'd thee,

For thy desert we make thee governor;

Use them at thy discretion.

BARABAS.

Thanks, my lord.

FERNEZE.

O fatal day, to fall into the hands

Of such a traitor and unhallow'd Jew!

What greater misery could heaven inflict?

CALYMATH.

'Tis our command:--and, Barabas, we give,

To guard thy person, these our Janizaries:

Entreat [188] them well, as we have used thee.--

And now, brave bassoes, [189] come; we'll walk about

The ruin'd town, and see the wreck we made.--

Farewell, brave Jew, farewell, great Barabas!



[Footnote 188: Entreat: i.e. Treat.]

[Footnote 189: Bassoes: Here old ed. "Bashawes." See note
Sec., p. 164.[Footnote i.e. note 117.]
]



BARABAS.

May all good fortune follow Calymath!

[Exeunt CALYMATH and BASSOES.]

And now, as entrance to our safety,

To prison with the governor and these

Captains, his consorts and confederates.

FERNEZE.

O villain! heaven will be reveng'd on thee.

BARABAS.

Away! no more; let him not trouble me.

[Exeunt TURKS with FERNEZE and KNIGHTS.]

Thus hast thou gotten, [190] by thy policy,

No simple place, no small authority:

I now am governor of Malta; true,--

But Malta hates me, and, in hating me,

My life's in danger; and what boots it thee,

Poor Barabas, to be the governor,

Whenas [191] thy life shall be at their command?

No, Barabas, this must be look'd into;

And, since by wrong thou gott'st authority,

Maintain it bravely by firm policy;

At least, unprofitably lose it not;

For he that liveth in authority,

And neither gets him friends nor fills his bags,

Lives like the ass that Aesop speaketh of,

That labours with a load of bread and wine,

And leaves it off to snap on thistle-tops:

But Barabas will be more circumspect.

Begin betimes; Occasion's bald behind:

Slip not thine opportunity, for fear too late

Thou seek'st for much, but canst not compass it.--

Within here! [192]

[Enter FERNEZE, with a GUARD.]



[Footnote 190: Thus hast thou gotten, &c.: A change of scene is supposed
here--to the Citadel, the residence of Barabas as governor.
]

[Footnote 191: Whenas: i.e. When.

[Footnote 192: Within here: The usual exclamation is "Within
THERE!" but compare THE HOGGE HATH LOST HIS PEARLE (by R. Tailor), 1614; "What,
ho! within HERE!" Sig. E 2.
]

 

FERNEZE.

My lord?

BARABAS.

Ay, LORD; thus slaves will learn.

Now, governor,--stand by there, wait within,--

[Exeunt GUARD.]

This is the reason that I sent for thee:

Thou seest thy life and Malta's happiness

Are at my arbitrement; and Barabas

At his discretion may dispose of both:

Now tell me, governor, and plainly too,

What think'st thou shall become of it and thee?

FERNEZE.

This, Barabas; since things are in thy power,

I see no reason but of Malta's wreck,

Nor hope of thee but extreme cruelty:

Nor fear I death, nor will I flatter thee.

BARABAS.

Governor, good words; be not so furious

'Tis not thy life which can avail me aught;

Yet you do live, and live for me you shall:

And as for Malta's ruin, think you not

'Twere slender policy for Barabas

To dispossess himself of such a place?

For sith, [193] as once you said, within this isle,

In Malta here, that I have got my goods,

And in this city still have had success,

And now at length am grown your governor,

Yourselves shall see it shall not be forgot;

For, as a friend not known but in distress,

I'll rear up Malta, now remediless.



[Footnote 193: sith: i.e. since.]



FERNEZE.

Will Barabas recover Malta's loss?

Will Barabas be good to Christians?

BARABAS.

What wilt thou give me, governor, to procure

A dissolution of the slavish bands

Wherein the Turk hath yok'd your land and you?

What will you give me if I render you

The life of Calymath, surprise his men,

And in an out-house of the city shut

His soldiers, till I have consum'd 'em all with fire?

What will you give him that procureth this?

FERNEZE.

Do but bring this to pass which thou pretendest,

Deal truly with us as thou intimatest,

And I will send amongst the citizens,

And by my letters privately procure

Great sums of money for thy recompense:

Nay, more, do this, and live thou governor still.

BARABAS.

Nay, do thou this, Ferneze, and be free:

Governor, I enlarge thee; live with me;

Go walk about the city, see thy friends:

Tush, send not letters to 'em; go thyself,

And let me see what money thou canst make:

Here is my hand that I'll set Malta free;

And thus we cast [194] it: to a solemn feast

I will invite young Selim Calymath,

Where be thou present, only to perform

One stratagem that I'll impart to thee,

Wherein no danger shall betide thy life,

And I will warrant Malta free for ever.



[Footnote 194: cast: i.e. plot, contrive.]



FERNEZE.

Here is my hand; believe me, Barabas,

I will be there, and do as thou desirest.

When is the time?

BARABAS.

Governor, presently;

For Calymath, when he hath view'd the town,

Will take his leave, and sail toward Ottoman.

FERNEZE.

Then will I, Barabas, about this coin,

And bring it with me to thee in the evening.

BARABAS.

Do so; but fail not: now farewell, Ferneze:--

[Exit FERNEZE.]

And thus far roundly goes the business:

Thus, loving neither, will I live with both,

Making a profit of my policy;

And he from whom my most advantage comes,

Shall be my friend.

This is the life we Jews are us'd to lead;

And reason too, for Christians do the like.

Well, now about effecting this device;

First, to surprise great Selim's soldiers,

And then to make provision for the feast,

That at one instant all things may be done:

My policy detests prevention.

To what event my secret purpose drives,

I know; and they shall witness with their lives.

[Exeunt.] _

Scene 4

_ ACT V - SCENE IV

 

[Enter CALYMATH and BASSOES.] [195]

[Footnote 195: Bassoes: Here and afterwards old ed.
"Bashawes." See note Sec., p. 164. [i.e. note 117.]--Scene, outside the walls of
the city.
]



CALYMATH.

Thus have we view'd the city, seen the sack,

And caus'd the ruins to be new-repair'd,

Which with our bombards' shot and basilisk[s] [196]

We rent in sunder at our entry:

And, now I see the situation,

And how secure this conquer'd island stands,

Environ'd with the Mediterranean sea,

Strong-countermin'd with other petty isles,

And, toward Calabria, [197] back'd by Sicily

(Where Syracusian Dionysius reign'd),

Two lofty turrets that command the town,

I wonder how it could be conquer'd thus.

[Enter a MESSENGER.]



[Footnote 196: basilisk[s: See note ‡, p. 25.

[note ||, p. 25, The First Part of Tamburlaine the Great:

"|| basilisks: Pieces of ordnance so called. They were of

immense size; see Douce's ILLUST. OF SHAKESPEARE, i. 425."
]



[Footnote 197: And, toward Calabria, &c.: So the Editor of 1826.--Old ed.
thus:

"And toward Calabria back'd by Sicily,

Two lofty Turrets that command the Towne.

WHEN Siracusian Dionisius reign'd;

I wonder how it could be conquer'd thus?"
]



MESSENGER.

From Barabas, Malta's governor, I bring

A message unto mighty Calymath:

Hearing his sovereign was bound for sea,

To sail to Turkey, to great Ottoman,

He humbly would entreat your majesty

To come and see his homely citadel,

And banquet with him ere thou leav'st the isle.

CALYMATH.

To banquet with him in his citadel!

I fear me, messenger, to feast my train

Within a town of war so lately pillag'd,

Will be too costly and too troublesome:

Yet would I gladly visit Barabas,

For well has Barabas deserv'd of us.

MESSENGER.

Selim, for that, thus saith the governor,--

That he hath in [his] store a pearl so big,

So precious, and withal so orient,

As, be it valu'd but indifferently,

The price thereof will serve to entertain

Selim and all his soldiers for a month;

Therefore he humbly would entreat your highness

Not to depart till he has feasted you.

CALYMATH.

I cannot feast my men in Malta-walls,

Except he place his tables in the streets.

MESSENGER.

Know, Selim, that there is a monastery

Which standeth as an out-house to the town;

There will he banquet them; but thee at home,

With all thy bassoes and brave followers.

CALYMATH.

Well, tell the governor we grant his suit;

We'll in this summer-evening feast with him.

MESSENGER.

I shall, my lord.

[Exit.]

CALYMATH.

And now, bold bassoes, let us to our tents,

And meditate how we may grace us best,

To solemnize our governor's great feast.

[Exeunt.] _

 

Scene 5

ACT V - SCENE V

 

[Enter FERNEZE, [198] KNIGHTS, and MARTIN DEL BOSCO.]

[Footnote 198: Enter FERNEZE, &c.: Scene, a street.]



FERNEZE.

In this, my countrymen, be rul'd by me:

Have special care that no man sally forth

Till you shall hear a culverin discharg'd

By him that bears the linstock, [199] kindled thus;

Then issue out and come to rescue me,

For happily I shall be in distress,

Or you released of this servitude.



[Footnote 199: linstock: "i.e. the long match with which cannon are fired."
STEEVENS (apud Dodsley's O. P.).
]

FIRST KNIGHT.

Rather than thus to live as Turkish thralls,

What will we not adventure?

FERNEZE.

On, then; be gone.

KNIGHTS.

Farewell, grave governor.

[Exeunt, on one side, KNIGHTS and MARTIN DEL BOSCO;

on the other, FERNEZE.] _

Scene 6

 

_ ACT V - SCENE VI

 

[Enter, above, [200] BARABAS, with a hammer, very busy; and
CARPENTERS.]

[Footnote 200: Enter, above, &c.: Scene, a hall in the Citadel,
with a gallery.]

BARABAS.

How stand the cords? how hang these hinges? fast?

Are all the cranes and pulleys sure?

FIRST CARPENTER. [201]

All fast.



[Footnote 201: FIRST CARPENTER: Old ed. here "Serv."; but it gives "CARP." as
the prefix to the second speech after this.
]



BARABAS.

Leave nothing loose, all levell'd to my mind.

Why, now I see that you have art, indeed:

There, carpenters, divide that gold amongst you;

[Giving money.]

Go, swill in bowls of sack and muscadine;

Down to the cellar, taste of all my wines.

FIRST CARPENTER.

We shall, my lord, and thank you.

[Exeunt CARPENTERS.]

BARABAS.

And, if you like them, drink your fill and die;

For, so I live, perish may all the world!

Now, Selim Calymath, return me word

That thou wilt come, and I am satisfied.

[Enter MESSENGER.]

Now, sirrah; what, will he come?

MESSENGER.

He will; and has commanded all his men

To come ashore, and march through Malta-streets,

That thou mayst feast them in thy citadel.

BARABAS.

Then now are all things as my wish would have 'em;

There wanteth nothing but the governor's pelf;

And see, he brings it.

[Enter FERNEZE.]

Now, governor, the sum?

FERNEZE.

With free consent, a hundred thousand pounds.

BARABAS.

Pounds say'st thou, governor? well, since it is no more,

I'll satisfy myself with that; nay, keep it still,

For, if I keep not promise, trust not me:

And, governor, now partake my policy.

First, for his army, they are sent before,

Enter'd the monastery, and underneath

In several places are field-pieces pitch'd,

Bombards, whole barrels full of gunpowder,

That on the sudden shall dissever it,

And batter all the stones about their ears,

Whence none can possibly escape alive:

Now, as for Calymath and his consorts,

Here have I made a dainty gallery,

The floor whereof, this cable being cut,

Doth fall asunder, so that it doth sink

Into a deep pit past recovery.

Here, hold that knife; and, when thou seest he comes,

[Throws down a knife.]

And with his bassoes shall be blithely set,

A warning-piece shall be shot off [202] from the tower,

To give thee knowledge when to cut the cord,

And fire the house. Say, will not this be brave?



[Footnote 202: off: An interpolation perhaps.]

 

FERNEZE.

O, excellent! here, hold thee, Barabas;

I trust thy word; take what I promis'd thee.

BARABAS.

No, governor; I'll satisfy thee first;

Thou shalt not live in doubt of any thing.

Stand close, for here they come.

[FERNEZE retires.]

Why, is not this

A kingly kind of trade, to purchase towns

By treachery, and sell 'em by deceit?

Now tell me, worldlings, underneath the sun [203]

If greater falsehood ever has been done?

[Enter CALYMATH and BASSOES.]



[Footnote 203: sun: Old ed. "summe."]



CALYMATH.

Come, my companion-bassoes: see, I pray,

How busy Barabas is there above

To entertain us in his gallery:

Let us salute him.--Save thee, Barabas!

BARABAS.

Welcome, great Calymath!

FERNEZE.

How the slave jeers at him!

[Aside.]

BARABAS.

Will't please thee, mighty Selim Calymath,

To ascend our homely stairs?

CALYMATH.

Ay, Barabas.--

Come, bassoes, ascend. [204]



[Footnote 204: ascend: Old ed. "attend."]



FERNEZE.

[coming forward]

Stay, Calymath;

For I will shew thee greater courtesy

Than Barabas would have afforded thee.

KNIGHT.

[within]

Sound a charge there!

[A charge sounded within: FERNEZE cuts the cord;

the floor of the gallery gives way, and BARABAS

falls into a caldron placed in a pit.

[Enter KNIGHTS and MARTIN DEL BOSCO.] [205]



[Footnote 205: A charge sounded within: FERNEZE cuts the cord; the floor of
the gallery gives way, and BARABAS falls into a caldron placed in a pit.

Enter KNIGHTS and MARTIN DEL BOSCO

Old ed. has merely "A charge, the cable cut, A Caldron
discouered."
]

 

CALYMATH.

How now! what means this?

BARABAS.

Help, help me, Christians, help!

FERNEZE.

See, Calymath! this was devis'd for thee.

CALYMATH.

Treason, treason! bassoes, fly!

FERNEZE.

No, Selim, do not fly:

See his end first, and fly then if thou canst.

BARABAS.

O, help me, Selim! help me, Christians!

Governor, why stand you all so pitiless?

FERNEZE.

Should I in pity of thy plaints or thee,

Accursed Barabas, base Jew, relent?

No, thus I'll see thy treachery repaid,

But wish thou hadst behav'd thee otherwise.

BARABAS.

You will not help me, then?

FERNEZE.

No, villain, no.

BARABAS.

And, villains, know you cannot help me now.--

Then, Barabas, breathe forth thy latest fate,

And in the fury of thy torments strive

To end thy life with resolution.--

Know, governor, 'twas I that slew thy son,--

I fram'd the challenge that did make them meet:

Know, Calymath, I aim'd thy overthrow:

And, had I but escap'd this stratagem,

I would have brought confusion on you all,

Damn'd Christian [206] dogs, and Turkish infidels!

But now begins the extremity of heat

To pinch me with intolerable pangs:

Die, life! fly, soul! tongue, curse thy fill, and die!

[Dies.]



[Footnote 206: Christian: Old ed. "Christians."]



CALYMATH.

Tell me, you Christians, what doth this portend?

FERNEZE.

This train [207] he laid to have entrapp'd thy life;

Now, Selim, note the unhallow'd deeds of Jews;

Thus he determin'd to have handled thee,

But I have rather chose to save thy life.



[Footnote 207: train: i.e. stratagem.]



CALYMATH.

Was this the banquet he prepar'd for us?

Let's hence, lest further mischief be pretended. [208]

[Footnote 208: pretended: i.e. intended.]

FERNEZE.

Nay, Selim, stay; for, since we have thee here,

We will not let thee part so suddenly:

Besides, if we should let thee go, all's one,

For with thy galleys couldst thou not get hence,

Without fresh men to rig and furnish them.

CALYMATH.

Tush, governor, take thou no care for that;

My men are all aboard,

And do attend my coming there by this.

FERNEZE.

Why, heard'st thou not the trumpet sound a charge?

CALYMATH.

Yes, what of that?

FERNEZE.

Why, then the house was fir'd,

Blown up, and all thy soldiers massacred.

CALYMATH.

O, monstrous treason!

FERNEZE.

A Jew's courtesy;

For he that did by treason work our fall,

By treason hath deliver'd thee to us:

Know, therefore, till thy father hath made good

The ruins done to Malta and to us,

Thou canst not part; for Malta shall be freed,

Or Selim ne'er return to Ottoman.

CALYMATH.

Nay, rather, Christians, let me go to Turkey,

In person there to mediate [209] your peace:

To keep me here will naught advantage you.



[Footnote 209: mediate: Old ed. "meditate."]



FERNEZE.

Content thee, Calymath, here thou must stay,

And live in Malta prisoner; for come all [210] the world

To rescue thee, so will we guard us now,

As sooner shall they drink the ocean dry,

Than conquer Malta, or endanger us.

So, march away; and let due praise be given

Neither to Fate nor Fortune, but to Heaven.

[Exeunt.]

[Footnote 210: all: Old ed. "call."]





 

[THE END]

Christopher Marlowe's Play: Jew of Malta

 

 

 

 




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