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_ ACT IV - SCENE I
[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.] _
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