Act
IV
Scene
I
Enter Barabas and Ithamore. Bells within.
Barabas
There is no music to 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.
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 lived so long,
An Hebrew born, and would become a Christian!
Cazzo, diabolo.
Enter Friar Jacomo and Friar Barnadine.
Ithamore
Look, look, master; here come two religious caterpillars.
Barabas
I smelt ’em ere they came.
Ithamore
God-a-mercy, nose! come, let’s begone.
Friar Barnadine
Stay, wicked Jew, repent, I say, and stay.
Friar Jacomo
Thou hast offended, therefore must be damned.
Barabas
I fear they know we sent the poisoned broth.
Ithamore
And so do I, master; therefore speak ’em fair.
Friar Barnadine
Barabas, thou hast—
Friar Jacomo
Ay, that thou hast—
Barabas
True, I have money, what though I have?
Friar Barnadine
Thou art a—
Friar Jacomo
Ay, that thou art, a—
Barabas
What needs all this? I know I am a Jew.
Friar Barnadine
Thy daughter—
Friar Jacomo
Ay, thy daughter—
Barabas
O speak not of her! then I die with grief.
Friar Barnadine
Remember that—
Friar Jacomo
Ay, remember that—
Barabas
I must needs say that I have been a great usurer.
Friar Barnadine
Thou hast committed—
Barabas
Fornication—but that was in another country;
And besides, the wench is dead.
Friar Barnadine
Ay, but, Barabas,
Remember Mathias and Don Lodowick.
Barabas
Why, what of them?
Friar Barnadine
I will not say that by a forged challenge they met.
Barabas
She has confessed, and we are both undone,
My bosom inmate! but I must dissemble.—Aside.
O holy friars, the burden of my sins
Lie heavy 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—
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 full of wheat,
Warehouses stuffed 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 unsold:
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 baptized, and live therein.
Friar Jacomo
O good Barabas, come to our house.
Friar Barnadine
O no, good Barabas, come to our house;
And, Barabas, you know—
Barabas
I know that I have highly sinned:
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 Barnadine
They wear no shirts, and they go barefoot too.
Barabas
Then ’tis not for me; and I am resolved
You shall confess me, and have all my goods. To Friar Barnadine.
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 Barnadine
Why, go, get you away.
Friar Jacomo
I will not go for thee.
Friar Barnadine
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. Aside to Friar Barnadine.
Friar Jacomo
Why does he go to thy house? let him be gone.
Barabas
I’ll give him something, and so stop his mouth.
Exit Ithamore with Friar Barnardine.
I never heard of any man but he
Maligned 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 shrived.
Barabas
Marry, the Turk shall be one of my godfathers,
But not a word to any of your covent.
Friar Jacomo
I warrant thee, Barabas.
Exit.
Barabas
So, now the fear is past, and I am safe,
For he that shrived her is within my house;
What if I murdered him ere Jacomo comes?
Now I have such a plot for both their lives
As never Jew nor Christian knew the like:
One turned my daughter, therefore he shall die;
The other knows enough to have my life,
Therefore ’tis not requisite he should live.
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 words,
And, after that, I and my trusty Turk—
No more, but so: it must and shall be done.
Exit.
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! They put the noose round the Friar’s neck.
Friar Barnadine
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 Barnadine
What, will you have my life?
Barabas
Pull hard, I say; you would have had my goods.
Ithamore
Ay, and our lives too, therefore pull amain. They strangle him.
’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. Stands the body 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 lived?
What time o’ night is’t now, sweet Ithamore?
Ithamore
Towards one.
Barabas
Then will not Jacomo be long from hence.
Exeunt.
Scene
III
Enter Friar Jacomo.
Friar Jacomo
This is the hour wherein I shall proceed;
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 a 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, which falls down.
Enter Barabas and Ithamore.
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’s slain!
Ithamore
Ay, master, he’s slain; look how his brains drop out on’s nose.
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 forced to give in evidence,
That being importuned by this Barnardine
To be a Christian, I shut him out,
And there he sat: 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 stayed.
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.
Scene
IV
Enter Bellamira and Pilia-Borza.
Bellamira
Pilia-Borza, did’st thou meet with Ithamore?
Pilia-Borza
I did.
Bellamira
And didst thou deliver my letter?
Pilia-Borza
I did.
Bellamira
And what think’st thou? will he come?
Pilia-Borza
I think so, but 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 man as I am, from such a beautiful dame as you.
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 freehold, within forty feet of the gallows, conning his neck-verse, I take it, looking of 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 being done, see where he comes.
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 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.
Pilia-Borza
This is the gentleman you writ to.
Ithamore
Gentleman! he flouts me: what gentry can be in a poor Turk of tenpence? I’ll be gone. Aside.
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 sir know some secrets of the Jew,
Which, if they were revealed, would do him harm.
Ithamore
Ay, and such as—Go to, no more! I’ll make him send me half he has, and glad he ’scapes so too: I’ll write unto him; we’ll have money straight.
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.
Exit Pilia-Borza with the letter.
Ithamore
Hang him, Jew!
Bellamira
Now, gentle Ithamore, lie in my lap.—
Where are my maids? provide a running banquet;
Send to the merchant, bid him bring me silks;
Shall Ithamore, my love, go in such rags?
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 hurled,
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.
Bellamira
Whither will I not go with gentle Ithamore?
Reenter 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, and looked upon him thus; told him he were best to send it; then he hugged and embraced me.
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. Gives 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.
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.
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 of my lips.
What an eye she casts on me! it twinkles like a star.
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
V
Enter Barabas, reading a letter.
Barabas
“Barabas, send me three hundred crowns.—”
Plain Barabas! O, that wicked courtesan!
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 tottered, 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 grindstone for men’s swords;
His hands are hacked, some fingers cut quite off;
Who, when he speaks, grunts like a hog, and looks
Like one that is employed in catzerie
And cross-biting,—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.
Pilia-Borza
Jew, I must have more gold.
Barabas
Why, want’st thou any of thy tale?
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, ye shall have straight.
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 betrayed.—Aside.
’Tis not five hundred crowns that I esteem,
I am not moved 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 with so much gold! Aside.
Here, take ’em, fellow, with as good a will—
As I would see thee hanged; Aside. O, love stops my breath:
Never loved man servant as I do Ithamore!
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 ’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.
Exit.
Scene
VI
Enter Bellamira, Ithamore, and Pilia-Borza.
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.
Bellamira
Go to, it shall be so.
Ithamore
Of that condition I will drink it up.
Here’s to thee.
Bellamira
Nay, I’ll have all or none.
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! a man’s a man.
Bellamira
Now to the Jew.
Ithamore
Ha! to the Jew; and send me money he were best.
Pilia-Borza
What would’st 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, snickle hand too fast, 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 lap do tumble.
Enter Barabas, disguised as a French musician, with a lute, and a nosegay in his hat.
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.
Barabas
So, now I am revenged upon ’em all:
The scent thereof was death; I poisoned 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, Barabas 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.
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.
Barabas
’Twas sent me for a present from the Great Cham. Aside.
Pilia-Borza
A musty slave he is.—Whither now, fiddler?
Barabas
Pardonnez moi, monsieur, me be no well.
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.