The Complete Plays (43 page)

Welcome, great bashaws. How fares Calymath?

What wind drives you thus into Malta road?

CALLAPINE

The wind that bloweth all the world besides:

Desire of gold.

FERNEZE
                      Desire of gold, great sir?

That's to be gotten in the Western Inde;

In Malta are no golden minerals.

CALLAPINE

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.

10   

FERNEZE

Bashaw, 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.

CALLAPINE

Well, governor, since thou hast broke the league

20   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.

[
Exeunt
CALLAPINE
and his train
.]

FERNEZE

Farewell.

And now, you men of Malta, look about,

30   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.

Enter
[
the
]
two
FRIARS [JACOMO
and
BARNARDINE].

FRIAR JACOMO

O brother, brother, all the nuns are sick,

And physic will not help them! They must die.

FRIAR BARNARDINE

The abbess sent for me to be confessed.

O, what a sad confession will there be!

FRIAR JACOMO

And so did
fair Maria
send for me.

I'll to her lodging; hereabouts she lies.

Exit
[FRIAR JACOMO].

Enter
ABIGALL.

FRIAR BARNARDINE

What, all dead save only Abigall?

ABIGALL

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

Where is the friar that conversed with me?

FRIAR BARNARDINE

10   O, he is gone to see the other nuns.

ABIGALL

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–

FRIAR BARNARDINE
What then?

ABIGALL

I did offend high heaven so grievously,

As I am almost
desperate
for my sins,

And one offence torments me more than all.

20   You knew Mathias and Don Lodowick?

FRIAR BARNARDINE
Yes, what of them?

ABIGALL

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.

FRIAR BARNARDINE

So. Say, how was their end?

ABIGALL

Both, jealous of my love, envied each other,

And by my father's practice, which is there

Set down at large
, the gallants were both slain.

[
She gives him a paper
.]

FRIAR BARNARDINE O,
monstrous villainy!

30   

ABIGALL

To
work my peace
, this I confess to thee.

Reveal it not, for then my father dies.

FRIAR BARNARDINE

Know that confession must not be revealed,

The canon law forbids it, and the priest

That makes it known, being
degraded
first,

Shall be condemned and then
sent to the fire
.

ABIGALL

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,

40   And witness that I die a Christian.

[
She dies
.]

FRIAR BARNARDINE

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].

FRIAR JACOMO

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

FRIAR BARNARDINE

First help to bury this, then go with me

And help me to exclaim against the Jew.

FRIAR JACOMO
Why? What has he done?

FRIAR BARNARDINE

A thing that makes me tremble to unfold.

FRIAR JACOMO
What, has he
crucified a child
?

FRIAR BARNARDINE

50   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
[
carrying
ABIGALL
's body].

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?

10  
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
monast'ry 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!

20   

Cazzo, diabole
!

Enter the two
FRIARS [JACOMO
and
BARNARDINE].

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

BARABAS
I smelt 'em ere they came.

ITHAMORE
God-a-mercy, nose!
Come, let's be gone.

FRIAR BARNARDINE

Stay, wicked Jew! Repent, I say, and stay.

FRIAR JACOMO

Thou hast offended, therefore must be damned.

BARABAS
[
aside to
ITHAMORE]

I fear they know we sent the poisoned broth.

ITHAMORE
[
aside to
BARABAS]

And so do I, master. Therefore speak 'em fair.

30 
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 –

40 
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
(
aside
[
to
ITHAMORE
])

50   She has confessed, and we are both undone,

My bosom inmate!

But I must dissemble. [
To them
]

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

60   With all the Jews in Malta. But what is wealth?

I am a Jew, and therefore am I
lost
.

Would penance serve for this my sin,

I could afford to whip myself to death –

ITHAMORE
[
aside
]

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,

70   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,

Frankfurt, 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,

80   So I may be baptized and live therein.

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 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 JACOMO

They wear no shirts, and they go barefoot too.

BARABAS

Then 'tis not for me; and I am resolved

90   You shall confess me and have all my goods.

FRIAR BARNARDINE

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 tonight.

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,
rogue
.

100 
FRIAR JACOMO
How, dost call me rogue?

[
The
FRIARS]
fight
.

ITHAMORE
Part 'em, master, part 'em.

BARABAS

This is mere frailty. Brethren, be content.

Friar Barnardine, go you with Ithamore.

[
Aside to
FRIAR BARNARDINE]

You know my mind, let me alone with him.

FRIAR JACOMO

Why does he go to thy house? Let him be gone.

BARABAS
[
aside to
FRIAR JACOMO
]

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?

110   Why, brother, you converted Abigall,

And I am bound in charity to requite it,

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