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].
ACT 4
[Scene 1]
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 JACOMOI 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.
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 convent.
FRIAR JACOMO
I warrant thee, Barabas.
Exit [FRIAR JACOMO].
BARABAS
So, now the fe
ar is past, and I am safe,
For he that shrived her is within my house.
120 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 whipped? I’ll none of that.
Now, Friar Barnardine, I come to you.
130 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.
Enter ITHAMORE.
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
140 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!
[FRIAR BARNARDINE is discovered asleep.]
BARABAS
Come on, sirrah,
Off with your girdle, make a handsome noose.
[They secure the FRIAR’S belt around his neck.]
Friar, awake!
FRIAR BARNARDINE
What, do you mean to strangle me?
ITHAMORE
Yes, ’cause you use to confess.
BARABAS
150 Blame not us but the proverb, ‘Confess and be hanged.’
Pull hard!
FRIAR BARNARDINE
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. So, let him lean upon his staff.
[He props up the body.]
Excellent! He stands as if he were begging of bacon.
BARABAS
160 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.
[They hide themselves.]
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,
170 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.
[FRIAR JACOMO seizes FRIAR BARNARDINE’S staff and]
strike[s] him; [BARNARDINE] falls. Enter BARABAS [and ITHAMORE from hiding].
BARABAS
Why, how now, Jacomo, what hast thou done?
FRIAR JACOMO
Why, stricken him that would have struck at me.
BARABAS Who is it? Barnadine? Now out, alas, he is slain!
180
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.
[They seize FRIAR JACOMO.]
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
190 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?
200 When shall you see a Jew commit the like?
ITHAMORE
Why, a Turk could ha’ done no more.
BARABAS
Tomorrow 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 2]
Enter [BELLAMIRA the] Courtesan and PILIA-BORZA.
BELLAMIRA Pilia-Borza, didst thou meet with Ithamore?
PILIA-BORZA I did.
BELLAMIRA And didst thou deliver my letter?
PILIA-BORZA I did.
BELLAMIRAA nd what think’st 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 man as I am, from such a beautiful dame as you.
10
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 nonplus at the critical aspect of my terrible countenance.
BELLAMIRA And where didst meet him?
PILIA-BORZA Upon mine own freehold, within forty foot 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
20
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
30
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 [aside] ‘Gentleman’! He flouts me. What gentry can be in a poor Turk of tenpence? I’ll be gone.
40 BELLAMIRA Is’t not a sweet-faced youth, Pilia?
ITHAMORE [aside] Again, ‘sweet youth’! [To PILIA-BORZA] 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.
[She kisses him.]
ITHAMORE [aside] Now am I clean, or rather foully, out of the way.
[He starts to leave.]
BELLAMIRA Whither so soon?
50 ITHAMORE [aside] I’ll go steal some money from my master, to make me handsome. [Aloud] 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
60
the earth.
PILIA-BORZA And is’t not possible to find it out?
ITHAMORE By no means possible.
BELLAMIRA [aside to PILIA-BORZA]
What shall we do with this base villain, then?
PILIA-BORZA [aside to BELLAMIRA]
Let me alone, do but you speak him fair.
[To ITHAMORE]
But you 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. Pen and ink!
I’ll write unto him; we’ll have money straight.
PILIA-BORZA [giving pen and ink] Send for a hundred crowns
70
at least.
ITHAMORE Ten hundred thousand crowns. (He writes) ‘Master Barabas – ’
PILIA-BORZA Write not so submissively, but threat’ning him.
ITHAMORE ‘Sirrah Barabas, send me a hundred crowns.’
The Complete Plays Page 31