MARTIN DEL BOsco, Vice-Admiral KATHARINE, Mother of Mathias. Machiavel. Albeit the world thinks Machiavel1 is dead, Yet was his soul but flown beyond the Alps, And now the Guise 2 is dead, is come from France, To view this land, and frolic with his friends. 1 Machiavelli, the Florentine statesman, died in 1527. His name was long a synonym for political perfidy and cold-blooded cruelty. 2 The Duke of Guise, organizer of the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, in 1572, was assassinated in 1588. 23 To some perhaps my name is odious, But such as love me guard me from their tongues ; And weigh not men, and therefore not men's words. Birds of the air will tell of murders past! Many will talk of title to a crown: What right had Cæsar to the empery? Might first made kings, and laws were then most sure When like the Draco's they were writ in blood. Hence comes it that a strong-built citadel He had never bellowed, in a brazen bull, But whither am I bound? I come not, I, To read a lecture here in Britain, ΙΟ 20 But to present the tragedy of a Jew, 30 Who smiles to see how full his bags are crammed, Which money was not got without my means. I crave but this grace him as he deserves, [Exit. ACT I. SCENE I. BARABAS discovered in his Counting-house, with Bar. So that of thus much that return was made: Fie; what a trouble 'tis to count this trash. The things they traffic for with wedge of gold, 2 Tell that which may maintain him all his life. The needy groom that never fingered groat, But he whose steel-barred coffers are crammed full, Wearying his fingers' ends with telling it, 1 Silver coins; cf. Isaiah vii, 23. 2 Count. ΙΟ 20 Jacinths, hard topaz, grass-green emeralds, Beauteous rubies, sparkling diamonds, And seld-seen1 costly stones of so great price, 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 And as their wealth increaseth, so inclose But now how stands the wind? Into what corner peers my halcyon's bill? 2 30 Ha! to the east? yes: see, how stand the vanes? I sent for Egypt and the bordering isles Loaden with spice and silks, now under sail, Enter a Merchant. How now? Merch. Barabas, thy ships are safe, Riding in Malta-road: and all the merchants 1 Seldom seen. 40 50 2 A stuffed kingfisher (the halcyon), suspended by a string, was supposed to show the direction of the wind. Halcyon days were calm days, the belief being that the weather was always calm when kingfishers were breeding. Cf. King Lear, ii, 2; Sir T. Browne, Vulgar Errors, lii, 10. |