And duck as low as any barefoot friar ;
Hoping to see them starve upon a stall,
Or else be gathered for in our synagogue,
That, when the offering-basin comes to me,
Even for charity I may spit into't.

Here comes Don Lodowick, the governor's son,
One that I love for his good father's sake.

Enter LODOWICK.

Lod. I hear the wealthy Jew walked this way: I'll seek him out, and so insinuate,

That I may have a sight of Abigail;

For Don Mathias tells me she is fair.

Bar. (aside). Now will I show myself

To have more of the serpent than the dove e;

Lod. Yond' walks the Jew; now for fair Abigail.

30

Bar. (aside). Ay, ay, no doubt but she's at your command.
Lod. Barabas, thou know'st I am the governor's son.
Bar. I would you were his father, too, sir;

(Aside) The slave looks

That's all the harm I wish you.
Like a hog's-cheek new singed.
Lod. Whither walk'st thou, Barabas?

Bar. No farther: 'tis a custom held with us,

That when we speak with Gentiles like to you,
We turn into the air to purge ourselves:

For unto us the promise doth belong.

Lod. Well, Barabas, canst help me to a diamond?
Bar. O, sir, your father had my diamonds.
Yet I have one left that will serve your turn : —

(Aside) I mean my daughter: but ere he shall have her.
I'll sacrifice her on a pile of wood.

41

50

I ha' the poison of the city for him,1

And the white leprosy.

Lod. What sparkle does it give without a foil?
Bar. The diamond that I talk of ne'er was foiled:
(Aside) But when he touches it, it will be foiled :
Lord Lodowick, it sparkles bright and fair.

Lod. Is it square or pointed, pray let me know.

Bar. Pointed it is, good sir—(aside) but not for you.
Lod. I like it much the better.

Lod. How shows it by night?

Bar. Outshines Cynthia's rays.
Lod. And what's the price?

Bar. (aside). Your life an if you have it. O my lord,
We will not jar about the price; come to my house
And I will give't your honour (aside) with a vengeance.
Lod. No, Barabas, I will deserve it first.

Bar. Good sir,

Your father has deserved it at my hands,
Who, of mere charity and Christian truth,
To bring me to religious purity,

And as it were in catechising sort,

To make me mindful of my mortal sins,
Against my will, and whether I would or no,

Seized all I had, and thrust me out o' doors,

And made my house a place for nuns most chaste.
Lod. No doubt your soul shall reap the fruit of it.
Bar. Ay, but, my lord, the harvest is far off.

And yet I know the prayers of those nuns
And holy friars, having money for their pains,
Are wondrous; (aside) and indeed do no man good :

1 Dyce suggests that this is a misprint.

2 Defiled.

80

And seeing they are not idle, but still doing, 'Tis likely they in time may reap some fruit, I mean in fulness of perfection.

Lod. Good Barabas, glance not at our holy nuns. Bar. No, but I do it through a burning zeal, — (Aside) Hoping ere long to set the house afire; For though they do a while increase and multiply, I'll have a saying1 to that nunnery.

As for the diamond, sir, I told you of,

Come home and there's no price shall make us part,
Even for your honourable father's sake.

(Aside) It shall go hard but I will see your death.

But now I must be gone to buy a slave.

Lod. And, Barabas, I'll bear thee company.

What's the price of this slave? Two hundred crowns!
Do the Turks weigh so much?

1st Off. Sir, that's his price.

Bar. What, can he steal that you demand so much?

Belike he has some new trick for a purse;

And if he has, he is worth three hundred plates,2

So that, being bought, the town-seal might be got
To keep him for his lifetime from the gallows:

The sessions day is critical to thieves,

And few or none 'scape but by being purged.

Lod. Rat'st thou this Moor but at two hundred plates? 1st Off. No more, my lord.

92

100

Bar. Why should this Turk be dearer than that Moor? 110 1st Off. Because he is young and has more qualities.

1 Cf. Barnes's Divil's Charter, 1607: “For I must have a saying to those bottels."

2 Pieces of silver.

Bar. What, hast the philosopher's stone? an thou hast, break my head with it, I'll forgive thee.

Slave. No, sir; I can cut and shave.

Bar. Let me see, sirrah, are you not an old shaver?1

Slave. Alas, sir! I am a very youth.

Bar. A youth? I'll buy you, and marry you to Lady Vanity, if you do well.

Slave. I will serve you, sir.

119

Bar. Some wicked trick or other. It may be, under colour of shaving, thou'lt cut my throat for my goods. Tell me, hast thou thy health well?

Slave. Ay, passing well.

Bar. So much the worse; I must have one that's sickly, an't be but for sparing victuals; 'tis not a stone of beef a day will maintain you in these chops; let me see one that's somewhat leaner.

1st Off. Here's a leaner, how like you him ?

Bar. Where wast thou born?

Itha. In Thrace; brought up in Arabia.

Bar. So much the better, thou art for my turn.

An hundred crowns? I'll have him; there's the coin.

130

[Gives money.

1st Off. Then mark him, sir, and take him hence. Bar. (aside). Ay, mark him, you were best, for this is he That by my help shall do much villainy.

My lord, farewell: Come, sirrah, you are mine.

As for the diamond, it shall be yours;

I pray, sir, be no stranger at my house,

All that I have shall be at your command.

1 This term of contempt was originally applied to priests with shaven

crown.

2 An allegorical character in the old morality plays; cf. I Henry IV, ii, 4.

Enter MATHIAS and his Mother KATHERINE.

Math. What makes the Jew and Lodowick so private? 140 (Aside) I fear me 'tis about fair Abigail.

Bar. Yonder comes Don Mathias, let us stay;1

[Exit LODOWICK.

He loves my daughter, and she holds him dear :
But I have sworn to frustrate both their hopes,
And be revenged upon the governor.

Kath. This Moor is comeliest, is he not? speak, son.
Math. No, this is the better, mother; view this well.
Bar. Seem not to know me here before your mother,
Lest she mistrust the match that is in hand :

When you have brought her home, come to my house; 150 Think of me as thy father; son, farewell.

Math. But wherefore talked Don Lodowick with you? Bar. Tush! man, we talked of diamonds, not of Abigail.

Kath. Tell me, Mathias, is not that the Jew?

Bar. As for the comment on the Maccabees,

I have it, sir, and 'tis at your command.

Math. Yes, madam, and my talk with him was but

About the borrowing of a book or two.

Kath. Converse not with him, he's cast off from heaven.

Thou hast thy crowns, fellow; come, let's away.

Math. Sirrah, Jew, remember the book.

Bar. Marry will I, sir.

160

[Exeunt MATHIAS and his Mother.

Off. Come, I have made reasonable market; let's away.

[Exeunt Officers with Slaves.

Bar. Now let me know thy name, and therewithal

Thy birth, condition, and profession.

1 Break off our conversation.