Enter MATHIAS.

MATH. Who's this? fair Abigail, the rich Jew's daughter,

Become a nun! her father's sudden fall

Has humbled her, and brought her down to this:
Tut, she were fitter for a tale of love,
Than to be tirèd out with orisons;
And better would she far become a bed,
Embraced in a friendly lover's arms,
Than rise at midnight to a solemn mass.

Enter LODOWICK.

LOD. Why, how now, Don Mathias? in a dump? MATH. Believe me, noble Lodowick, I have seen The strangest sight, in my opinion,

That ever I beheld.

LOD. What was't, I prithee?

MATH. A fair young maid, scarce fourteen years

of age,

The sweetest flower in Cytherea's field,

Cropt from the pleasures of the fruitful earth,

And strangely metamorphos'd [to a] nun.

LOD. But say, what was she?

MATH. Why, the rich Jew's daughter.

LOD. What, Barabas, whose goods were lately seiz❜d?

Is she so fair?

MATH. And matchless beautiful,

As, had you seen her, 'twould have mov'd your heart,

Though countermin'd with walls of brass, to love,
Or, at the least, to pity.

LOD. And if she be so fair as you report,

'Twere time well spent to go and visit her: How say you? shall we?

MATH. I must and will, sir; there's no remedy.

LOD. And so will I too, or it shall go hard. Farewell, Mathias.

MATH. Farewell, Lodowick. [Exeunt severally.

ACT II.

Enter BARABAS, with a light*.

BARA. Thus, like the sad presaging raven, that tolls

The sick man's passport in her hollow beak †,
And in the shadow of the silent night

Doth shake contagion from her sable wings,

* Enter Barabas, with a light] The scene is now before the house of Barabas, which has been turned into a nunnery.

+ Thus, like the sad presaging raven, that tolls

The sick man's passport in her hollow beak] Mr. Collier (Hist. of Eng. Dram. Poet. iii. 136) remarks that these lines are cited (with some variation, and from memory, as the present play was not printed till 1633) in an epigram on T. Deloney, in the anonymous collection of epigrams and satires, entitled Skialetheia or the Shadowe of Truth, 1598,

"Like to the fatall ominous Raven, which tolls
The sick man's dirge, within his hollow beake,
So every paper-clothed post in Poules

To thee, Deloney, mourningly doth speake," &c.

Vex'd and tormented runs poor Barabas
With fatal curses towards these Christians.
The incertain pleasures of swift-footed time
Have ta'en their flight, and left me in despair;
And of my former riches rests no more
But bare remembrance; like a soldier's scar,
That has no further comfort for his maim.-
O Thou, that with a fiery pillar led'st
The sons of Israel through the dismal shades,
Light Abraham's offspring; and direct the hand
Of Abigail this night! or let the day

Turn to eternal darkness after this!-
No sleep can fasten on my watchful eyes,
Nor quiet enter my distemper'd thoughts,
Till I have answer of my Abigail.

Enter ABIGAIL above.

ABIG. Now have I happily espied a time To search the plank my father did appoint; And here, behold, unseen, where I have found The gold, the pearls, and jewels, which he hid. BARA. Now I remember those old women's words, Who in my wealth would tell me winter's tales, And speak of spirits and ghosts that glide by night About the place where treasure hath been hid: And now methinks that I am one of those; For, whilst I live, here lives my soul's sole hope, And, when I die, here shall my spirit walk.

ABIG. Now that my father's fortune were so good As but to be about this happy place!

'Tis not so happy: yet, when we parted last,
He said he would attend me in the morn.
Then, gentle Sleep, where'er his body rests,
Give charge to Morpheus that he may dream
A golden dream, and of* the sudden wake†,
Come and receive the treasure I have found.

BARA. Bueno para todos mi ganado no era‡:
As good go on, as sit so sadly thus.

But stay: what star shines yonder in the east § ?
The loadstar of my life, if Abigail.-

Who's there?

ABIG. Who's that?

BARA. Peace, Abigail! 'tis I.

ABIG. Then, father, here receive thy happiness. BARA. Hast thou't?

ABIG. Here. [throws down bags] Hast thou't? There's more, and more, and more.

BARA. Oh, my girl,

My gold, my fortune, my felicity,

Strength to my soul, death to mine enemy;

Welcome the first beginner of my bliss!

‡ Bueno para todos mi ganado po era] Old ed. “Birn para todos, my ganada no er."

1

§ But stay: what star shines yonder in the east, &c.] Shakespeare, it would seem, recollected this passage, when he wrote,

But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? It is the east, and Juliet is the sun!"

Romeo and Juliet, act ii. sc. 2.

Oh, Abigail, Abigail, that I had thee here too!
my desires were fully satisfied:

Then
But I will practice thy enlargement thence:
Oh, girl, oh, gold, oh, beauty, oh, my bliss!

[Hugs the bags. ABIG. Father, it draweth towards midnight now, And 'bout this time the nuns begin to wake; To shun suspicion, therefore, let us part.

BARA. Farewell, my joy, and by my fingers take A kiss from him that sends it from his soul.

[Exit Abigail above.

Now, Phoebus, ope the eye-lids of the day,
And, for the raven, wake the morning lark,
That I may hover with her in the air,
Singing o'er these, as she does o'er her young.
Hermoso placer de los dineros*.

[Exit.

Enter FERNEZE+, MARTIN DEL Bosco, KNIGHTS, and Officers.

FERN. Now, captain, tell us whither thou art bound?
Whence is thy ship that anchors in our road?
And why thou cam'st ashore without our leave?
Bosco. Governor of Malta, hither am I bound;

My ship, the Flying Dragon, is of Spain,
And so am I; Del Bosco is my name,
Vice-admiral unto the Catholic King.

Hermoso placer de los dineros] Old ed. "Hormoso Piarer, de les Denirch."

+ Enter Ferneze, &c.] The scene is the interior of the Councilhouse.