fint

BELL. Now to the Jew.

ITHA. Ha! to the Jew; and send me money you

were best.

PILIA. What wouldst thou do, if he should send thee none?

ITHA. Do nothing: but I know what I know; he's a murderer.

BELL. I had not thought he had been so brave a

man.

ITHA. You knew Mathias and the governor's son; he and I killed 'em both, and yet never touched 'em. PILIA. Oh, bravely done!

ITHA. I carried the broth that poisoned the nuns; and he and I, snicle hand too fast, strangled a friar*. BELL. You two alone?

ITHA. We two; and 'twas never known, nor never shall be for me.

PILIA. This shall with me unto the governor.

[Aside to Bellamira.

and he and I, snicle hand too fast, strangled a friar] There is surely some corruption here. Steevens (apud Dodsley's O. P.) proposes to read "hand to fist". Gilchrist (ibid.) observes, "6 a snicle is a north-country word for a noose, and when a person is hanged, they say he is snicled." See too, in v. Snickle, Forby's Voc. of East Anglia, and the Craven Dialect. - The Rev. J. Mitford proposes the following (very violent) alteration of this passage;

"Itha. I carried the broth that poisoned the nuns; and he and I

Pilia. Two hands snickle-fast-

Itha. Strangled a friar."

BELL. And fit it should: but first let's ha' more

gold.

[Aside to Pilia-Borza.

Come, gentle Ithamore, lie in my lap.

ITHA. Love me little, love me long: let music

rumble,

*

Whilst I in thy incony lap do tumble.

Enter BARABAS, disguised as a French musician, with a lute, and a nosegay in his hat.

BELL. A French musician !-Come, let's hear your skill.

BARA. Must tuna my lute for sound, twang, twang, first.

a

ITHA. Wilt drink, Frenchman? here's to thee with -Pox on this drunken hiccup!

BARA. Gramercy, monsieur.

BELL. Prithee, Pilia-Borza, bid the fiddler give me the posy in his hat there.

PILIA. Sirrah, you must give my mistress your posy.

BARA. A votre commandement, madame.

[Giving nosegay. BELL. How sweet, my Ithamore, the flowers smell! ITHA. Like thy breath, sweetheart; no violet like 'em.

PILIA. Foh! methinks they stink like a hollyhock t.

incony] i. e. fine, pretty, delicate.-Old ed. " incoomy." they stink like a hollyhock] This flower, however, has no offensive smell." STEEVENS (apud Dodsley's O. P.). It's odour resembles that of the poppy.

BARA. So, now I am reveng'd upon 'em all: The scent thereof was death; I poison'd it. [Aside. ITHA. Play, fiddler, or I'll cut your cat's guts into chitterlings.

BARA. Pardonnez moi, be no in tune yet: so, now, now all be in.

ITHA. Give him a crown, and fill me out more

wine.

PILIA. There's two crowns for thee: play.

[Giving money. BARA. How liberally the villain gives me mine own gold! [Aside, and then plays. PILIA. Methinks he fingers very well.

BARA. So did you when you stole my gold. [Aside. PILIA. How swift he runs!

BARA. You run swifter when you threw my gold

out of my window.

[Aside.

BELL. Musician, hast been in Malta long?
BARA. Two, three, four month, madam.

ITHA. Dost not know a Jew, one Barabas?

BARA. Very mush: monsieur, you no be his man?
PILIA. His man!

ITHA. I scorn the peasant: tell him so.
BARA. He knows it already.

[Aside.

ITHA. 'Tis a strange thing of that Jew, he lives upon pickled grasshoppers and sauced mushrooms. BARA. What a slave's this! the governor feeds not as I do. [Aside. ITHA. He never put on clean shirt since he was circumcised.

BARA. Oh, rascal! I change myself twice a-day. [Aside. ITHA. The hat he wears, Judas left under the elder when he hanged himself*.

BARA. 'Twas sent me for a present from the Great Cham. [Aside. PILIA. A nasty + slave he is.-Whither now, fiddler?

BARA. Pardonnez moi, monsieur; met be no well.

PILIA. Farewell, fiddler [Exit Barabas]. One letter more to the Jew.

BELL. Prithee, sweet love, one more, and write it sharp.

ITHA. No, I'll send by word of mouth now.-Bid him deliver thee a thousand crowns, by the same token, that the nuns loved rice, that Friar Barnardine slept in his own clothes; any of 'em will do it. PILIA. Let me alone to urge it, now I know the meaning.

ITHA. The meaning has a meaning. Come, let's in: To undo a Jew is charity, and not sin. [Exeunt.

under the elder when he hanged himself] That Judas hanged himself on an elder-tree, was a popular legend. Nay, the very tree was exhibited to the curious in Sir John Mandeville's days "And faste by, is zit the Tree of Eldre, that Judas henge him self upon, for despeyt that he hadde, whan he solde and betrayed oure Lord." Voiage and Travaile, &c. p. 112. ed. 1725.

:

+ nasty] Old ed. " masty." me] Old ed. “ we."

ACT V.

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

FERN. Now, gentlemen, betake you to your arms, And see that Malta be well fortified;

And it behoves you to be resolute;

For Calymath, having hover'd here so long,
Will win the town, or die before the walls.

FIRST KNIGHT. And die he shall; for we will never yield.

Enter BELLAMIRA and PILIA-BORZA.

BELL. Oh, bring us to the governor!

FERN. Away with her! she is a courtezan.

BELL. Whate'er I am, yet, governor, hear me

speak :

I bring thee news by whom thy son was slain :
Mathias did it not; it was the Jew.

PILIA. Who, besides the slaughter of these gen

tlemen,

Poisoned his own daughter and the nuns,

Strangled a friar, and I know not what

Mischief beside.

FERN. Had we but proof of this

* Enter Ferneze, &c.] Scene, the interior of the Councilhouse.