LOD. Now have I that for which my soul hath

long'd.

BARA. So have not I; but yet I hope I shall.

[Aside. ABIG. Oh, wretched Abigail, what hast thou* done? [Aside.

LOD. Why on the sudden is your colour chang'd? ABIG. I know not: but farewell; I must be gone. BARA. Stay her, but let her not speak one word

more.

LOD. Mute o' the sudden ! here's a sudden change. BARA. Oh, muse not at it; 'tis the Hebrew's guise, That maidens new-betroth'd should weep a while : Trouble her not; sweet Lodowick, depart:

She is thy wife, and thou shalt be mine heir.

LOD. Oh, is't the custom? then I am resolv'd+: But rather let the brightsome heavens be dim, And nature's beauty choke with stifling clouds, Than my fair Abigail should frown on me. There comes the villain; now I'll be reveng'd.

Re-enter MATHIAS.

BARA. Be quiet, Lodowick; it is enough

That I have made thee sure to Abigail.

LOD. Well, let him go.

[Exit.

BARA. Well, but for me, as you went in at doors You had been stabb'd: but not a word on't now;

*thou] Old ed. “

thee."

+ resolv'd] "i. e. satisfied." 0. P.)

GILCHRIST (apud Dodsley's

Here must no speeches pass, nor swords be drawn.
MATH. Suffer me, Barabas, but to follow him.
BARA. No; so shall I, if any hurt be done,
Be made an accessary of your deeds:
Revenge it on him when you meet him next.
MATH. For this I'll have his heart.

BARA. Do so. Lo, here I give thee Abigail! MATH. What greater gift can poor Mathias have? Shall Lodowick rob me of so fair a love?

My life is not so dear as Abigail.

BARA. My heart misgives me, that, to cross your love,

He's with

your mother; therefore after him. MATH. What, is he gone unto my mother? BARA. Nay, if you will, stay till she comes herself. MATH. I cannot stay; for, if my mother come, She'll die with grief. [Exit.

ABIG. I cannot take my leave of him for tears. Father, why have you thus incens'd them both? BARA. What's that to thee?

ABIG. I'll make 'em friends again.

BARA. You'll make 'em friends! are there not

Jews enow in Malta,

But thou must dote upon a Christian?

ABIG. I will have Don Mathias; he is my love. BARA. Yes, you shall have him.-Go, put her in. ITHA. Ay, I'll put her in. [Puts in Abigail. BARA. Now tell me, Ithamore, how lik'st thou this? ITHA. Faith, master, I think by this

You purchase both their lives: is it not so?

BARA. True; and it shall be cunningly perform'd. ITHA. Oh, master, that I might have a hand in this!

BARA. Ay, so thou shalt; 'tis thou must do the

deed:

Take this, and bear it to Mathias straight,

[Giving a letter.

And tell him that it comes from Lodowick.
ITHA. 'Tis poison'd, is it not?

BARA. No, no; and yet it might be done that
It is a challenge feign'd from Lodowick.

way:

ITHA. Fear not; I will so set his heart a-fire, That he shall verily think it comes from him. BARA. I cannot choose but like thy readiness: Yet be not rash, but do it cunningly.

ITHA. As I behave myself in this, employ me hereafter.

BARA. Away, then!

So; now will I go unto* Lodowick,

[Exit Ithamore.

And, like a cunning spirit, feign some lie,

Till I have set 'em both at enmity.

[Exit.

unto] Old ed. " in to.”

ACT III.

Enter BELLAMIRA †.

BELL. Since this town was besieg'd, my gain grows
cold:

The time has been, that but for one bare night
A hundred ducats have been freely given;
But now against my will I must be chaste:
And yet I know my beauty doth not fail.
From Venice merchants, and from Padua
Were wont to come rare-witted gentlemen,
Scholars I mean, learned and liberal;

And now, save Pilia-Borza, comes there none,
And he is very
seldom from my house;

And here he comes.

Enter PILIA-BORZA.

PILIA. Hold thee, wench, there's something for

thee to spend.

[Shewing a bag of silver.

BELL. 'Tis silver; I disdain it.

PILIA. Ay, but the Jew has gold,

And I will have it, or it shall go hard.

BELL. Tell me, how cam'st thou by this?

PILIA. Faith, walking the back-lanes, through the gardens, I chanced to cast mine eye up to the

+ Enter Bellamira] She appears, we may suppose, in a veranda or open portico of her house (that the scene is not the interior of the house, is proved by what follows).

Jew's counting-house, where I saw some bags of money, and in the night I clambered up with my hooks; and, as I was taking my choice, I heard a rumbling in the house; so I took only this, and run my way. But here's the Jew's man.

BELL. Hide the bag.

Enter ITHAMore.

PILIA. Look not towards him, let's away. Zoons, what a looking thou keepest! thou'lt betray's anon. [Exeunt Bellamira and Pilia-Borza.

ITHA. Oh, the sweetest face that ever I beheld! I know she is a courtezan by her attire: now would I give a hundred of the Jew's crowns that I had such a concubine.

Well, I have deliver'd the challenge in such sort, As meet they will, and fighting die,-brave sport! [Exit.

Enter MATHIAS.

MATH. This is the place*: now Abigail shall see Whether Mathias holds her dear or no.

Enter LODOWICK.

What, dares the villain write in such base terms?

[Looking at a letter.

LOD. I did it; and revenge it, if thou dar'st!

Enter Mathias.

[They fight.

Math. This is the place, &c.] The scene is some part of the