And now, you men of Malta, look about,
And let's provide to welcome Calymath:
Close your port-cullis, charge your basilisks*,
And, as you profitably take up arms,
So now courageously encounter them,
For by this answer broken is the league,
And nought is to be look'd for now but wars,
And nought to us more welcome is than wars.

[Exeunt.

Enter FRIAR JACOMO† and FRIAR BARNARDINE. FRIAR JAC. Oh, brother, brother, all the nuns are sick,

And physic will not help them! they must die. FRIAR BARN. The abbess sent for me to be confess'd:

Oh, what a sad confession will there be!

FRIAR JAC. And so did fair Maria send for me: I'll to her lodging; hereabouts she lies.

Enter ABIGAIL.

[Exit.

FRIAR BARN. What, all dead, save only Abigail! ABIG. And I shall die too, for I feel death coming. Where is the friar that convers'd with met?

FRIAR BARN. Oh, he is gone to see the other nuns.
ABIG. I sent for him; but, seeing you are come,

* basilisks] See note, p. 72.

+ Enter Friar Jacomo, &c.] Scene, the interior of the Nunnery.

convers'd with me] She alludes to her conversation with Jacomo, p. 293.

Be you my ghostly father: and first know,
That in this house I liv'd religiously,

Chaste, and devout, much sorrowing for my sins;
But, ere I came-

FRIAR BARN. What then?

ABIG. I did offend high Heaven so grievously, As I am almost desperate for my sins;

And one offence torments me more than all.
You knew Mathias and Don Lodowick?

FRIAR BARN. Yes; what of them?

ABIG. My father did contract me to 'em both; First to Don Lodowick: him I never lov'd; Mathias was the man that I held dear, And for his sake did I become a nun.

FRIAR BARN. So: say how was their end?

ABIG. Both, jealous of my love, envied* each other; And by my father's practice +, which is there

[Gives writing.

Set down at large, the gallants were both slain.

FRIAR BARN. Oh, monstrous villany!

ABIG. To work my peace, this I confess to thee: Reveal it not; for then my father dies.

FRIAR BARN. Know that confession must not be

reveal'd;

The canon-law forbids it, and the priest

That makes it known, being degraded first,
Shall be condemn'd, and then sent to the fire.

envied] i.e. hated.

+ practice] i. e. artful contrivance, stratagem.

ABIG. So I have heard; pray, therefore, keep it

close.

Death seizeth on my heart: ah, gentle friar,
Convert my father that he may be sav❜d,

And witness that I die a Christian!

[Dies.

FRIAR BARN. Ay, and a virgin too; that grieves

me most.

But I must to the Jew, and exclaim on him,

And make him stand in fear of me.

Re-enter FRIAR JACOMO.

FRIAR JAC. Oh, brother, all the nuns are dead! let's bury them.

FRIAR BARN. First help to bury this; then go

with me,

And help me to exclaim against the Jew.

FRIAR JAC. Why, what has he done?

FRIAR BARN. A thing that makes me tremble to unfold.

FRIAR JAC. What, has he crucified a child*? FRIAR BARN. No, but a worse thing: 'twas told

me in shrift;

Thou know'st 'tis death, an if it be reveal'd.

Come, let's away.

*

[Exeunt.

crucified a child] A crime with which the Jews were often charged. "Tovey, in his Anglia Judaica, has given the several instances which are upon record, of these charges against the Jews; which he observes they were never accused of, but at such times as the king was manifestly in great want of money.” REED (apud Dodsley's O. P.).

ACT IV.

Bells within.

Enter BARABAS* and ITHAMORE.

BARA. There is no music to a Christian's knell:
How sweet the bells ring, now the nuns are dead,
That sound at other times like tinkers' pans!
I was afraid the poison had not wrought,

Or, though it wrought, it would have done no good,
For every year they swell, and yet they live:
Now all are dead, not one remains alive.

ITHA. That's brave, master: but think you not be known?

BARA. How can it, if we two be secret?
ITHA. For my part, fear you not.

BARA. I'd cut thy throat, if I did.

ITHA. And reason too:

But here's a royal monastery hard by;

Good master, let me poison all the monks.

it will

BARA. Thou shalt not need; for, now the nuns are dead,

They'll die with grief.

ITHA. Do you not sorrow for your daughter's death?

BARA. No, but I grieve because she liv'd so long,

* Enter Barabas, &c.] Scene a street.

tto] Which the Editor of 1826 deliberately altered to “like," means compared to, in comparison of.

An Hebrew born, and would become a Christian. diabolo !

Cazzo*,

Enter FRIAR JACOMO and FRIAR BARNARDINE.

ITHA. Look, look, master; here come two religious caterpillars.

BARA. I smelt 'em ere they came.

ITHA. God-a-mercy, nose+! Come, let's begone. FRIAR BARN. Stay, wicked Jew; repent, I say,

and stay.

FRIAR JAC. Thou hast offended, therefore must be damn'd.

BARA. I fear they know we sent the poison'd broth. ITHA. And so do I, master; therefore speak 'em

fair.

FRIAR BARN. Barabas, thou hast

FRIAR JAC. Ay, that thou hast

BARA. True, I have money; what though I have? FRIAR BARN. Thou art a

FRIAR JAC. Ay, that thou art, a———

BARA. What needs all this? I know I am a Jew. FRIAR BARN. Thy daughter

FRIAR JAC. Ay, thy daughter

BARA. Oh, speak not of her! then I die with grief. FRIAR BARN. Remember that

* Cazzo] Old ed. "Catho."-See Florio's Worlde of Wordes (Ital. and Engl. Dict.), ed. 1598, in v.-" A petty oath, a cant exclamation, generally expressive, among the Italian populace, who have it constantly in their mouth, of defiance or contempt." Gifford's note on Jonson's Works, ii. 48.