2 Off. Every one's price is written on his back, And so much must they yield or not be sold.

1 Off. Here comes the Jew; had not his goods been seized,

He'd given us present money for them all.

Enter BARABAS.

Bar. In spite of these swine-eating Christians,-
Unchosen nation, never circumcised,

Such 1as (poor villains!) were ne'er thought upon
Till Titus and Vespasian conquered us,-
Am I become as wealthy as I was:

They hoped my daughter would ha' been a nun;
But she's at home, and I have bought a house
As great and fair as is the Governor's;

And there in spite of Malta will I dwell:
Having Ferneze's hand, whose heart I'll have;
I, and his son's too, or it shall go hard.
I am not of the tribe of Levi, I,
That can so soon forget an injury.

We Jews can fawn like spaniels when we please:
And when we grin we bite, yet are our looks
As innocent and harmless as a lamb's.

I learned in Florence how to kiss my hand,
Heave up my shoulders when they call me dog,2
And duck as low as any barefoot friar ;

Hoping to see them starve upon a stall,

10

20

1 The modern editors give "Poor villains, such as," &c. ; but the read

ing of the 4to. is quite intelligible.

2 Cf. Shylock's "Still have I borne it with a patient shrug."

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. Now will I show myself

To have more of the serpent than the dove;
That is more knave than fool.

Lod. Yond' walks the Jew; now for fair Abigail.
Bar. I, I, no doubt but she's at your command.

30

40

[Aside.

Lod. Barabas, thou know'st I am the Governor's son. Bar. I would you were his father too, sir; That's all the harm I wish you.-The slave looks Like a hog's-check 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.

[Aside.

Lod. Well, Barabas, canst help me to a diamond? 50
Bar. O, sir, your father had my diamonds.

Yet I have one left that will serve your turn :—
I mean my daughter: but ere he shall have her

I'll sacrifice her on a pile of wood.

I ha' the poison of the city [?] for him,

And the white leprosy.

[Aside.

Lod. What sparkle does it give without a foil?
Bar. The diamond that I talk of ne'er was foiled:-

:

But when he touches it, he will be foiled :

Lord Lodowick, it sparkles bright and fair.

[Aside. 60

Lod. Is it square or pointed, pray let me know.
Bar. Pointed it is, good sir-but not for you. [Aside.
Lod. I like it much the better.

Bar. So do I too.

Lod. How shows it by night?

Bar. Outshines Cynthia's rays:

You'll like it better far o' nights than days.

Lod. And what's the price?

[Aside.

Bar. Your life an' if you have it. [Aside.] O my

lord,

We will not jar about the price; come to my house
And I will give 't your honour-with a vengeance. [Aside.
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.

70

Lod. No doubt your soul shall reap the fruit of it. 80

Bar. I, 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; and indeed do no man good: [Aside.
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,-
Hoping ere long to set the house afire;

For though they do a while increase and multiply,
I'll have a saying to 1 that nunnery.—

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

90

[Aside.

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

It shall go hard but I will see your death.

[Aside.

But now I must be gone to buy a slave.

Lod. And, Barabas, I'll bear thee company.
Bar. Come then-here's the market-place.

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

1 Off. Sir, that's his price.

100

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

1 Dyce quotes from Barnabe Barnes' Divils Charter, 1607, “For I must have a saying to those bottels."

2 Pieces of silver.

Cf. Ant, and Cleo. :—

"Realms and islands were

As plates dropt from his pocket."

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? I Off. No more, my lord.

Bar. Why should this Turk be dearer than that Moor? 1 Off. Because he is young and has more qualities. Bar. What, hast the philosopher's stone? and 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 ? 2 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.

120

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. I, passing well.

Bar. So much the worse; I must have one that's sickly, and 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.

"

4 An allegorical character in the old moralities. Cf. 1 Henry IV. ii. 4: That reverend vice, that grey iniquity, that vanity in years." In the Devil is an Ass, "Lady Vanity" is coupled with "Iniquity."