The Jew of Malta
ye shall have straight.Pilia-Borza Ay, and the rest too, or else—
Barabas I must make this villain away. Aside.
Please you dine with me, sir;—and you shall be most heartily poisoned. Aside.
Pilia-Borza No, God-a-mercy. Shall I have these crowns?
Barabas I cannot do it; I have lost my keys.
Pilia-Borza O, if that be all, I can pick ope your locks.
Barabas Or climb up to my counting-house window: you know my meaning.
Pilia-Borza I know enough, and therefore talk not to me of your counting-house. The gold! or know, Jew, it is in my power to hang thee.
Barabas I am betrayed.—Aside.
’Tis not five hundred crowns that I esteem,
I am not moved at that: this angers me,
That he, who knows I love him as myself,
Should write in this imperious vein. Why, sir,
You know I have no child, and unto whom
Should I leave all but unto Ithamore?Pilia-Borza Here’s many words, but no crowns: the crowns!
Barabas Commend me to him, sir, most humbly,
And unto your good mistress, as unknown.Pilia-Borza Speak, shall I have ’em, sir?
Barabas Sir, here they are. Gives money.
O, that I should part with so much gold! Aside.
Here, take ’em, fellow, with as good a will—
As I would see thee hanged; Aside. O, love stops my breath:
Never loved man servant as I do Ithamore!Pilia-Borza I know it, sir.
Barabas Pray, when, sir, shall I see you at my house?
Pilia-Borza Soon enough to your cost, sir. Fare you well.
Exit. Barabas Nay, to thine own cost, villain, if thou com’st!
Was ever Jew tormented as I am?
To have a shag-rag knave to come, force from me
Three hundred crowns, and then five hundred crowns!
Well, I must seek a means to rid ’em all,
And presently; for in his villany
He will tell all he knows, and I shall die for’t.
I have it:
I will in some disguise go see the slave,
And how the villain revels with my gold.Exit. Scene VI
Enter Bellamira, Ithamore, and Pilia-Borza. 86 Bellamira I’ll pledge thee, love, and therefore drink it off.
Ithamore Say’st thou me so? have at it; and do you hear? Whispers.
Bellamira Go to, it shall be so.
Ithamore Of 87 that condition I will drink it up.
Here’s to thee.Bellamira Nay, I’ll have all or none.
Ithamore There, if thou lov’st me, do not leave a drop.
Bellamira Love thee! fill me three glasses.
Ithamore Three and fifty dozen, I’ll pledge thee.
Pilia-Borza Knavely spoke, and like a knight-at-arms.
Ithamore Hey, Rivo Castiliano! 88 a man’s a man.
Bellamira Now to the Jew.
Ithamore Ha! to the Jew; and send me money he were best.
Pilia-Borza What would’st thou do, if he should send thee none?
Ithamore Do nothing; but I know what I know; he’s a murderer.
Bellamira I had not thought he had been so brave a man.
Ithamore You knew Mathias and the governor’s son; he and I killed ’em both, and yet never touched ’em.
Pilia-Borza O, bravely done.
Ithamore I carried the broth that poisoned the nuns; and he and I, snickle hand too fast, 89 strangled a friar.
Bellamira You two alone?
Ithamore We two; and ’twas never known, nor never shall be for me.
Pilia-Borza This shall with me unto the governor. Aside to Bellamira.
Bellamira And fit it should: but first let’s ha’ more gold. Aside to Pilia-Borza.
Come, gentle Ithamore, lie in my lap.Ithamore Love me little, love me long: let music rumble,
Whilst I in thy incony 90 lap do tumble.Enter Barabas, disguised as a French musician, with a lute, and a nosegay in his hat. Bellamira A French musician! come, let’s hear your skill.
Barabas Must tuna my lute for sound, twang, twang, first.
Ithamore Wilt drink, Frenchman? here’s to thee with a—Pox on this drunken hiccup!
Barabas Gramercy, monsieur.
Bellamira Prithee, Pilia-Borza, bid the fiddler give me the posy in his hat there.
Pilia-Borza Sirrah, you must give my mistress your posy.
Barabas A votre commandement, madame. Giving nosegay.
Bellamira How sweet, my Ithamore, the flowers smell!
Ithamore Like thy breath, sweetheart; no violet like ’em.
Pilia-Borza Foh! methinks they stink like a hollyhock.
Barabas So, now I am revenged upon ’em all:
The scent thereof was death; I poisoned it. Aside.Ithamore Play, fiddler, or I’ll cut your cat’s guts into chitterlings.
Barabas Pardonnez moi, be no in tune yet: so, now, now all be in.
Ithamore Give him a crown, and fill me out more wine.
Pilia-Borza There’s two crowns for thee; play. Giving money.
Barabas How liberally the villain gives me mine own gold! Aside, Barabas then plays.
Pilia-Borza Methinks he fingers very well.
Barabas So did you when you stole my gold. Aside.
Pilia-Borza How swift he runs!
Barabas You run swifter when you threw my gold out of my window. Aside.
Bellamira Musician, hast been in Malta long?
Barabas Two, three, four month, madam.
Ithamore Dost not know a Jew, one Barabas?
Barabas Very mush: monsieur, you no be his man?
Pilia-Borza His man?
Ithamore I scorn the peasant; tell him so.
Barabas He knows it already. Aside.
Ithamore ’Tis a strange thing of that Jew, he lives upon pickled grasshoppers and sauced mushrooms.
Barabas What a slave’s this? the governor feeds not as I do. Aside.
Ithamore He never put on clean shirt since he was circumcised.
Barabas O rascal! I change myself twice a day. Aside.
Ithamore The hat he wears, Judas left under the elder 91 when he hanged himself.
Barabas ’Twas sent me for a present from the Great Cham. Aside.
Pilia-Borza A musty slave he is.—Whither now, fiddler?
Barabas Pardonnez moi, monsieur, me be no well.
Pilia-Borza Farewell, fiddler!
Exit Barabas. One letter more to the Jew.
Bellamira Prithee, sweet love, one more, and write it sharp.
Ithamore 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-Borza Let me alone to urge it, now I