THE TRAGEDY OF DIDO, QUEEN OF CARTHAGE

299

THE JEW OF MALTA.

Of the Jew of Malta there is no earlier edition than the 4to. of 1633, which was published under the auspices of the well-known dramatist Thomas Heywood. The title is:— The Famous Tragedy of The Rich Iew of Malta. As it was playd before the King and Queene, in His Majesties The atre at White-Hall, by her Majesties Servants at the Cock-pit. Written by Christopher Marlo. London: Printed by I. B. for Nicholas Vavasour, and are to be sold at his Shop in the Inner-Temple, neere the Church. 1633. No later 4to. appeared.

TO MY WORTHY FRIEND,

MASTER THOMAS HAMMON,

OF GRAY'S INN, &c.

This play, composed by so worthy an Author as Mr. Marlowe, and the part of the Jew presented by so unimitable an Actor as Mr. Alleyn, being in this later age commended to the stage; as I ushered it unto the Court, and presented it to the Cock-pit, with these prologues and epilogues here inserted, so now being newly brought to the press, I was loth it should be published without the ornament of an Epistle; making choice of you unto whom to devote it; than whom (of all those gentlemen and acquaintance, within the compass of my long knowledge) there is none more able to tax ignorance, or attribute right to merit. Sir, you have been pleased to grace some of mine own works with your courteous patronage;

[1] I hope this will not be the worse accepted, because commended by me; over whom, none can claim more power or privilege than yourself. I had no better a new-year's gift to present you with; receive it therefore as a continuance of that inviolable obligement, by which, he rests still engaged; who as he ever hath, shall always remain,

Tuissimus:

Tho. Heywood.

THE JEW OF MALTA.

THE PROLOGUE SPOKEN AT COURT.

Gracious and Great, that we so boldly dare,

('Mongst other plays that now in fashion are)

To present this, writ many years agone,

And in that age thought second unto none,

We humbly crave your pardon: We pursue

The story of a rich and famous Jew

Who lived in Malta: you shall find him still,

In all his projects, a sound Machiavill;

And that's his character. He that hath past

So many censures, is now come at last

To have your princely ears: grace you him; then

You crown the action, and renown the pen.

EPILOGUE.

It is our fear (dread sovereign) we have bin

Too tedious; neither can't be less than sin

To wrong your princely patience: If we have,

(Thus low dejected) we your pardon crave:

And if aught here offend your ear or sight,

We only act and speak what others write.

THE PROLOGUE TO THE STAGE.

AT THE COCK-PIT.

We know not how our play may pass this stage,

But by the best of poets

[2] in that age

The Malta Jew had being, and was made;

And he, then by the best of actors

[3] played;

In Hero and Leander, one did gain

A lasting memory: in Tamburlaine,

This Jew, with others many, th'other wan

The attribute of peerless, being a man

Whom we may rank with (doing no one wrong)

Proteus for shapes, and Roscius for a tongue,

So could he speak, so vary; nor is't hate

To merit, in him

[4] who doth personate

Our Jew this day; nor is it his ambition

To exceed or equal, being of condition

More modest: this is all that he intends,

(And that too, at the urgence of some friends)

To prove his best, and, if none here gainsay it,

The part he hath studied, and intends to play it.

EPILOGUE.

In graving, with Pygmalion to contend;

Or painting, with Apelles; doubtless the end

Must be disgrace: our actor did not so,

He only aimed to go, but not out-go.

Nor think that this day any prize

[5] was played;

Here were no bets at all, no wagers laid;

[6]

All the ambition that his mind doth swell,

Is but to hear from you (by me),'twas well.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

Ferneze, Governor of Malta.

Selim Calymath, Son of the Grand Seignior.

Don Lodowick, the Governor's Son, in love with

Abigail.

Don Mathias, also in love with her.

Martin del Bosco, Vice-Admiral of Spain.

Barabas, the Jew of Malta.

It hamore, Barabas'slave.

Barnardine, a Friar

Jacomo, a Friar

Pilia-Borsa, a Bully.

Two Merchants.

Three Jews.

Bassoes, Knights, Officers, Reader, Messengers,

Slaves,and Carpenters.

Katharine,

mother of

Don Matthias

.

Abigail, the Jew's Daughter.

Abbess.

Two Nuns.

Bellamira, a Courtesan.

Machiavel, the Prologue.

Scene—Malta.

THE JEW OF MALTA.

Enter

Machiavel.

Machiavel. Albeit the world thinks Machiavel is dead,

Yet was his soul but flown beyond the Alps;

And now the Guise

[7] is dead, is come from France,

To view this land, and frolic with his friends.

To some perhaps my name is odious,

But such as love me guard me from their tongues;

And let them know that I am Machiavel,

And weigh not men, and therefore not men's words.

Admired I am of those that hate me most.

Though some speak openly against my books,10

Yet they will read me, and thereby attain

To Peter's chair: and when they cast me off,

Are poisoned by my climbing followers.

I count religion but a childish toy,

And hold there is no sin but ignorance.

Birds of the air will tell of murders past!

I am ashamed to hear such fooleries.

Many will talk of title to a crown:

What right had Cæsar to the empery?

[8]

Might first made kings, and laws were then most sure20

When like the Draco's

[9] they were writ in blood.

Hence comes it that a strong-built citadel

Commands much more than letters can import;

Which maxim had [but

[10]] Phalaris observed,

He had never bellowed, in a brazen bull,

Of great one's envy. Of the poor petty wights

Let me be envied and not pitièd!

But whither am I bound? I come not, I,

To read a lecture hear in Britainy,

[11]

But to present the tragedy of a Jew,30

Who smiles to see how full his bags are crammed,

Which money was not got without my means.

I crave but this—grace him as he deserves,

And let him not be entertained the worse

Because he favours me.

[ Exit.

ACT THE FIRST.

SCENE I.

Enter

Barabas

in his counting-house, with heaps of gold before him.

Bar. So that of thus much that return was made:

And of the third part of the Persian ships,

The re was the venture summed and satisfied.

As for those Sabans,

[12] and the men of Uz,

That bought my Spanish oils and wines of Greece,

Here have I purst their paltry silverlings.

[13]

Fie; what a trouble'tis to count this trash.

We ll fare the Arabians, who so richly pay

The things they traffic for with wedge of gold,

Whereof a man may easily in a day10

Tell that which may maintain him all his life.

The needy groom that never fingered groat,

Would make a miracle of thus much coin:

But he whose steel-barred coffers are crammed full,

And [he who] all his lifetime hath been tired,

We arying his fingers'ends with telling it,

Would in his age be loth to labour so,

And for a pound to sweat himself to death.

Give me the merchants of the Indian mines,

That trade in metal of the purest mould;20

The wealthy Moor, that in the eastern rocks

Without control can pick his riches up,

And in his house heap pearls like pebble stones,

Receive them free, and sell them by the weight;

Bags of fiery opals, sapphires, amethysts,

Jacinths, hard topaz, grass-green emeralds,

Beauteous rubies, sparkling diamonds,

And seld-seen costly stones of so great price,

As one of them indifferently rated,

And of a carat of this quantity,30

May serve in peril of calamity

To ransom great kings from captivity.

This is the ware wherein consists my wealth;

And thus methinks should men of judgment frame

The ir means of traffic from the vulgar trade,

And as their wealth increaseth, so inclose

Infinite riches in a little room.

But now how stands the wind?

Into what corner peers my halcyon's

[14] bill?

Ha! to the east? yes: see how stands the vanes?40

East and by south: why then I hope my ships

I sent for Egypt and the bordering isles

Are gotten up by Nilus'winding banks:

Mine argosy from Alexandria,

Loaden with spice and silks, now under sail,

Are smoothly gliding down by Candy shore

To Malta, through our Mediterranean sea.

But who comes here? How now.

Enter a Merchant.

Merch. Barabas, thy ships are safe,

Riding in Malta Road: and all the merchants50

With other merchandise are safe arrived,

And have sent me to know whether yourself

Will come and custom

[15]them.

Bar. The ships are safe thou say'st, and richly fraught.

Merch. They are.

Bar. Why then go bid them come ashore,

And bring with them their bills of entry:

I hope our credit in the custom-house

Will serve as well as I were present there.

Go send'em threescore camels, thirty mules,60

And twenty waggons to bring up the ware.

But art thou master in a ship of mine,

And is thy credit not enough for that?

Merch. The very custom barely comes to more

Than many merchants of the town are worth,

And therefore far exceeds my credit, sir.

Bar. Go tell'em the Jew of Malta sent thee, man:

Tush! who amongst'em knows not Barabas?

Merch. I go.

Bar. So then, there's somewhat come.70

Sirrah, which of my ships art thou master of?

Merch. Of the Speranza, sir.

Bar. And saw'st thou not

Mine argosy at Alexandria?

Thou could'st not come from Egypt, or by Caire,

But at the entry there into the sea,

Where Nilus pays his tribute to the main,

Thou needs must sail by Alexandria.

Merch. I neither saw them, nor inquired of them:

But this we heard some of our seamen say,80

They wondered how you durst with so much wealth

Trust such a crazèd vessel, and so far.

Bar. Tush, they are wise! I know her and her strength.

But

[16] go, go thou thy ways, discharge thy ship,

And bid my factor bring his loading in.  [ Exit Merch.

And yet I wonder at this argosy.

Enter a second Merchant.

2 Merch. Thine argosy from Alexandria,

Know, Barabas, doth ride in Malta Road,

Laden with riches, and exceeding store

Of Persian silks, of gold, and orient pearl.90

Bar. How chance you came not with those other ships

That sailed by Eygpt?

2 Merch. Sir, we saw'em not.

Bar. Belike they coasted round by Candy shore

About their oils, or other businesses.

But'twas ill done of you to come so far

Without the aid or conduct of their ships.

2 Merch. Sir, we were wafted by a Spanish fleet,

That never left us till within a league,

That had the galleys of the Turk in chase.100

Bar. O!—they were going up to Sicily:—

We ll, go,

And bid the merchants and my men despatch

And come ashore, and see the fraught discharged.

2 Merch. I go. [ Exit.

Bar. Thus trowls our fortune in by land and sea,

And thus are we on every side enriched:

The se are the blessings promised to the Jews,

And herein was old Abram's happiness:

What more may heaven do for earthly man110

Than thus to pour out plenty in their laps,

Ripping the bowels of the earth for them,

Making the sea[s] their servants, and the winds

To drive their substance with successful blasts?

Who hateth me but for my happiness?

Or who is honoured now but for his wealth?

Rather had I a Jew be hated thus,

Than pitied in a Christian poverty:

For I can see no fruits in all their faith,

But malice, falsehood, and excessive pride,120

Which methinks fits not their profession.

Haply some hapless man hath conscience.

And for his conscience lives in beggary.

They say we are a scattered nation:

I cannot tell, but we have scambled [17]up

More wealth by far than those that brag of faith.

The re's Kirriah Jairim, the great Jew of Greece,

Obed in Bairseth, Nones in Portugal,

My self in Malta, some in It aly,

Many in France, and wealthy every one;130

I, wealthier far than any Christian.

I must confess we come not to be kings;

That's not our fault: alas, our number's few,

And crowns come either by succession,

Or urged by force; and nothing violent,

Oft have I heard tell, can be permanent.

Give us a peaceful rule, make Christians kings,

That thirst so much for principality.

I have no charge, nor many children,

But one sole daughter, whom I hold as dear140

As Agamemnon did his Iphigene:

And all I have is hers. But who comes here?

Enter three Jews. [18]

1 Jew. Tush, tell not me;'twas done of policy.

2 Jew. Come, therefore, let us go to Barabas,

For he can counsel best in these affairs;

And here he comes.

Bar. Why, how now, countrymen!

Why flock you thus to me in multitudes?

What accident's betided to the Jews?

1 Jew. A fleet of warlike galleys, Barabas,150

Are come from Turkey, and lie in our road:

And they this day sit in the council-house

To entertain them and their embassy.

Bar. Why, let'em come, so they come not to war;

Or let'em war, so we be conquerors—

Nay, let'em combat, conquer, and kill all!

So they spare me, my daughter, and my wealth.  [ Aside.

1 Jew. We re it for confirmation of a league,

They would not come in warlike manner thus.

2 Jew. I fear their coming will afflict us all.160

Bar. Fond men! what dream you of their multitudes.

What need they treat of peace that are in league?

The Turks and those of Malta are in league.

Tut, tut, there is some other matter in't.

1 Jew. Why, Barabas, they come for peace or war.

Bar. Haply for neither, but to pass along

Towards Venice by the Adriatic Sea;

With whom they have attempted many times,

But never could effect their stratagem.

3 Jew. And very wisely said. It may be so.170

2 Jew. But there's a meeting in the senate-house,

And all the Jews in Malta must be there.

Bar. Hum; all the Jews in Malta must be there?