The Works of Christopher Marlowe Volume II Part 23

_Gov._ O excellent! here, hold thee, Barabas, I trust thy word, take what I promised thee.

_Bar._ No, Governor, I'll satisfy thee first, Thou shalt not live in doubt of anything.

Stand close, for here they come [Governor _retires_].

Why, is not this A kingly kind of trade to purchase towns By treachery and sell 'em by deceit? 50 Now tell me, worldlings, underneath the sun[156]

If greater falsehood ever has been done?

_Enter_ CALYMATH _and_ Ba.s.soes.

_Caly._ Come, my companion ba.s.soes; see, I pray, How busy Barabas is there above To entertain us in his gallery; Let us salute him. Save thee, Barabas!

_Bar._ Welcome, great Calymath!

_Gov._ How the slave jeers at him. [_Aside._

_Bar._ Will 't please thee, mighty Selim Calymath, To ascend our homely stairs? 60

_Caly._ I, Barabas; Come, ba.s.soes, attend.[157]

_Gov._ Stay, Calymath!

For I will show thee greater courtesy Than Barabas would have afforded thee.

_Knight [within_]. Sound a charge there!

[_A charge; the cable cut._ BARABAS _falls into a caldron. Enter_ MARTIN DEL BOSCO _and_ Knights.[158]

_Caly._ How now, what means this!

_Bar._ Help, help me, Christians, help.

_Gov._ See, Calymath, this was devised for thee.

_Caly._ Treason! treason! ba.s.soes, fly! 70

_Gov._ No, Selim, do not fly; See his end first, and fly then if thou canst.

_Bar._ O help me, Selim, help me, Christians!

Governor, why stand you all so pitiless?

_Gov._ Should I in pity of thy plaints or thee, Accursed Barabas, base Jew, relent?

No, thus I'll see thy treachery repaid, But wish thou hadst behaved thee otherwise.

_Bar._ You will not help me, then?

_Gov._ No, villain, no. 80

_Bar._ And, villains, know you cannot help me now-- Then, Barabas, breathe forth thy latest hate,[159]

And in the fury of thy torments strive To end thy life with resolution; Know, Governor, 'twas I that slew thy son; I framed the challenge that did make them meet: Know, Calymath, I aimed thy overthrow, And had I but escaped this stratagem, I would have brought confusion on you all, d.a.m.ned Christians! dogs! and Turkish infidels! 90 But now begins the extremity of heat To pinch me with intolerable pangs: Die life, fly soul, tongue curse thy fill, and die! [_Dies._

_Caly._ Tell me, you Christians, what doth this portend?

_Gov._ This train he laid to have entrapped thy life; Now, Selim, note the unhallowed deeds of Jews: Thus he determined to have handled thee, But I have rather chose to save thy life.

_Caly._ Was this the banquet he prepared for us?

Let's hence, lest further mischief be pretended.[160] 100

_Gov._ Nay, Selim, stay, for since we have thee here, We will not let thee part so suddenly; Besides, if we should let thee go, all's one, For with thy galleys could'st thou not get hence, Without fresh men to rig and furnish them.

_Caly._ Tush, Governor, take thou no care for that, My men are all aboard.

And do attend my coming there by this.

_Gov._ Why, heard'st thou not the trumpet sound a charge?

_Caly._ Yes, what of that? 110

_Gov._ Why then the house was fired, Blown up, and all thy soldiers ma.s.sacred.

_Caly._ O monstrous treason!

_Gov._ A Jew's courtesy: For he that did by treason work our fall, By treason hath delivered thee to us: Know, therefore, till thy father hath made good The ruins done to Malta and to us, Thou canst not part: for Malta shall be freed, Or Selim ne'er return to Ottoman. 120

_Caly._ Nay, rather, Christians, let me go to Turkey, In person there to mediate[161] your peace; To keep me here will not advantage you.

_Gov._ Content thee, Calymath, here thou must stay, And live in Malta prisoner; for come all[162] the world To rescue thee, so will we guard us now, As sooner shall they drink the ocean dry Than conquer Malta, or endanger us.

So march away, and let due praise be given Neither to fate nor fortune, but to Heaven.

[_Exeunt._

EDWARD THE SECOND.

_Edward II._ was entered in the Stationers' Books 6th July 1593. In the Dyce Library at South Kensington there is a 4to. with a MS. t.i.tle-page (in a hand of the late seventeenth century) dated 1593. Without doubt the date 1593 is a copyist's mistake for 1598. In the first leaf, which is in MS., there are a few textual differences, due to the copyist's carelessness; but the printed matter throughout (A. 3--K. 2) exhibits the text of ed. 1598.

In 1876 an edition of _Edward II._ in 8vo., dated 1594, was discovered in the library at Ca.s.sel. The t.i.tle is:--_The troublesome raigne and lamentable death of Edward the second, King of England: with the tragicall fall of proud Mortimer. As it was sundrie times publiquely acted in the honourable citie of London, by the right honourable the Earl of Pembroke his servants. Written by Chri. Marlow Gent. Imprinted at London for William Jones, dwelling neare Holborne conduit at the Signe of the Gunne, 1594._

The t.i.tle of the 4to. of 1598 runs as follows:--_The troublesome raigne and lamentable death of Edward the second, King of England: with the tragicall fall of proud Mortimer: And also the life and death of Peirs Gaueston, the great Earle of Cornewall, and mighty favorite of king Edward the second, as it was publiquely acted by the right honorable the Earle of Pembrooke his seruauntes. Written by Chri. Marlow Gent.

Imprinted at London by Richard Bradocke, for William Jones, dwelling neere Holbourne conduit, at the signe of the Gunne, 1598._

Another edition (in 4to.) appeared in 1612, with the following t.i.tle:--_The troublesome raigne and lamentable death of Edward the second, King of England: with the tragicall fall of proud Mortimer. And also the life and death of Peirs Gaueston, the great Earle of Cornewall, and mighty fauorite of King Edward the second, as it was publiquely acted by the right honorable the Earle of Pembrooke his seruants.

Written by Christopher Marlow Gent. Printed at London for Roger Barnes, and are to be sould at his shop in Chauncerie Lane ouer against the Rolles, 1612._

The last of the old editions is dated 1622:--_The troublesome raigne and lamentable death of Edward the second, King of England: with the tragicall fall of proud Mortimer. And also the life and death of Peirs Gauestone, the great Earle of Cornewall, and mighty Fauorite of King Edward the second. As it was publikely Acted by the late Queenes Maiesties Seruants at the Red Bull in S. Johns streete. Written by Christopher Marlow Gent. London, Printed for Henry Bell, and are to be sold at his Shop at the Lame-hospitall Gate, neere Smithfield, 1622._

The text of the 1598 4to., which is fairly free from corruptions, differs but slightly from the texts of the two later 4tos. I have not had an opportunity of inspecting the 8vo. of 1594; but I suspect that it agrees very closely with the later copies.

_PERSONS REPRESENTED._