A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 14
General
A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 14
English drama
ISA. Curse not at all! dear souls, revenge is hot,
And boils in Zarack's brains; the plot is cast
Into the mould of hell: you freemen are:
Zarack will kill the Moor and Balthazar.
HOR. How can that relish?
ISA. I'll tell you how:
I did profess, ay, and protested too,
I lov'd him well; what will not sorrow do!
Then he profess'd, ay, and protested too,
To kill them both; what will not devils do!
PHIL. Then I profess, ay, and protest it too,
That here's for him; what will not Philip do!
HOR. See where he comes.
_Enter the two Moors._
BAL. Zarack, what do I see?
Hortenzo and Philippo? who did this?
ZAR. I, Balthazar.
BAL. Thou art half-damn'd for it;[75]
I'll to my lord.
ZAR. I'll stop you on your way;
Lie there, thy tongue shall tell no tales to-day.
[_Stabs him._
PHIL. Nor thine to-morrow: this revenge was well.
[_Stabs him._
By this time both the slaves shake hands in hell.
ISA. Philippo and Hortenzo, stand you still?
What, doat you both? Cannot you see your play?
Well fare a woman then to lead the way.
Once rob the dead; put the Moors' habits on,
And paint your faces with the oil of hell:
So, waiting on the tyrant----
PHIL. Come, no more,
'Tis here and here: room there below; stand wide,
Bury them well, since they so godly died.
HOR. Away then, fate: now let revenge be plac'd.
PHIL. Here.
HOR. And here; a tyrant's blood doth sweetly taste.
[_Exeunt._
SCENE VI.
_Enter_ ELEAZAR, ALVERO, RODERIGO, CHRISTOFERO, _and other
Lords_.
ELE. What, I imprison! Who?
ALL. Philip and Hortenzo.
ELE. Philip and Hortenzo! ha, ha, ha!
ROD. Why laughs the Moor?
ELE. I laugh, because you jest:
Laugh at a jest. Who, I imprison them?
I prize their lives with weights, their necks with chains,
Their hands with manacles! do I all this?
Because my face is in night's colour dyed,
Think you my conscience and my soul is so?
Black faces may have hearts as white as snow;
And 'tis a general rule in moral schools,[76]
The whitest faces have the blackest souls.
ALV. But touching my Hortenzo----
ELE. Good old man,
I never touch'd him; do not touch me then
With thy Hortenzo.
CHRIS. Where's Philip too?
ELE. And where is Philip too?
I pray, I pray, is Philip a tame Spaniard?
What, can I Philip him hither, hither make him fly?
First, where's Hortenzo? Where's Philip too?
ROD. And where is Isabel? She was with you.
ELE. And where is Isabel? She was with me!
_Enter_ PHILIP _and_ HORTENZO, _like Moors_.
And so are you; yet are you well, you see:
But in good time, see where their keepers come.
Come hither, Zarack; Balthazar, come hither:
Zarack, old Lord Alvero asks of thee
Where young Hortenzo is.
HOR. My lord, set free.
ELE. O, is he so? Come hither, Balthazar:
Lord Christofero here would ask of thee
Where Prince Philippo is.
PHIL. My lord, set free.
ELE. O, is he so?
Roderigo asketh me for Isabel.
PHIL. I say, my lord, she's free.
ELE. O, is she so?
PHIL. Believe me, lords.
HOR. And me.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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