Who knows you not? You have impressed your name on many a hand-- It has been stamped on mine these many years. NATHAN (_feeling for his purse_). Come, brother, come; here's to refresh it. FRIAR. Thanks. That would be robbing poorer men. I will Take nothing; but I beg of you, permit That I refresh your memory with my name; For I can boast of having formerly Placed something in your hand you should not scorn. NATHAN. Excuse me--I'm ashamed--what was it? Say, And then take for atonement sevenfold The value of the thing. FRIAR. Well, first of all, Hear how this very day has brought to mind The pledge I gave you. NATHAN. What! a pledge to me? FRIAR. Not long ago I led a hermit's life On Quarantana, near to Jericho. Some Arab thieves came and attacked my cell; They robbed my oratory, forcing me To follow them. But fortune favoured me. I fled, came hither to the Patriarch, And sought from him another calm retreat, Where I might serve my God in solitude Till death should bless me. NATHAN. Ah! I am on thorns. Be quick! What pledge did you entrust to me? FRIAR. Yes, Nathan, presently. The Patriarch Has promised I shall have a hermitage On Tabor, when 'tis vacant; and meanwhile Employs me in this convent as a brother, And here I am at present. But I pine For Tabor fifty times a day; for here He makes me toil at work which I detest. NATHAN. Be speedy, I beseech you. FRIAR. Well, it chanced Some one has whispered in his ear to-day That a Jew lives hard by, who educates A Christian as his daughter. NATHAN. How? FRIAR. Nay, hear. He has commissioned me, if possible, To find this Jew out for him; and he raves Loudly and bitterly against the crime, Which he pronounces as the actual sin Against the Holy Ghost--that is, the sin The greatest, which a sinner can commit. But luckily we can't exactly tell Its nature. But my conscience all at once Was roused, and it occurred to me that I Had once, perhaps, been guilty of this sin. Do you remember, eighteen years ago, When a knight's squire committed to your hands A female infant but a few weeks old? NATHAN. What say you? Well, in fact there was----