That I may vanish o'er the earth in air, And leave no memory that e'er I was? No, I will live; nor loathe I this my life:      And, since you leave me in the ocean thus To sink or swim, and put me to my shifts, I'll rouse my senses, and awake myself.—      Daughter, I have it:  thou perceiv'st the plight Wherein these Christians have oppressed me:      Be rul'd by me, for in extremity We ought to make bar of no policy. ABIGAIL. Father, whate'er it be, to injure them That have so manifestly wronged us, What will not Abigail attempt? BARABAS. Why, so. Then thus:  thou told'st me they have turn'd my house Into a nunnery, and some nuns are there? ABIGAIL. I did. BARABAS. Then, Abigail, there must my girl Entreat the abbess to be entertain'd. ABIGAIL. How! as a nun? BARABAS. Ay, daughter; for religion Hides many mischiefs from suspicion. ABIGAIL. Ay, but, father, they will suspect me there. BARABAS. Let 'em suspect; but be thou so precise As they may think it done of holiness:      Entreat 'em fair, and give them friendly speech, And seem to them as if thy sins were great, Till thou hast gotten to be entertain'd. ABIGAIL. Thus, father, shall I much dissemble. BARABAS. Tush! As good dissemble that thou never mean'st, As first mean truth and then dissemble it:      A counterfeit profession is better Than unseen hypocrisy. ABIGAIL. Well, father, say I be entertain'd, What then shall follow? BARABAS. This shall follow then. There have I hid, close underneath the plank That runs along the upper-chamber floor, The gold and jewels which I kept for thee:—      But here they come:  be cunning, Abigail. ABIGAIL. Then, father, go with me. BARABAS. No, Abigail, in this It is not necessary I be seen; For I will seem offended with thee for't:      Be close, my girl, for this must fetch my gold.           [They retire.]            Enter FRIAR JACOMO, 47 FRIAR BARNARDINE, ABBESS, and a NUN. FRIAR JACOMO. Sisters, We now are almost at the new-made nunnery. ABBESS. 48 The better; for we love not to be seen:      'Tis thirty winters long since some of us Did stray so far amongst the multitude. FRIAR JACOMO. But, madam, this house And waters of this new-made nunnery Will much delight you. ABBESS. It may be so.—But who comes here?            [ABIGAIL comes forward.]       ABIGAIL. Grave abbess, and you happy virgins' guide, Pity the state of a distressed maid! ABBESS. What art thou, daughter? ABIGAIL. The hopeless daughter of a hapless Jew, The Jew of Malta, wretched Barabas, Sometimes 49 the owner of a 

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