2D CITIZEN.
I am pushed and squeezed.
My limbs are not mine own.
3D CITIZEN.
Look this way, wife.
They will come hence,—a pack of just-whipped curs.
I warrant you the stiff-necked brutes repent
To-day if ne'er before.
WIFE.
I am all a-quiver.
I have seen monstrous sights,—an uncaged wolf,
The corpse of one sucked by a vampyre,
The widow Kupfen's malformed child—but never
Until this hour, a Jew.
3D CITIZEN.
D' ye call me Jew?
Where do you spy one now?
WIFE.
You'll have your jest
Now or anon, what matters it?
4TH CITIZEN.
Well, I
Have seen a Jew, and seen one burn at that;
Hard by in Wartburg; he had killed a child.
Zounds! how the serpent wriggled! I smell now
The roasting, stinking flesh!
BOY.
Father, be these
The folk who murdered Jesus?
4TH CITIZEN.
Ay, my boy.
Remember that, and when you hear them come,
I'll lift you on my shoulders. You can fling
Your pebbles with the rest.
[Trumpets sound.]
CITIZENS.
The Jews! the Jews!
BOY.
Quick, father! lift me! I see nothing here
But hose and skirts.
[Music of a march approaching.]