Taboo 1×8

& Sir Stuart: Is this the extent of your ambition?

& Delaney: I need a ship. You have four hours.

& Wilton: For what reason, sir?
    Sir Stuart: Hm?
    Wilton: What I mean is— I should give in the daybook? The official reason.
    Sir Stuart: Well, let’s see... «The Good Hope was taken to Wapping Wall for an unannounced inspection of its hull for short measure of tar, in case of fraudulent accounting by the ship fitters, Master and Preece.» Hmm? Put that in the daybook.

& Wilton: And what... is the official reason... for sending two Company dray carts to Bedlam Insane Asylum?
    Sir Stuart: Because this whole thing is insane. Because this day is insane, because Delaney is insane! Because I am insane! Just do it.

& — Why do so many of them choose to be beaten?
    Countess Musgrove: Power. One told me it’s like pissing. You build up the power inside your belly and then you need to let it out, and a good thrashing from a Countess does the trick, apparently.

& Countess Musgrove: James? What are you to him?
    Lorna: I’m Mrs. Delaney.
    Countess Musgrove: His wife.
    Lorna: No. His mother.

& Coop: Give us the names, or you will be racked! I will squash your balls myself and make you eat the paste. You promised to give me those names!
    Delaney: Did I?... I must’ve lied.

---

& Delaney: I will tell you one thing, though. All the charges of treason brought against me... they will be dropped... before midday. Witnesses vanish. Testimonies, they burn. Demands will be met, and pride will be swallowed. And when morning becomes afternoon... then... I will become a free man.
    Coop: How would you know that?
    Delaney: The ravens just told me.

& Delaney: If she was in the river... she would sing to me. And I would hear her.

& Delaney: How did I not know?
    Lorna: Because the dead don’t sing.
    Delaney: If they don’t sing, then how do I hear them?

& Lorna: If anything... it’s a fine day to die at sea.

& Dumbarton: No-one in this city has only one master.
    Delaney: Pen... I do.

& Cholmondeley: No sparks, no flames, no inflammatory comments. I’m covered in explosives.

& Prince Regent: How is your religion these days, Coop?
    Coop: My what?

& Prince Regent: Fuck Nootka! Fuck wills! Fuck treaties! I’m the head of fucking state! And by the command of His Majesty... kill him.

& Delaney: Brace, you were not born for freedom. You wouldn’t know what to do with it. It would torture you.

& Sir Stuart: Aha, my final ace...

& Brace: His room is the attic. The one looking out to the river.

& Chichester: Justice.

& Atticus: I thought the gunpowder was for the Americans.
    Delaney: We are Americans.

--
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Taboo 1×7

& Delaney: I’m just looking for a ship. Watching what comes and goes.

& Atticus: There’s no certainty it was James that did it.
    Helga: There’s no certainty that he did not.

& Delaney: I need to be clear that you’re not a spirit, like the others.
    Chichester: No. I’m a rationalist.

& Chichester: ...On behalf of justice.
    Delaney: Oh, justice. Hello. You believe in justice?
    Chichester: I do.
    Delaney: And yet you’re a rationalist. What kind of rational man believes in justice?

& Delaney: I have an alternative suggestion...

& Delaney: Brace, you are not sick and you are not dead yet...

& Delaney: Talk to me about the rats.
    Brace: Every house has rats.
    Delaney: Hmm.

---

& Delaney: You did him... a kindness.

& Delaney: You are wanted urgently downstairs. Mrs. Delaney is destroying the kitchen. She’s about to ruin a duck.

& Coop: You got lucky with a whore, Stuart.

& Delaney: I suggest... that you leave very quickly... and very, very quietly... or you can stay... for the extreme violence that is coming your way. Your choice.

& Dr. Dumbarton: When my reds are red and my whites are white and my blues are blue, then I will clear out.

& Brace: Arsenic is gentle.

& Coop: ...and you will await trial in the same cell that Thomas Moore occupied, with not an unpleasant view of the River Thames. So...?

& Prince Regent: Give him what he wants.

& Delaney: I have a use for you...

--
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Taboo 1×6

& Brace: She wanted you dead, James.

& Cholmondeley: Think of it as like adding a baby to a marriage. All was ordered and calm and now there is this thing that demands attention. Stops you sleeping, belches, farts, screams... and she’s going to make this whole process louder and wilder, more insane, more impractical...

& Cholmondeley: Stir... Stir... Stir...

& Chichester: But what— what an extraordinary achievement, gentlemen. When you think that the pyramids and the great Valley Of The Kings and the Sphinx were all manufactured by men with skin almost as dark as my own. It almost defies all your— Our current views of nature.

& Pettifer: ...Then he asked about your brother, Sir. And his sugar plantation at Jumby Bay, Antigua.
    Sir Stuart: .... Chichester is their bishop. The king is safe. Delaney is a horse and Prinny is their queen. I think it’s time we started moving some pieces...

---

& Cholmondeley: Steady as she goes... Steady as she goes... Steady as she goes...
    Ibbotson: And may God have mercy on our souls.

& Dumbarton: It’s as if the disease is not transmitted by air or miasma, but by false rumour.
    Delaney: Then it is the same as religion. Or patriotism.

& Delaney: What did you see?
    Robert: Nothing.
    Delaney: I strongly suggest you to continue to see nothing.

& Delaney: You tell me one thing that isn’t just a matter of time.

& Delaney: What have you done?

& Wilton: Sir Stuart just wants you to know... it’s war. The gloves are off.

& Atticus: Two possibilities. He sold you out, cos you cut off his thumb, or you cut off his thumb, cos you knew he was going to sell you out. Possibility one— reason. Possibility two— witchcraft.

& Delaney: You can keep the heart. Goodnight.

& Delaney: I need a ship! Just give me a fucking ship.

--
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Taboo 1×5

& Geary: To the death!
    Code Duello: To first blood. According to the Irish code of 1777, any man wounded will be tended by the doctor.
    Doctor: And no second shot will be fired by either gun.

& Code Duello: When I drop this handkerchief, you will walk towards each other. And, at a time of your choosing, there will be a polite exchange of bullets.

& Lorna: Look, I’m very happy to admit that I don’t want James Delaney to die. But can you also admit that you don’t want James Delaney to die?

& Delaney: Are you King or are you Company? Hm? It doesn’t matter. Now there is nothing up that road for you apart from death and anybody like you.

& Delaney: And you think she’s beautiful?
    Cholmondeley: Who?
    Delaney: The actress.
    Cholmondeley: Hm! Not only is she among the large number of women I would sleep with, she’s also among the much smaller group of women I would masturbate over.

---

& Delaney: I am inside your heads, gentlemen. Always.

& Sir Stuart: Now, we’ve screwed Maharajas, we’ve screwed moguls, and this man... this man is merely a London mongrel. So... Come on! Ideas?!

& Lorna: Have you never bought a soul for beads?

& Dumbarton: Ask him about the French experiment.....
    Cholmondeley: The French experiment was— How can I put it? Entirely French in conception and execution. And therefore a total disaster.

& Chichester: Mr. Coop, even though I am black, I am not related by blood to every slave stolen from Africa.

& Musgrove: If it’s someone you fuck, please check if he came from east or west. In the east, there is cholera. You can catch it from fucking.
    The Countess Musgrove: It isn’t. And there isn’t. And you can’t.

& Delaney: Trust requires a little time.

--
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Taboo 1×4

& Godfrey: He will not offer you a monopoly. So... doesn’t that mean the game is up, James?
    Delaney: No, it’s just begun.

& Godfrey: James. For God’s sake. The Art Of War. Poor motive, poor strategy... poor outcome.

& Delaney: I have a question. It concerns chemistry. I hope now is not inconvenient.

& Cholmondeley: You know, semen not ejaculated at the point of passion turns to poison and narrows the mind. Eventually, you become an ape.
    Delaney: So, ejaculate. Then, we can talk of business.
    Cholmondeley: Is that gold?...
    Delaney: Has the semen yet turned to poison?

& Cholmondeley: So, what exactly is it you would use me for?

& Brace: You knew they were coming to take her, didn’t you?.. All part of the plan... We’re all just part of the plan, aren’t we, sir?

& Delaney: You see me as I am. All of those that I gather are damned. It’s just part of a company policy of mine.

& Lorna: Oh, I see. I’ve passed a test.
    Delaney: No.
    Lorna: I will join the League of the Damned.
    Delaney: A group of people who are drawn together, with a willingness to do exactly as I say...
    Lorna: We are the ships, you are the river.

---

& Cholmondeley: If you mix the pigeon shit and the cow shit at a ratio of around 60:40 in favour of the pigeon. I’d have to do tests. Then, if you burnt all that stack of wood today, you could soak the ash in 50 gallons of human piss and leave it for a minimum of a year. Then, my friend, you would, indeed, have gunpowder.
    Delaney: I don’t have a year.
    Cholmondeley: Well, I have a theory that the introduction of several barrels of saltpetre that have already been refined at the start of the process can cut the leaching stage down to four weeks.
    Delaney: «Theory»?
    Cholmondeley: Yes, but my theories are always right.

& Delaney: A ball... And why would she invite a man who cannot dance?

& Atticus: I want you to sign that right now before whatever it is in your blood wears off.

& Delaney: And I’m planning a robbery.
    Atticus: At last. Back in the world of reason and rationality.

& Dumbarton: Let me just make the point... from an American point of view.

& Dumbarton: And don’t worry how we know so much. Hm? We just know so much.

& Lorna: You know James Delaney?
    Zilpha: No.
    Lorna: What? You mean in the way that no-one really knows James Delaney?
    Zilpha: Yes.
    Lorna: I’ve only not known James a little while. But I have the feeling you’ve not known him a little longer.

& Zilpha: No civilised woman would have intentions regarding him. And you would not need to be wary of me... We have the same father.

--
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Taboo 1×3

& Dumbarton: The British want you dead. We want you alive though. That’s something, huh?

& Dumbarton: So what do you want?
    Delaney: Tea.
    Dumbarton: Tea?
    Delaney: You tell Carlsbad that I want tea.

& Delaney: I will cede sovereignty of Nootka Sound to whichever nation offers me their monopoly... on the trade of furs for tea from Fort George to Canton. A monopoly. That’s what I want. All the tea in China.
Dumbarton: You should have said that from the start. Could have saved yourself a lot of pain.

& Atticus: So if we ain’t partners, what are we?
    Delaney: Well, I’m a merchant, you’re my victualler.

---

& Sir Stuart: You knew?!
    Solomon Coop: You have 104 spies in London... and we have 202.

& Solomon Coop: Always assume I just know.

& Stage Maid: Begging pardon, Sir, the show is almost done. Should any girl in the chorus have taken your eye, Sir, they’re sixpence each for one hour... Any girls who spoke are a half crown... There are boys in the chorus too, Sir, if you prefer...

& Godfrey: Blackmail?
    Delaney: Yes. But between friends, so where’s the harm?

& Delaney: You seem to know such a lot for somebody who knows so very little.

& Delaney: Brace!.. Make this woman a room up right now.
    Lorna Bow: I’d like a river view...
    Delaney: Granted.

& Thorne: In my profession, we believe in luck. In the business of ship insurance, luck is the Goddess of Profit. Your luck, Mr. Delaney, is poor.

--
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Taboo 1×2

& Auctioner: Felice Adventurero sold for £800 to...?
    Delaney: The Delaney Nootka Trading Company.

& Sir Stuart: And where did he get the money to buy a ship?!

& Sir Stuart: One of their agents approached him, briefed him, gave him money and secured his services.
    Wilton: Who— who did, sir?
    Sir Stuart: The fucking Americans!

& Atticus: What’s the biggest thing you saw? For my files... my book about the world. What’s the biggest thing you saw in Africa?
    Delaney: An elephant. ......
    Atticus: What was the smallest thing you saw?
    Delaney: Human kindness.

& Prince Regent: Get the Admiralty to draw the map again, and make the British red and the Americans... green or something, since they are so new.
    Solomon Coop: But of course, your Highness.

---

& Delaney: The Nootka Sound treaty. It may be written on deerskin.
    Brace: So what you’re saying is... «Brace, do you have any idea where I can find ma ain death warrant?»

& Delaney: I would rather that you worked with me rather than against me.
    Helga: Work at what?
    Delaney: Necessary evil.

& Delaney: I’m looking for Dr. Dumbarton.
    Nurse: Follow the smell inside.

& Thoyt: Come on, James. When you left London, the East India was a trading company. Now it is God Almighty. The Prince Regent fears it. No government in the world dares to stand up to it. It owns the land, the ocean, the fucking sky above our heads. It has more men and weapons and ships than all the Christian nations combined.

& Thoyt: You think all who submit are evil. No. We are submitting to the way the world has become.

& Thorne: No. We will haunt this nigger to justice!

& Lorna: He owed me a lifetime of care. A lifetime of devotion. He owed me kisses and love. He owed me a home and a fire and perhaps children some day. In short, he owed me all that is due from a husband to a wife.

& Lorna: Calm, pretty, certain, fragrant. Calm, pretty, certain, fragrant.

--
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Shovels and Keys

Taboo 1×1

& Thorne: What extra shilling?
    Thoyt: To bury your father deeper in the ground. Resurrectionists pay extra to be buried two feet deeper than the rest. That way, the grave-robbers can’t dig down to their meat before the sun comes up.

& Delaney: Forgive me, Father... for I have indeed sinned.

& Thoyt: Well, it’s a small... strip of coastline, directly on the other side of the world, which your father held by treaty with the Nootka tribe. A wasteland. If America were a pig facing England, it is right at the pig’s arse. Just rocks and Indians.

& Sir Stuart: Now, the issue today is old man Delaney. May he rot in hell.

& Sir Stuart: Yeah, year end record too. My God! Corporal James Keziah Delaney... «Exceptional. Exceptional. Exceptional. Musket, shipcraft, leadership. Exceptional.»

& Sir Stuart: What are the rumours?
    Pettifer: Awful, and unnatural, and, I’m sure, untrue.
    Sir Stuart: What. Fucking. Rumours?

---

& Brace: See, when you live alone with a madman, you— You become half mad yourself.

& Delaney: People who do not know me soon come to understand... that I do not have any sense.

& Geary: Why does a soldier know that a nigger bowing low has a dagger in his shoe and is reaching for it?.. Delaney is nothing more than a nigger now. You know that, don’t you?

& Delaney: Today, I have work to do.

& Delaney: No-one is listening.

& Zilpha: Half-brother.

& Delaney: Please understand— hypocrisy I hate most.

& Delaney: .... And because of the strategical position of Nootka Sound, whoever owns it has legal entitlement to the entire island of Vancouver, which is... Well, which is the gateway to... to China. Hmm?

--
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