Ros. Ay.

Hodge. Know you! Ecod, I don't know whether I do or not: never stir, if I did not think it was some lady belonging to the strange gentlefolks: why, you ben't dizen'd this way to go to the statute dance presently, be you?

Ros. Have patience, and you'll see :-but is there any thing amiss, that you came in so abruptly? Hodge. Amiss! why, there's ruination.

Ros. How! where!

Hodge. Why, with Miss Lucinda: her aunt has catch'd she and the gentleman above stairs, and overheard all their love discourse.

Ros. You don't say so!

Hodge. Ecod, I had like to have popp'd in among them this instant; but, by good luck, I heard Mrs. Deborah's voice, and run down again, as fast as ever my legs could carry me.

Ros. Is your master in the house?

Hodge. What, his worship? No, no; he is gone into the fields, to talk with the reapers and people. Ros. Poor Lucinda! I wish I could go up to her; but I am so engaged with my own affairs

Hodge. Mrs. Rosetta.

Ros. Well.

Hodge. Odds bobs, I must have one smack of your sweet lips.

Ros. Oh, stand off; you know I never allow liberties.

Hodge. Nay, but why so coy? there's reason in roasting of eggs; I would not deny you such a thing.

Ros. That's kind: ha! ha! ha!-But what will become of Lucinda? Sir William waits for me; I must be gone. Friendship, a moment by your leave: yet, as our sufferings have been mutual, so shall our joys; I already lose the remembrance of all former pains and anxieties.

AIR XXXIV.

The traveller benighted,
And led thro' weary'd ways,
The lamp of day new lighted,
With joy the dawn surveys.

The rising prospects viewing,
Each look is forward cast;
He smiles, his course pursuing,
Nor thinks of what is past.

Hodge. Hist, stay! don't I hear a noise?
Lucin. [Within.] Well, but dear, dear aunt-

[Exit.

Mrs. Deb. [Within.] You need not speak to me, for it does not signify.

Hodge. Adwawns, they are coming here! eced, I'll get out of the way-Murrain take it, this door is bolted now-So, so.

Enter MRS. DEBORAH, driving in LUCINDA.

Mrs. Deb. Get along, get along; you are a scandal to the name of Woodcock; but I was resolved to find you out, for I have suspected you a great while, though your father, silly man, will have you such a poor innocent.

Lucin. What shall I do?

Mrs. Deb. I was determined to discover what you and your pretended music-master were about, and lay in wait on purpose: I believe he thought to escape me, by slipping into the closet when I knocked at the door; but I was even with him, for now I have him under lock and key, and, please the fates, there he shall remain till your father comes in: I will convince him of his error, whether he will or not.

Lucin. You won't be so cruel: I am sure you won't:

I thought I had made you my friend by telling you the truth.

Mrs. Deb. Telling me the truth, quotha! did I not overhear your scheme of running away to-night, through the partition? did not I find the very bundles pack'd up in the room with you, ready for going off? No, brazenface, I found out the truth by my own sagacity, though your father says I am a fool; but now we'll be judged who is the greatest;-And you, Mr. Rascal, my brother shall know what an honest servant he has got.

Hodge. Madam!

Mrs. Deb. You were to have been aiding and assisting them in their escape, and have been the go-between, it seems-the letter-carrier!

Hodge. Who, me, madam!
Mrs. Deb. Yes, you, sirrah.

Hodge. Miss Lucinda, did I ever carry a letter for you? I'll make my affidavy before his worship

Mrs. Deb. Go, go, you are a villain; hold your tongue.

Lucin. I own, aunt, I have been very faulty in this affair; I don't pretend to excuse myself; but we are all subject to frailties; consider that, and judge of me by yourself; you were once young and inexperienced

as I am.

AIR XXXV.

If ever a fond inclination

Rose in your bosom to rob you of rest;
Reflect with a little compassion,

On the soft pangs, which prevail'd in my breast.

Oh where, where would you fly me?

Can you deny me thus torn and distrest?

Think, when my lover was by me,

Wou'd I, how cou'd I, refuse his request?

Kneeling before you, let me implore you;
Look on me sighing, crying, dying;
Ah! is there no language can move?
If I have been too complying,

Hard was the conflict 'twixt duty and love.

Mrs. Deb. This is mighty pretty romantic stuff! but you learn it out of your play-books and novels. Girls in my time had other employments; we worked at our needles, and kept ourselves from idle thoughts: before I was your age, I had finished, with my own fingers, a complete set of chairs, and a fire-screen in ten-stitch; four counterpanes in Marseilles quilting; and the Creed and the Ten Commandments, in the hair of our family: it was fram'd and glaz'd, and hung over the parlour chimney-piece, and your poor dear grandfather was prouder of it than of e'er a picture in his house. I never looked into a book, but when I said my prayers, except it was the Complete Housewife, or the great family receipt-book: whereas you are always at your studies! Ah, I never knew a woman come to good, that was fond of reading.

Lucin. Well, pray, madam, let me prevail on you to give me the key, to let Mr. Eustace out, and I promise, I never will proceed a step farther in this business, without your advice and approbation.

Mrs. Deb. Have not I told you already my resolution? Where are my clogs and my bonnet? I'll go out to my brother in the fields; I'm a fool, you know, child: now let's see what the wits will think of themselves-Don't hold me

Lucin. I'm not going;-I have thought of a way to be even with you, so you may do as you please. [Exeunt different Ways. Hodge. Well, I thought it would come to this; I'll be shot if I did'nt-So, here's a fine job-But what can they do to me?-They can't send me to jail for carrying a letter, seeing there was no treason in it;

and how was I obligated to know my master did not allow of their meetings?—The worst they can do is to turn me off, and I am sure the place is no such great purchase-indeed, I should be sorry to leave Mrs. Rosetta, seeing as how matters are so near being brought to an end betwixt us; but she and I may keep company all as one; and I find Madge has been speaking with Gaffer Broadwheels, the waggoner, about her carriage up to London: so that I have got rid of she; and I am sure I have reason to be main glad of it, for she led me a wearisome life-But that's way of them all.

the

AIR XXXVI.

A plague on those wenches, they make such a pother,
When once they have let'n a man have his will;
They're always a whining for something or other,
And cry he's unkind in his carriage.

What tho'f he speaks them ne'er so fairly,
Still they keep teazing, teazing on:
You cannot persuade 'em,

'Till promise you've made’em ;

And after they've got it,

They tell you add rot it,

Their character's blasted, they're ruin'd, undone :

And then to be sure,

sir,

There is but one cure, sir,

And all their discourse is of marriage.

SCENE II.

A Greenhouse.

Enter YOUNG MEADOWS.

Y. Mead. I am glad I had the precaution to bring this suit of clothes in my bundle, though I hardly