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Love. I can't bear to feel myself in so ridiculous a circumstance. [Aside. Sir Bush. He has been passing himself for a lord, has he?

Mrs Bell. I beg my compliments to your friend Mrs Loveit: I am much obliged to you both for your very honourable designs.

[Curtseying to him. Love. I was never so ashamed in all my life! Sir Bril. So, so, so, all his pains were to hide the star from me. This discovery is a perfect cordial to my dejected spirits.

Mrs Bel. Mrs Lovemore, I cannot sufficiently acknowledge the providence that directed you to pay me a visit, though I was wholly unknown to you; and I shall henceforth consider you as my deliverer.

Love. So it was she that fainted away in the closet, and be damned to her jealousy! [Aside.

Sir Bril. By all that's whimsical, an odd sort of an adventure this! My lord, [Advances to him.] my lord, my lord Etheridge, as the man says in the play, Your lordship is right welcome back to Denmark.'

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Love. Now he comes upon me.--Oh! I'm in a fine situation! [Aside.

Sir Bril. My lord, I hope that ugly pain in

your lordship's side is abated.

Love. Absurd, and ridiculous.

[Aside.

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Sir Bash. Where's the harm?

Love. [Reads.] 'I cannot, my dearest life, any longer behold'

Sir Bash. Shame and confusion! I am undone! [Aside. Love. Hear this, sir Bashful- The manifold vexations, of which, through a false prejudice, Iam myself the occasion.' Lady Con. What is all this? Sir Bash. I am a lost man!

[Aside.

Love. Mind, sir Bashful.- I am therefore re'solved, after many conflicts with myself, to 'throw off the mask, and fraukly own a passion, which the fear of falling into ridicule, has, in appearance, suppressed.'

Sir Bash. 'Sdeath! I'll hear no more of it. [Snatches at the letter. Love. No, sir, I resign it here, where it was directed; and, with it, these notes which sir Bashful gave me for your use.

Lady Con. It is his hand, sure enough. Love. Yes, madam, and those are his sentiments, which he explained to me more at large. Lady Con. [Reads.] Accept the presents which I myself have sent you; money, attend

Sir Bril. There is nothing forming there, Iance, equipage, and every thing else you shall hope, my lord?

sir.

Love. I shall come to an explanation with you,

Sir Bril. The tennis-ball from lord Racket's unlucky left hand.

Love. No more at present, sir Brilliant. I leave you now to yourselves, and-[Goes to the door in the back scene.]-'sdeath, another fiend! I am beset by them.

Enter LADY CONSTANT.

No way to escape?

[Attempts both stage doors, and is prevented. Lady Con. Mr Lovemore, it is the luckiest thing in the world, that you are come home.

Love. Ay; it is all over-all must come to light.

Lady Con. I have lost every rubber; quite broke; four by honours against me every time. Do, Mr Lovemore, lend me another hundred. Love. I would give an hundred pounds you were all in Lapland.

[Aside. Lady Con. Mrs Lovemore, let me tell you, you are married to the falsest man; he has deceived me strangely.

Mrs Love. I begin to feel for him, and to pity his uneasiness.

Mrs Bell. Never talk of pity; let him probed to the quick.

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command; and, in return, I shall only entreat

you to conceal from the world that you have raised a flame in this heart, which will ever show me,

Your admirer,

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Mrs Bell. I am glad to find you are awakened to a sense of your error.

Love. I am, madam; and frank enough to own it. I am above attempting to disguise my fee!beings, when I am conscious they are on the side of truth and honour. With the sincerest remorse, I ask your pardon. I should ask pardon of my lady Constant, too; but the fact is, sir Bashful threw the whole affair in my way; and, when a

Sir Bash. The case is pretty plain, I think, now, sir Brilliant?

Sir Bril. Pretty plain, upon my soul! Ha, ha!

husband will be ashamed of loving a valuable woman, he must not be surprised, if other people take her case into consideration, and love her for him.

Sir Bril. Why, faith, that does, in some sort, make his apology.

Sir Bush. Sir Bashful! sir Bashful! thou art ruined.

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Mrs Love. From this moment it shall be our mutual study to please each other.

Love. A match, with all my heart. I shall, hereafter, be ashamed only of my follies, but never ashamed of owning that I sincerely love you. Sir Bash. Shan't you be ashamed? Love. Never, sir.

Sir Bash. And will you keep me in counte

[Aside. Mrs Bell. Well, sir, upon certain terms, Inance? don't know but I may sign and seal your pardon. Love. Terms! What terms?.

Mrs Bell. That you make due expiation of your guilt to that lady. [Pointing to MRS LOVE. Love. That lady, madam! That lady has no reason to complain.

Mrs Love. No reason to complain, Mr Lovemore?

Love. No, madam, none; for, whatever may have been my imprudencies, they have had their source in your conduct.

Mrs Love. In my conduct, sir?

Love. I will.

Sir Bash. Give me your hand. I now forgive you all. My lady Constant, I own the letter; I own the sentiments of it [Embraces her.]; and, from this moment, I take you to my heart. Lovemore, zookers! you have made a man of me. Sir Brilliant, come; produce the buckles.

Lady Con. If you hold in this humour, sir
Bashful, our quarrels are at an end.
Sir Bril. And now, I suppose, I must make
restitution here-

[Gives LADY CONSTANT the buckles. Sir Bash. Ay, ay; make restitution. Lovemore! this is the consequence of his having some tolerable phrase, and a person, Mr Lovemore! ha!

Love. In your conduct :-I here declare before this company, and I am above misrepresenting the matter; I here declare, that no man in England could be better inclined to domestic happi-ha, ness, if you, madam, on your part, had been willing to make home agreeable.

Mrs Love. There, I confess, he touches me. [Aside. Love. You could take pains enough before marriage; you could put forth all your charms; practise all your arts, aud make your features please by rule; for ever changing; running an eternal round of variety; and all this to win my affections: but when you had won them, you did not think them worth your keeping; never dressed, pensive, silent, melancholy; and the only entertainment in my house, was the dear pleasure of a dull conjugal tête-à-tête; and all this insipidity, because you think the sole merit of a wife consists in her virtue: a fine way of amusing a husband, truly!

Sir Bril. Upon my soul, and so it is

[Laughing. Mrs Love. Sir, I must own there is too much truth in what you say. This lady has opened my eyes, and convinced me there was a mistake in my former conduct.

Love. Come, come; you need say no more. forgive you; I forgive.

I

Mrs Love. Forgive! I like that air of confidence, when you know that, on my side, it is, at worst, an error in judgment; whereas, on yoursMrs Bell. Po! po! never stand disputing: you know each other's faults and virtues; you have nothing to do but to mend the former, and enjoy the latter. There, there; kiss and friends. There, Mrs Lovemore, take your reclaimed libertine to your arms.

Love. 'Tis in your power, madam, to make a reclaimed libertine of me indeed.

VOL. II.

Sir Bril. Why, I own the laugh is against me. With all my heart; I am glad to see my friends happy at last. Lovemore, may I presume to hope for pardon at that lady's hands?

[Points to MRS LOVEMORE. Love. My dear confederate in vice, your pardon is granted. Two sad libertines we have been. But come, give us your hand: we have used each other scurvily: for the future, we will endeavour to atone for the errors of our past misconduct.

Sir Bril. Agreed; we will, henceforward, behave like men, who have not forgot the obligations of truth and honour.

Love. And now, I congratulate the whole company, that this business has had so happy a tendency to convince each of us of our folly.

Mrs Bell. Pray, sir, don't draw me into a share of your folly.

Love. Come, come, my dear madam, you are not without your share of it. This will teach you, for the future, to be content with one lover at a time, without listening to a fellow you know nothing of, because he assumes a title, and spreads a fair report of himself.

Mrs Bell. The reproof is just; I grant it. Love. Come, let us join the company cheerfully, keep our own secrets, and not make ourselves the town-talk.

Sir Bash. Ay, ay; let us keep the secret.
Love. What, returning to your fears again?
you will put me out of countenance, sir Bashful.
Sir Bash. I have done.

Love. When your conduct is fair and upright, never be afraid of ridicule. Real honour, and generous affection, may bid defiance to all the small wits in the kingdom. In my opinion, were

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the business of this day to go abroad into the world, it might prove a very useful lesson: the men would see how their passions may carry them into the danger of wounding the bosom of a friend and the ladies would learn, that, after the marriage rites are performed, they ought not

to suffer their powers of pleasing to languish away, but should still remember to sacrifice to the graces.

To win a man, when all your pains succeed, The WAY TO KEEP HIM, is a task indeed. [Exeunt omnes.

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Sir John. Robert, I will never live in a house honour. again that has two doors to it.

Rob. Sir!

Sir John. I will give warning to my landlord instantly. The eyes of Argus are not sufficient to watch the motions of a wife, where there is a street-door, and a back-door, to favour her escapes.

Rob. Upon my word, sir, I wish-you will pardon my boldness, sir-I wish you would shake off this uneasiness that preys upon your spirits. It grieves me to the heart-it does, indeed, sir, to

Sir John. Robert, I have considered you as a friend in my house: don't you betray me, too: don't attempt to justify her.

Rob. Dear sir, if you will but give me leave: you have been an indulgent master to me, and I am only concerned for your welfare. You married my lady for love, and I have heard you so warm in her praise: why will you go back from those sentiments?

Sir John. Yes, I married her for love-Oh! love love! what mischief dost thou not occa

sion in this world? Yes, Robert, I married her for love. When first I saw her, I was not so much struck with her beauty, as with that air of an ingenuous mind that appeared in her countenance; her features did not so much charm me with their symmetry, as that expression of sweetness, that smile, that indicated affability, modesty, and compliance. But, honest Robert, I was deceived: I was not a month married, when I saw her practising those very smiles at her glass: I❘ saw through the artifice; plainly saw there was nothing natural in her manner, but all forced, all studied, put on with her head-dress. I was alarmed; I resolved to watch her from that moment, and I have seen such things!

Rob. Upon my word, sir, I believe you wrong her, and wrong yourself: you build on groundless surmises; you make yourself unhappy, and my lady, too; and, by being constantly uneasy, and never showing her the least love, you'll forgive me, sir-you fill her mind with strange suspicions, and so the mischief is done.

Sir John. Suspicions, Robert?

Rob. Yes, sir; strange suspicions! My lady finds herself treated with no degree of tenderness; she infers that your inclinations are fixed elsewhere, and so she is become-you will pardon my blunt honesty-she is become downright jealous-as jealous as yourself, sir.

|—there—there—there, the thing is evident: you
may go in, Robert.
Rob. Indeed, sir, I—————
Sir John. Go in, I say; go in.

good.

Rob. There is no persuading him to his own [Exit ROB. Sir John. Gone towards the Horse Guards! My head aches; my forehead burns; I am cutting my horns. Gone towards the Horse Guards! I'll pursue her thither; if I find her, the time, the place, all will inform against her. Sir John! Sir John! you were a madman to marry such a wo[Exit.

man.

Enter BEVERLEY and BELLMONT, at opposite sides. Bev. Ha! My dear Bellmont? A fellow sufferer in love is a companion well met.

Bel. Beverley, I rejoice to see you.

Bev. Well! I suppose the same cause has brought us both into the Park: both come to sigh our amorous vows in the friendly gloom of yonder walk. Belinda keeps a perpetual war of love and grief, and hope and fear in my heart: and let me see-[Lays his hand on BELLMONT'S breast.]-how fares all here? I fancy my sister is a little busy with you?

Bel. Busy! She makes a perfect riot there.— Not one wink the whole night. Oh! Clarissa, her form so animated! Her eyes so

that she loves you freely and sincerely.

Sir John. Oh! Robert, you are little read in the arts of women; you little Lnow the intrica- Bev. Prithee! truce; I have not leisure to atcies of their conduct; the mazes through which tend to her praise: a sister's praise, too! the they walk, shifting, turning, winding, running in-greatest merit I could ever see in Clarissa is, to devious paths, but tending all through a labyrinth into the temple of Venus. You cannot see, that all her pretences to suspect me of infidelity, are merely a counter-plot to cover her own loose designs. It is but a gauze covering, though; it is seen through, and only serves to shew her guilt

the more.

Rob. Upon my word, sir John, I cannot seeSir John. No, Robert; I know you cannot.Her suspicions of me all make against her; they are female stratagems; and yet, it is but too true, that she still is near my heart. Oh! Robert, Robert! When I have watched her at a play or elsewhere; when I have counted her oglings, and her whisperings, her stolen glances, and her artful leer, with the cunning of her sex, she has pretended to be as watchful of me: dissembling, false, deceitful woman!

Rob. And yet, I dare assure you——

Sir John. No more; I am not to be deceived;
I know her thoroughly, and now-now--has not
she escaped out of my house, even now?
Rob. But with no bad design.

Sir John. I am the best judge of that: which way did she go?

Rob. Across the Park, sir; that way, towards the Horse Guards.

Sir John. Towards the Horse Guards! There

Bel. And, to be even with you, sir, your Belinda! upon my soul, notwithstanding all your lavish praises, her highest perfection, in my mind, is her sensibility to the merit of my friend.

Bev. Oh, Bellmont! Such a girl! But tell me honestly, now, do you think she has ever betrayed the least regard for me?

Bel. How can you, who have such convincing proofs, how can you ask such a question? That uneasiness of yours, that inquietude of mindBev. Prithee, don't fix that character upon

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