Chas. If they talk this way to Honesty, what will they say to me by and bye? Sir Oliv. As for that prodigal, his brother there Chas. Aye, now comes my turn-the damned family pictures will ruin me. Surf. Sir Oliver, uncle, will you honor me with a hearing? Chas. I wish Joseph now would make one of his long speeches and I might recollect myself a little. Sir Oliv. And I suppose you would undertake to vindicate yourself entirely Surf. I trust I could Sir Oliv. Nay, if you desert your roguery in its distress and try to be justified, you have even less principle than I thought you had.-[To CHARLES SURFACE] Well, sir, and you could justify yourself too, suppose? Chas. Not that I know of, Sir Oliver. Sir Oliv. What! little Premium has been let too much into the secret, I presume. Chas. True, sir, but they were family secrets, and should not be mentioned again, you know. Row. Come, Sir Oliver, I know you cannot speak of Charles's follies with anger. Sir Oliv. Odd's heart, no more I can-nor with gravity either. Sir Peter, do you know the rogue bargained with me for all his ancestors-sold me judges and generals by the foot, and maiden aunts as cheap as broken china! Chas. To be sure, Sir Oliver, I did make a little free with the family canvas, that's the truth on't:-my ancestors may certainly rise in judgment against me, there's no denying it; but believe me sincere when I tell you, and upon my soul I would not say so if I was not, that if I do not appear mortified at the exposure of my follies, it is because I feel at this moment the warmest satisfaction in seeing you, my liberal benefactor. Sir Oliv. Charles-I believe you-give me your hand again: the ill-looking little fellow over the couch has made your peace. Chas. Then, sir, my gratitude to the original is still encreased. Lady Teaz. [Advancing.] Yet I believe, Sir Oliver, here is one whom Charles is still more anxious to be reconciled to. Sir Oliv. O, I have heard of his attachment there-and with the young lady's pardon, if I construe right that blush Sir Pet. Well, child, speak your sentiments; you know, we are going to be reconciled to Charles. Sir Pet. Heyday, what's the mystery now? while he appeared an incorrigible rake, you would give your hand to no one else, and now that he's likely to reform I'll warrant you won't have him! Mar. His own heart-and Lady Sneerwell know the cause. Chas. Lady Sneerwell! Surf. Brother, it is with great concernI am obliged to speak on this point, but my regard to justice obliges me-and Lady Sneerwell's injuries can no longer be concealed[Goes to the door. Enter LADY SNEERWELL. Sir Pet. Soh! another French milliner, egad! He has one in every room in the house, I suppose Lady Sneer. Ungrateful Charles! Well may you be surprised and feel for the indelicate situation which your perfidy has forced me into. Chas. Pray, uncle, is this another plot of yours? for as I have life, I don't understand it. Surf. I believe, sir, there is but the evidence of one person more necessary to make it extremely clear. Sir Pet. And that person, I imagine, is Mr. Snake. Rowley, you were perfectly right to bring him with us, and pray let him appear. Row. Walk in, Mr. Snake— Enter SNAKE. I thought his testimony might be wanted,— however it happens unluckily that he comes to confront Lady Sneerwell and not to support her. Lady Sneer. A villain!-Treacherous to me at last! Speak, fellow, have you too conspired against me? Snake. I beg your ladyship ten thousand pardons, you paid me extremely liberally for the lie in question-but I unfortunately have been offered double to speak the truth. Lady Sneer. The torments of shame and disappointment on you all! Lady Teaz. Hold, Lady Sneerwell, before you go, let me thank you for the trouble you and that gentleman have taken in writing letters from me to Charles and answering them yourself-and let me also request you to make my respects to the Scandalous College-of which you are President—and inform them that Lady Teazle, Licentiate, begs leave to return the diploma they granted her -as she leaves off practice and kills char Mar. Sir, I have little to say, but that Iacters no longer. shall rejoice to hear that he is happy. For Lady Sneer. Provoking - insolent! - may me whatever claim I had to his affection, I your husband live these fifty years! [Exit. willing resign to one who has a better title. Sir Pet. Oons, what a fury! Chas. How, Maria! Lady Teaz. A malicious creature indeed! Hey-not for her last wish ? Sir Pet. Surf. Sir, I am so confounded, to find that Moral to the last drop! Row. If my efforts to serve you had not succeeded, you would have been in my debt for the attempt;-but deserve to be happyand you over-repay me. Sir Pet. Aye, honest Rowley always said e you would reform. Chas. Why, as to reforming, Sir Peter, I'll make no promises-and that I take to be a proof that I intend to set about it.But here shall be my monitor, my gentle [Exit. | guide.-Ah! can I leave the virtuous path those eyes illumine? Sir Oliv. Aye, and marry her, Joseph, if you can.-Oil and vinegar egad:-you'll do very well together. Tho' thou, dear maid, should'st waive thy beauty's sway, Row. I believe we have no more occasion-Thou still must rule-because I will obey: for Mr. Snake at present. An humbled fugitive from folly view, Nc sanctuary near but love and you: You can indeed each anxious fear remove, For even scandal dies if you approve. [To the audience. Snake. Before I go, I beg pardon once for all for whatever uneasiness I have been the humble instrument of causing to the parties present. Sir Pet. Well, well, you have made atonement by a good deed at last. Snake. But I must request of the company that it shall never be known. Sir Pet. Hey!-what the plague-are you ashamed of having done a right thing once in your life? EPILOGUE BY MR. COLMAN SPOKEN BY LADY TEAZLE. Snake. Ah, sir, consider I live by the badness of my character!-I have nothing| I, who was late so volatile and gay, but my infamy to depend on!—and, if it were once known that I had been betrayed into an honest action, I should lose every friend I have in the world. Sir Oliv. Well, well, we'll not traduce you by saying anything to your praise, never fear. [Exit SNAKE. Sir Pet. There's a precious rogue.-Yet that fellow is a writer and a critic. Lady Teaz. See, Sir Oliver, there needs no persuasion now to reconcile your nephew and Maria. Sir Oliv. Aye, aye, that's as it should be, and egad, we'll have the wedding to-morrow morning Chas. Thank you, dear uncle! Like a trade-wind must now blow all one way, Bend all my cares, my studies, and my Vows, To one dull rusty weathercock-my spouse! Of crying epilogues and laughing plays! London will prove the very source of honor. Sir Pet. What! you rogue, don't you ask That the gay dream of dissipation's o'er. the girl's consent first? Chas. Oh, I have done that a long timeabove a minute ago-and she has looked yes And say, ye fair! was ever lively wife, Born with a genius for the highest life, Like me untimely blasted in her bloom, Like me condemned to such a dismal doom? Mar. For shame, Charles! I protest, Sir Save money-when I just knew how to waste Peter, there has not been a word Sir Oliv. Well, then, the fewer the better -may your love for each other never know abatement. Sir Pet. And may you live as happily together as Lady Teazle and I intend to do. Chas. Rowley, my old friend, I am sure you congratulate me and I suspect too that I owe you much. Sir Oliv. You do, indeed, Charles. it! Leave London-just as I began to taste it! With humble curate can I now retire, And at backgammon mortify my soul, Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious town! Farewell! your revels I partake no more, I ought to play deep tragedy next year. Meanwhile he drew wise morals from his play, And in these solemn periods stalk'd away:"Blessed were the fair like you; her faults who stopped, And closed her follies when the curtain dropped! No more in vice or error to engage, Or play the fool at large on life's great stage." NOTES THE CONQUEST OF GRANADA P. 10. Mrs. Ellen Gwyn. Nell Gwyn, who so captivated Charles II by her delivery of the Epilogue to Tyrannic Love that he immediately made her his mistress. She bore him a son on May 8, 1670, shortly before she acted the part of the virtuous Almahide in The Conquest of Granada. t'other house's. The two theatrical companies were the King's at the Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, where The Conquest of Granada was acted, and the Duke's at the Dorset Garden Theatre. Nokes was a comedian in the latter company, and it is said that during the visit of the Duchess of Orleans and her suite to England in May, 1670, he caricatured French dress by means of a broad-brimmed hat. two the best comedians. Nokes and Nell Gwyn, who, as actors of such comic parts, are mere "blocks for hats. P. 11. To like. As to like. The flying skirmish of the darted cane. A game in which horsemen galloping from all sides throw at one another a wooden javelin about five feet long, called the jerid. P. 12. launched. Pierced. attend. Await, as often. mirador. A turret or belvedere on the top of a Spanish house. escapade. A fit of plunging and rearing. ventanna. A window. prevents. Anticipate, as often. atabals. Kettle-drums. P. 13. ought. Owed. villain-blood. Low origin. P. 14. Xeriff. The still reigning royal family of Morocco. P. 16. zambra. A Moorish festival or feast, attended with dancing and music. Here it is the dance alone. lost the tale, and took 'em by the great. Lost count and treated them as a whole. bands. Bonds. P. 17. our triumphs. Triumphs over us. P. 19. while. Noyes suggests "till" as an emendation to meet the sense. P. 21. upon liking. On approval or trial. P. 24. "The quotation marks in the quartos and folio before these lines [near the top of first column] are evidently meant to emphasize them, or to point them out as suitable for quotation." (Noyes.) P. 26. Age sets to fortune. Age gives a challenge to fortune, that is, will play only when it has a fortune on which it can risk the game, while youth will risk all, no matter what it has. expect. Await. P. 31. out. Without, outside. Cf. Timon of Athens, IV, i, 38, “Both within and out that wall." |