happy, though I had come resolved to wear a face of coolness and upbraiding. Sir Anthony's presence prevented my proposed expostulations: yet I must be satisfied that she has not been so very happy in my absence. She is coming-Yes, I know the nimbleness of her tread, when she thinks her impatient Faulkland counts the moments of her stay.

Enter JULIA.

Julia. I had not hoped to see you again so soon.

Faulk. Could I, Julia, be contented with my first welcome, restrained as we were by the presence of a third person?

Julia. O Faulkland! when your kindness can make me thus happy, let me not think that I discovered something of coldness in your first salutation.

Faulk. "Twas but your fancy, Julia. I was rejoiced to see you to see you in such health: sure I had no cause for coldness?

Julia. Nay, then, I see you have taken something ill: you must not conceal from me what it is.

Faulk. Well, then, shall I own to you that my joy at hearing of your health and arrival here, by your neighbour Acres, was somewhat damped by his dwelling much on the high spirits you had enjoyed in Devonshire? on your mirth-your singing-dancingand I know not what! For such is my temper, Julia, that I should regard every mirthful moment, in your absence, as a treason to constancy. The mutual tear, that steals down the cheek of parting lovers, is a compact, that no smile shall live there till they meet again.

Julia. Must I never cease to tax my Faulkland with this teasing, minute caprice? Can the idle reports of a silly boor weigh, in your breast, against my tried affection?

Faulk. They have no weight with me, Julia: No,

no, I am happy, if you have been so-yet only say, that you did not sing with mirth-say, that you thought of Faulkland in the dance.

If I

Julia. I never can be happy in your absence. wear a countenance of content, it is to show that my mind holds no doubt of my Faulkland's truth. If I seemed sad, it were to make malice triumph, and say, that I had fixed my heart on one, who left me to lament his roving and my own credulity. Believe me, Faulkland, I mean not to upbraid you when I say, that I have often dressed sorrow in smiles, lest my friends should guess whose unkindness had caused my tears.

Faulk. You were ever all goodness to me! Oh, I am a brute, when I but admit a doubt of your true constancy!

Julia. If ever without such cause from you, as I will not suppose possible, you find my affections veering but a point, may I become a proverbial scoff for levity and base ingratitude!

Faulk. Ah, Julia! that last word is grating to me! I would I had no title to your gratitude! Search your heart, Julia; perhaps what you have mistaken for love, is but the warm effusion of a too thankful heart!

Julia. For what quality must I love you?

Faulk. For no quality: to regard me for any quality of mind, or understanding, were only to esteem me! And for person-I have often wished myself deformed, to be convinced that I owed no obligation there for any part of your affection.

Julia. Where Nature has bestowed a show of nice attention in the features of a man, he should laugh at it as misplaced. I have seen men, who, in this vain article, perhaps, might rank above you; but my heart has never asked my eyes if it were so or not.

Faulk. Now, this is not well from you, Julia; I despise person in a man, yet, if thou loved me as I wish, though I were an Æthiop, you'd think none so fair.

Julia. I see you are determined to be unkindThe contract, which my poor father bound us in, gives you more than a lover's privilege.

Faulk. Again, Julia, you raise ideas that feed and justify my doubts. I would not have been more free -no, I am proud of my restraint: yet yet, perhaps, your high respect alone for this solemn compact, has fettered your inclinations, which else had made a wor

thier choice.

Julia. Then try me now-Let us be free as strangers, as to what is past: my heart will not feel more liberty.

Faulk. There, now! so hasty, Julia! so anxious to be free! If your love for me were fixed and ardent, you would not loose your hold, even though I wished it! Julia. Oh, you torture me to the heart! I cannot bear it!

Faulk. I do not mean to distress you: if I loved you less, I should never give you an uneasy moment. -But hear me-All my fretful doubts arise from this -Women are not used to weigh and separate the motives of their affections: the cold dictates of prudence, gratitude, or filial duty, may sometimes be mistaken for the pleadings of the heart. I would not boast, yet let me say, that I have neither age, person, or character, to found dislike on; my fortune, such as few ladies could be charged with indiscretion in the match. O Julia! when love receives such countenance from prudence, nice minds will be suspicious of its birth.

Julia. I know not whither your insinuations would tend; but, as they seem pressing to insult me, I will spare you the regret of having done so I have given you no cause for this. [Exit, in tears.

Faulk. In tears! stay, Julia-stay but for a moment

-The door is fastened! Julia! my soul! but for one moment! I hear her sobbing! 'Sdeath! what a brute am I to use her thus!-Yet stay-Ay, she is coming now how little resolution there is in woman! how a

few soft words can turn them!-No, 'faith, she's not coming, either! Whý, Julia, my love! say but that you forgive me: come but to tell me that—now, this is being too resentful! stay, she is coming too; I thought she would-no steadiness in any thing! her going away must have been a mere trick then; she shan't see that I was hurt by it-I'll affect indifference: [Hums a tune, then listens.] No, zds! she's not coming, nor don't intend it, I suppose! This is not steadiness, but obstinacy! Yet I deserve it. What, after so long an absence, to quarrel with her tenderness! 'twas barbarous and unmanly!-I should be ashamed to see her now.—I'll wait till her just resentment is abated, and, when I distress her so again, may I lose her for ever!

Scene III.-Mrs. Malaprop's Lodgings.

[Exit.

MRS. MALAPROP, with a letter in her hand, and CAPTAIN ABSOLUTE.

Mrs. M. Your being Sir Anthony's son, Captain, would itself be a sufficient accommodation; but from the ingenuity of your appearance, I am convinced you deserve the character here given of you.

Capt. Abs. Permit me to say, madam, that, as I never yet have had the pleasure of seeing Miss Languish, my principal inducement in this affair, at present, is the honour of being allied to Mrs. Malaprop; of whose intellectual accomplishments, elegant manners, and unaffected learning, no tongue is silent.

Mrs. M. Sir, you do me infinite honour! I beg, Captain, you'll be seated. [Sit.] Ah! few gentlemen, now-a-days, know how to value the ineffectual qualities in a woman! few think, how a little knowledge becomes a gentlewoman! Men have no sense now, but for the worthless flower of beauty!

Capt. Abs. It is but too true, indeed, maʼam; yet, I fear, our ladies should share the blame; they think our admiration of beauty so great, that knowledge, in them, would be superfluous. Thus, like garden trees, they seldom show fruit, till time has robbed them of the more specious blossom: few, like Mrs. Malaprop and the orange tree, are rich in both at once!

Mrs. M. Sir, you overpower me with good breeding -He is the very pine-apple of politeness! You are not ignorant, Captain, that this giddy girl has somehow contrived to fix her affections on a beggarly, strolling, eves-dropping ensign, whom none of us have seen, and nobody knows any thing of.

Capt. Abs. Oh, I have heard the silly affair before. I'm not at all prejudiced against her on that account; but it must be very distressing indeed, ma'am.

Mrs. M. Oh, it gives me the hydrostatics, to such a degree! I thought she had persisted from corresponding with him; but, behold, this very day I have interceded another letter from the fellow-I believe I have it in my pocket.

Capt. Abs. Oh, the devil! my last note!
Mrs. M. Ay, here it is.

[Aside.

Capt. Abs. Ay, my note, indeed! Oh, the little traitress, Lucy! [Aside. Mrs. M. There, perhaps you may know the writing.

[Gives him the letter. Capt. Abs. I think I have seen the hand before-yes, I certainly must have seen this hand before.

Mrs. M. Nay, but read it, Captain.

Capt. Abs. [Reads.] My soul's idol, my adored Lydia ! -Very tender, indeed!

Mrs. M. Tender! aye, and profane too, o'my conscience!

Capt. Abs. I am excessively alarmed at the intelligence you send me, the more so as my new rival

Mrs. M. That's you, sir.