STOCK. Well, Fam not difcouraged; this candour tells me I fhould not have the fault of felf-conceit to combat; that, at least, is not among the number. BEL. No; if I knew that man on earth who thought more humbly of me than I do of myself, I would take up his opinion and forego my own. STOCK. And, was I to chufe a pupil, it fhould be one of your complexion, fo if you will come along with me, we will agree upon your admiffion, and enter upon a courfe of lectures directly. LORD EUSTACE AND FRAMPTON. LD. EUST. WELL, my dear Frampton, have you fecured the letters? FRAM. Yes, my lord; for their rightful owners. LD. EUST. As to the matter of property, Frampton, we will not difpute much about that. Neceflity, you know, may fometimes render a trespass excufeable. FRAM. I am not cafuift fufficient to answer you upon that fubject; but this I know, that you have already trefpaffed against the laws of hofpitality and honour, in your conduct towards Sir William Evans and his daughterAnd, as your friend and counsellor both, I would advise you to think seriously of repairing the injuries you have committed, and not increase your offence, by a farther violation. LD. EUST. It is actually a pity you were not bred to the bar, Ned; but I have only a moment to stay, and am all impatience to know if there be a letter from Langwood, and what he fays. FRAM. I fhall never be able to afford you the leaft information upon that fubject, my lord, LD. EUST. Surely, I do not understand you. You faid you had fecured the letters-Have you not read them? FRAM. You have a right, and none but you, to ask me fuch a question. My weak compliance with your first propofal relative to thefe letters, warrants your thinking fo meanly of me. But know, my lord, that though my per fonal affection for you, joined to my unhappy circumftances, may have betrayed me to actions unworthy of myself, I never can forget, that there is a barrier fixed before the extreme of baseness, which honour will not let me pass. LD. EUST. You will give me leave to tell you, Mr. Frampton, that where I lead, I think you need not halt. FRAM. You will pardon me, my lord; the consciousness of another man's errors can never be a juftification for our own; and poor indeed must that wretch be, who can be satisfied with the negative merit of not being the worst man he knows. LD. EUST. If this difcourfe were uttered in a conventicle, it might have its effect; by fetting the congregation to fleep. FRAM It is rather meant to roufe, than lull your lordship. LD. EUST. No matter what it is meant for; give me the letters, Mr. Frampton. FRAM. Yet, excufe me. I could as foon think of arming a madman's hand against my own life, as fuffer you to be guilty of a crime, that will for ever wound your honour. ; LD. EUST. I fhall not come to you to heal the wound your medicines are too rough and course for me. FRAM. The foft poifon of flattery might, perhaps, please you better. { LD. EUST. Your confcience may, probably, have as much need of palliatives, as mine, Mr. Frampton, as I am pretty well convinced, that your courfe of life has not been more regular than my own. FRAM. With true contrition, my lord, I confefs part of your farcafin to be just. Pleasure was the object of my purfuit; and pleasure I obtained, at the expence both of health and fortune: but yet, my lord, I broke not in upon the peace of others; the laws of hofpitality I never violated; nor did I ever seek to injure, or feduce, the wife or daughter of my friend. LD. EUST. I care not what you did; give me the letters. FRAM. I have no right to keep, and therefore shall fur render them, though with the utmost reluctance; but, by our former friendship, I intreat you not to open them. LD. EUST. That you have forfeited. FRAM. Since it is not in my power to prevent your committing an error, which you ought for ever to repent of, I will not be a witness of it. There are the letters. LD. EUST. You may, perhaps, have caufe to repent your prefent conduct, Mr. Frampton, as much as I do our past attachment. FRAM. Rather than hold your friendship upon fuch terms, I resign it for ever. Farewell, my lord. Re-enter FRAMPTON. FRAM. Il treated as I have been, my lord, I find it impoffible to leave you fürrounded by difficulties. LD. EUST. That fentiment should have operated fooner, Mr. Frampton. Recollection is feldom of use to our friends, though it may sometimes be serviceable to ourselves. FRAM. Take advantage of your own expreffion, my lord, and recollect yourself. Born and educated as I have been, a gentleman, how have you injured both yourself and me, by admitting and uniting, in the fame confidence, your rafcally fervant! LD. EUST. The exigency of my fituation is a fufficient excufe to myself, and ought to have been fo to the man who called himself my friend. FRAM. Have a care, my lord, of uttering the least doubt upon that fubject; for could I think you once mean enough to suspect the fincerity of my attachment to you, it muft vanish at that inftant. LD. EUST. The proofs of your regard have been rather painful of late, Mr. Frampton. FRAM. When I fee my friend upon the verge of a pre cipice, is that a time for compliment? Shall I not rudely rush forward, and drag him from it? Juft in that fiate you áre at present, and I will strive to fave you. Virtue may languish in a noble heart, and fuffer her rival, vice, to ufurp her power; but baseness must not enter, or fhe flies for ever. The man who has forfeited his own efteem, thinks all the world has the fame consciousness, and there fore is, what he deferves to be, a wretch. LD. EUST. Oh, Frampton! you have lodged a dagger in my heart. FRAM. No, my dear Euftace, I have faved you from one, from your own reproaches, by preventing your being guilty of a meannefs, which you could never have forgiven yourself. LD. EUST. Can you forgive me, and be still my friend? FRAM. As firmly as I have ever been, my lord. But let us, at present, haften to get rid of the mean business we are engaged in, and forward the letters we have no right to detain. CHAPTER IX. SCHOOL FOR RAKES. DUKE AND LORD. DUKE. Now, my co-mates, and brothers in exile, |