Lat. No, no, you are weary of me, that's it that's all, you would get another wife-another fond fool to break her heart-Well, be as cruel as you can to me, I'll pray for you; and when I am dead with grief, may you have one that will love you as well as I have done: I shall be contented to lie at peace in my cold grave since it will please you. [Sighs.

Fond. Good lack, good lack, she would melt a heart of oak- -1 profess I can hold no longer-Nay, dear Cocky-Ifeck you'll break my heart-Ifeck, you will-See, you have made me weep-made poor Nykin weep-Nay, come kiss, buss poor Nykin-and I won't leave thee-I'll lose all first.

Lat. [Aside.] How! Heaven forbid! that will be carrying the jest too far indeed.

Fond. Won't you kiss Nykin?

Lat. Go, naughty Nykin, you don't love me.

Fond. Kiss, kiss, ifeck I do.

Læt. No, you don't.

Fond. What, not love Cocky?

[She kisses him.

[Sighs.

Fond. I profess I do love thee better than five hundred pounds—and so thou shalt say, for I'll leave it to stay with thee.

Læt. No, you shan't neglect your business for me

-No, indeed you sant, Nykin-If you do n't go, I'll think you been dealous of me still.

Fond. He, he, he, wilt thou, poor fool? Then I will go; I won't be dealous- -Poor Cocky, kiss Nykin, kiss Nykin; ee, ce, ee-Here will be the

D

good man anon, to talk to Cocky, and teach her how

a wife ought to behave herself.

Læt. [Aside.] I hope to have one that will shew me how a husband ought to behave himself.

glad to learn to please my jewel.

-I shall be

[Kiss.

Fond. That's my good dear—Come, kiss Nykin once more, and then get you in-So-Get you

in. By, by.

Lat. By, Nykin.

Vain. To confirm what I have said, read this

[Gives a letter.

Sharp. [Reads.] Hum, bum.-And what then ap peared a fault, upon reflection, seems only an effect of a 100 porerful passion. I'm afraid I give too great a proof of my own at this time—I am in discrder for what I have written. But, something, I know not what, forc'd I only beg a favourable censure of this, and am your

me.

Araminta.

Sharp. Lost! Pray Heaven thou hast not lost thy wits. Here, she's thy own, man, sign'd and seal'd too-To her, man, a delicious melon, pure, and consenting ripe, and only waits thy cutting up-She has been breeding love to you all this while, and just now she's delivered of it.

Vain. 'Tis an untimely fruit, and she has miscarried of her love.

Sharp. Never leave this damn'd, ill-natur'd whimsy, Frank? Thou hast a sickly peevish appetite; only chews love, and cannot digest it.

Vain. Yes, when I feel myself

be cramm'd

-But I hate to

-By Heav'n, there's not a woman will give a man the pleasure of a chace: "my sport is

always balk'd, or cut short. I stumble over the 'Tis dull and un

.66 game I would pursue”

natural to have a hare run full in the hounds' mouth: and would distaste the keenest hunter

have overtaken, not have met my game.

-I would

Sharp. However, I hope you don't mean to forsake it; that will be but a kind of mongrel cur's trickWell, are you for the Ma!l?

Vain. No, she will be there this evening--Yes, I will go too -and she shall see her error in

Sharp. In her choice, I gad—

not be so great a brute as to slight her?

-But thou can'st

Vain. “I should disappoint her if I did not.”. By her management, I should think she expects it.

All naturally fly who does pursue :

'Tis fit men should be coy, when women woo.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

A room in Fondlewife's bouse.-A Servant introducing BELLMOUR in a fanatic habit, with a patch upon one eye, and a book in his hand.

Ser. Here's a chair, sir, if you please to repose yourself. My mistress is coming, sir. [Exit.

Bell. Secure in my disguise, I have out-fac'd suspicion, and ev'n dar'd discovery.This cloak my sanctity, and trusty Scarron's novel my prayer-book -Methinks I am the very picture of Montufar, in the Hypocrites Oh, she comes.

Enter LETITIA.

So breaks Aurora through the veil of night,
Thus fly the clouds, divided by her light,
And ev'ry eye receives a new-born sight.

[Throwing off his cloak, patch, &c. Lat. Thus strew'd with blushes, likeHeav'n defend me! Who's this?

Ah!

Bell. Your lover.

[Discovering bim, starts.

Lat. Vainlove's friend! I know his face, and he has betrayed me to him.

[Aside. Bell. You are surprized. Did you not expect a lover, madam? Those eyes shone kindly on my first appearance, tho' now they are o'er-cast.

Lat. I may well be surpriz'd at your person and

impudence; they are both new to me-You are not what your first appearance promised: the piety of your habit was welcome, but not the hypocrisy.

Bell. Rather the hypocrisy was welcome, but not the hypocrite.

Lat. Who are you, sir? You have mistaken the house, sure.

Bell. I have directions in my pocket, which agree with every thing but your unkindЛiess.

[Fulls out the letter. Lat. My letter! Base Vainlove! Then 'tis too late to dissemble. [dside.] 'Tis plain, then, you have mistaken the person. [Going. Bell. If we part so, I'm mistaken-Hold, hold, madam-I confess I have run into an errorI beg your pardon a thousand times-What an eternal blockhead am I! Can you forgive me the disorder I have put you into ?-But it is a mistake which any body might have made.

Lat. What can this mean? 'Tis impossible he should be mistaken, after all this-A handsome fellow, if he had not surprized me. Methinks, now I look on him again, I would not have him mistaken. [Aside.] We are all liable to mistakes, sir; if you own it to be so, there needs no farther apology.

Bell. Nay, faith, madam, 'tis a pleasant one, and worth your hearing. Expecting a friend, last night, at his lodgings, 'till 'twas late; my intimacy with him gave me the freedom of his bed: he, not coming home all night, a letter was deliver'd to me, by a servant,