may find you upon occasion; and send me my Indian equipage immediately, d'ye hear? Free. Immediately. Col. Bold was the man who ventur'd first to sea, [Exit. [Exit. SCENE II. PRIM's House. Enter Mrs. LOVELY and her Maid Betty. Bless me, madam! Why do you fret and tease yourself so? This is giving them the advantage with a witness. Mrs. Lov. Must I be condemned all my life to the preposterous humours of other people, and pointed at by every boy in town? -Oh! I could tear my flesh, and curse the hour I was born-Isn't it monstrously ridiculous, that they should desire to impose their Quaking dress upon me at these years? When I was a child, no matter what they made me wear, but now- Betty. I would resolve against it, madam; I'd see 'em hang'd before I'd put on the pinch'd cap again. Mrs. Lov. Then I must never expect one moment's case: she has rung such a peal in my ears already,. that I sha'n't have the right use of them this month. What can I do? Betty. What can you not do, if you will but give your mind to it? Marry, madam. Mrs Lev. What! and have my fortune go to build churches and hospitals? Betty Why, let it go. -If the colonel loves vou, as he pretends, he ll marry you without a fortune, madein; and I assure you a colonel's lady is no despicable hing; a colonel's post will maintain you like a gentlewoman, madam. Mrs. Lov. So you would advise me to give up my own fortune, and throw myself upon the colonel's. Betty. I would advise you to make yourself easy, madam. No, no, Mrs. Lov. That's not the way, I'm sure, girl, there are certain ingredients to be mingled with matrimony, without which I may as well change for the worse as the better. When the woman has for. tune enough to make the man happy, if he has either honour-or good manners, he'll make her easy. Love makes but a slovenly figure in a house, where poverty keeps the door. Betty. And so you resolve to die a maid, do you, madam? Mrs. Lov. Or have it in my power to make the man I love master of my fortune. Betty. Then you don't like the colonel so well as I thought you did, madam, or you would not take such a resolution. Mrs. Lov. It is because I do like him, Betty, that I do take such a resolution. Betty. Why, do you expect, madam, the colonel can work miracles? Is it possible for him to marry you with the consent of all your guardians? Mrs. Lov. Or he must not marry me at all: and so I told him; and he did not seem displeased with the -He promised to set me free; and I, on that condition, promised to make him master of that freedom. news. Betty. Well! I have read of enchanted castles, ladies delivered from the chains of magic, giants kill'd, and monsters overcome; so that I shall be the less surprised if the colonel should conjure you out of the power of your four guardians; if he does, I am sure he deserves your fortune. Mrs. Lov. And shall have it, girl, if it were ten times as much-For I'll ingenuously confess to thee, that I do like the colonel above all the men I ever saw :-There's something so jantée in a soldier, a kind of je-ne-sçai-quoi air, that makes them more agreeable than the rest of mankind.-They command regard, as who shall say, We are your defenders. We preserve your beauties from the insults of rude and unpolish'd foes, and ought to be preferr'd before those lazy indolent mortals, who, by dropping into their fathers' estates, set up their coaches, and think to rattle themselves into our affections. Betty. Nay, madam, I confess that the army has C engrossed all the prettiest fellows-A laced coat and a feather have irresistible charms. Mrs. Lov. But the colonel has all the beauties of the mind as well as the body.-O all ye powers that favour happy lovers, grant that he may be mine! Thou god of love, if thou be'st aught but name, assist my Fainwell! Point all thy darts to aid his just design, And make his plots as prevalent as thine. [Exeunt. ACT II. SCENE I. The Park. Enter Colonel finely drest, three Footmen after him. Colonel. So, now if I can but meet this beau!-Egad! methinks, I cut a smart figure, and have as much of the tawdry air as any Italian Count or French Marquée of them all. Sure I shall know this knight again— Ah! yonder he sits, making love to a mask, i’faith. I'll walk up the Mall, and come down by him. [Exit. Scene draws, and discovers Sir PHILIP upon a Bench, with a Woman mask’d. Sir Phil. Well, but, my dear, are you really constant to your keeper ? Wom. Yes, really, sir.Hey-day! Who comes yonder? He cuts a mighty figure. Sir Phil. Ha! a stranger, by his equipage keeping so close at his heels.-He has the appearance of a man of quality.-Positively French, by his dancing air. Wom. He crosses, as if he meant to sit down here. Sir Phil. He has a mind to make love to thee, child. Enter Colonel, and seats himself upon the Bench by Sir PHILIP. Wom. It will be to no purpose if he does. Sir Phil. Are you resolved to be cruel then? Col. You must be very cruel indeed, if you can deny any thing to so fine a gentleman, madam. [Takes out his Watch. Wom. I never mind the outside of a man. Col. And I'm afraid thou art no judge of the inside. Sir Phil. I am positively of your mind, sir, for creatures of her function seldom penetrate beyond the pocket. Wom. Creatures of your composition have, indeed, generally more in their pockets than in their heads. [Aside. Sir Phil. Pray what says your watch? mine is down. [Pulling out his Watch. Col. I want thirty-six minutes of twelve, sir. [Puts up his Watch, and takes out his Snuff-box. Sir Phil. May I presume, sir? Col. Sir, you honour me. [Presenting the Box. Sir Phil. He speaks good English-tho' he must be a foreigner. [Aside.]-This snuff is extremely good, |