L. Froth. Three times aloud, as I love LettersBut did you talk of Love? O Parnaffus! Who would have thought Mr. Brisk could have been in Love, ha, ha, ha. O Heav'ns, I thought you cou'd have no Mistress but the Nine Muses.

Brisk. No more I have l'gad, for I adore 'em all in your Ladyship- Let me perish, I don't know whether to be splenatick, or airy upon't; the Deuce take me if I can tell whether I am glad or forry that your Ladyship has made the Discovery.

L. Froth. O be merry by all means - Prince Volfcius in Love! Ha, ha, ha.

Brisk. O barbarous, to turn me into Ridicule ! Yet, ha, ha, ha. The Deuce take me, I can't help laughing my self, ha, ha, ha; yet by Heav'ns I have a violent Paffion for your Ladyship, serioufly. L. Froth. Seriously? Ha, ha, ha.

Brisk. Seriously, ha, ha, ha. Gad I have, for all I laugh.

L. Froth. Ha, ha, ha! What d'ye think I laugh at? Ha, ha, ha.

Brisk. Me I'gad, ha, ha.

L. Froth. No the Deuce take me if I don't laugh at my self; for hang me if I have not a violent Paffion for Mr. Brisk, ha, ha, ha.

Brisk. Serionfly?

L. Froth. Seriously, ha, ha, ha.

Brisk. That's well enough; let me perish, ha, ha, ha. O miraculous, what a happy Discovery. Ah my dear charming Lady Froth!

L. Froth. Oh my adored Mr. Brisk!

[Embrace.

SCE

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SCENE VII.

[To them] Lord FROTH.

Ld. FROти.

HE Company are all ready - How now! Brisk. Zoons, Madam, there's my Lord. [Softly to her.

L. Froth. Take no notice- but observe me Now cast off, and meet me at the lower end of the Room, and then join Hands again: I could teach my Lord this Dance purely, but I vow, Mr. Brisk, I can't tell how to come so neat any other Man. Oh here's my Lord, now you shall see me do it with him.

[They pretend to practise part of a Country Dance. Ld. Froth, Oh I see there's no harm yet[Afide.

But I don't like this Familiarity.

L. Froth. Shall you and I do our close

Dauce, to show Mr. Brisk?

Ld. Froth. No, my Dear, do it with him.

L. Froth. I'll do it with him, my Lord, when

you are out of the way.

Brisk. That's good I'gad, that's good: Deuce

take me I can hardly hold laughing in his Face.

[Afide.

Ld. Froth. Any other time, my Dear, or we'll

dance it below.

L. Froth. With all my Heart.

Brisk. Come my Lord, I'll wait on you - My

charming witty Angel!

F

[To her.

L

)

:

L. Froth. We shall have whispering time enough, you know, fince we are Partners.

SCENE VIII.

Lady PLYANT, and CARELESS.

Lady PLYANT.

Mr. Careless, Mr. Careless, I'm ruin'd, I'm undone.

Care. What's the Matter, Madam?

L. P. O the unlucky'st Accident, I'm afraid I shan't live to tell it you.

Care. Heav'n forbid! What is it?

L. P. I'm in fucha Fright; the strangest Quandary and Premunire! I'm all over in a Universal Agitation; I dare (wear every Circumstance of me trembles. O your Letter, your Letter! By an unfortunate Mistake, I have given Sir Paul your Letter instead of his own.

Care. That was unlucky.

L. P. O yonder he comes reading of it, for Heav'ns sake step in here and advise me quickly. before he sees.

SCE.

SCENE IX.

Sir PAUL with the Letter.

Sir PAUL.

Providence, whata Conspiracy have I discover'd -But let me fee to make an end on't. (Reads) Hum - After Supper in the Wardrobe by the Gallery. If Sir Paul should furprize us, I have a Commission from him to treat with you about the very Matter of Fact - Matter of Fact! Very pretty; it seems then I am conducing to my own Cuckoldom. Why this is the very traiterous Pofition of taking up Arms by my Authority, against my Perfon! Well, let me fee 'Till then I languish in Expectation of my adored Charmer.

Dying Ned. Careless. Gads-bud, would that were matter of Fact too. Die and be damn'd for a Judas Maccabeus, and Iscariot both. O Friendship! What art thou but a Name! Henceforward let no Man make a Friend that would not be a Cuckold: For whomsoever he receives into his Bosom, will find the Way to his Bed, and there return his Caresses with Intereft to his Wife. Have I for this been pinion'd Night after Night for three Years past? Have I been swath'd in Blankets 'till I have been even depriv'd of Motion ? Have I approach'd the Marriage Bed with Reverence as to a facred Shrine, and deny'd my felf the Enjoyment of lawful Domeftick Pleasures, to preferve its Purity, and muft I now find it polluted by foreign Iniquity? O my Lady Plyant, you were chafte as Ice, but you are melted now, and false as Wa

F2

ter. But Providence has been constant to me in discovering this Conspiracy. Still I am beholden to Providence; if it were not for Providence, fure poor Sir Paul thy Heart would break.

SCENEX.

[To him] Lady PLYANT.

Lady PLYANT.

O, Sir, I see you have read the Letter, - Well now, Sir Paul, what do you think of your Friend Careless? Has he been treacherous, or did you give his Insolence a License to make Trial of your Wifes suspected Virtue? D'ye see here?

[Snatches the Letter as in Anger. Look, read it? Gad's my Life if I thought it were so, I would this Moment renounce all Communication with you. Ungrateful Monster! He? Is it so? Ay, I see it, a Plot upon my Honour; your guilty Cheeks confess it: Oh where shall wrong'd Virtue fly for Reparation! I'll be divorced this Instant.

Sir Paul. Gads-bud what shall I say? This is the strangest Surprize! Why I don't know any thing at all, nor I don't know whether there be any thing at all in the World, or no.

L. P. I thought I should try you, falfe Man. I that never dissembled in my Life: Yet to make Trial of you, pretended to like that Monster of Iniquity, Careless, and found out that Contrivance to let you see this Letter, which now I find was of your own inditing - I do Heathen, I do; see my Face no more? I'll be divorced presently.

Sir Paul. O strange, what will become of me !

-I'm