A Will and No Will; or, A Bone for the Lawyers. (1746) The New Play Criticiz'd, or the Plague of Envy. (1747)Macklin, Charles
General
A Will and No Will; or, A Bone for the Lawyers. (1746) The New Play Criticiz'd, or the Plague of Envy. (1747)
Macklin, Charles
English drama -- 18th century
_Skin._ This is all a Robbery.
_Coun._ Let 'em go on, Sir Isaac, you have your Remedy.
_Skin._ This is all a Robbery.
_Doct._ To my Maid Lucy, one thousand pounds.
_Skin._ O monstrous; I never intended to give her a Farthing.
_Doct._ Item, to that honest Fellow Slipstring Shark.
_Shar._ That is me, Sir Isaac, and I humbly thank your Honour.
_Doct._ I bequeath him three hundred pounds per Annum during his
natural Life, to be paid out of that part of my Estate he shall think
proper.
_Shar._ O blessings on your generous Heart. It was always fond of
rewarding Merit.
_Skin._ Read no more--I'll have every one of you indicted for
Forgery--and Conspiracy and--first take Notice, Councellour Cormorant
and Monsieur du Maigre, that I deny that Will to be any Act of
mine--and that I cancel it to all Intents and Purposes.
_Doct._ That you can't do, Sir--for by way of Marriage Articles
between Bellair and Harriet Lovewealth you have signed a Deed
conformable to this Will.
_Skin._ Why this is such a piece of Villainy as the Records of
Westminster Hall cannot match.
_Coun._ Do not be uneasy Sir Isaac, you have one, and one certain way
of oversetting all their Villainy; and that is by confessing that you
made this Will, and proving that you were out of your Senses when you
did it, which may easily be done by proper Witnesses. (_Aside_)
_Skin._ I'll confess that or anything--to get my money again, and to
hang them all--Doctor Leatherhead, I begin now to remember something
of the making of this Will,--but I can prove I was lightheaded and out
of my Senses when I did it.
_Doct._ Sir Isaac, it is no Affair of mine.--It is your Nephew's
Concern; if he is willing to let such Chicane pass upon him, he may;
but if he has a Mind to insist upon the Will, I'll undertake to prove
you were in your Senses as perfectly as ever you were in your Life.
_Skin._ And will you insist, Nephew?
_Bell._ It is not in my Power to be off it, Sir, for in consequence
that you were sincere when you made this Will, my Lady Lovewealth here
has given me her Daughter, and her own Chaplain has just now put the
finishing hand to the Business in the next Room, before all these
Witnesses.
_Skin._ So you won't resign?
_Bell._ I can't, Sir.
_Skin._ Come along, Mr. Cormorant, I'll hamper them all--I'll prove
myself out of my Senses before I sleep. (_Exit Skinflint and
Cormorant_)
_Maigre._ By gar, dis be all ver great, much Surprize upon me, van,
pardie, pardie make the Man make a de Vill veder he will or no, and de
Man say he will prove dat he be Lunatic and lightheaded--by gar, me
never hear de like in France, pardie, etc. etc. (_Exit_)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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