Plays, written by Sir John Vanbrugh, volume the firstVanbrugh, John
General
Plays, written by Sir John Vanbrugh, volume the first
Vanbrugh, John
Comedy plays; English drama -- 18th century; English drama -- Restoration, 1660-1700
_Lo._ Not a Jot, Sir, he divines as little for himself, as he does for
other Folks.
_Young Fash._ Will he bring Nurse with him?
_Lo._ Yes.
_Young Fash._ That's well; where's _Coupler_?
_Lo._ He's half way up the Stairs taking Breath; he must play his
Bellows a little, before he can get to the top.
_Enter ~Coupler~._
_Young Fash._ O here he is. Well, old Phthisick, the Doctor's coming.
_Coup._ Wou'd the Pox had the Doctor----I'm quite out of Wind [_To
Lo._] Set me a Chair, Sirrah. Ah----[_Sits down._] [_To Young Fash._]
Why the Plague can'st not thou lodge upon the Ground-Floor?
_Young Fash._ Because I love to lie as near Heaven as I can.
_Coup._ Pr'ythee let Heaven alone; ne'er affect tending that way: Thy
Center's downwards.
_Young Fash_. That's impossible. I have too much ill Luck in this
World, to be damn'd in the next.
_Coup._ Thou art out in thy Logick. Thy Major is true, but thy Minor is
false; for thou art the luckiest Fellow in the Universe.
_Young Fash_. Make out that.
_Coup._ I'll do't: Last Night the Devil ran away with the Parson of
_Fat-goose_ Living.
_Young Fash._ If he had run away with the Parish too, what's that to me?
_Coup._ I'll tell thee what it's to thee. This Living is worth five
hundred Pound a-year, and the Presentation of it is thine, if thou
can'st prove thyself a lawful Husband to Miss _Hoyden_.
_Young Fash._ Say'st thou so, my Protector! then I'gad I shall have a
Brace of Evidences here presently.
_Coup._ The Nurse and the Doctor?
_Young Fash._ The same: The Devil himself won't have Interest enough to
make them withstand it.
_Coup._ That we shall see presently: Here they come.
_Enter ~Nurse~ and ~Chaplain~; they start back, seeing ~Young
Fashion~._
_Nurse._ Ah Goodness, _Roger_, we are betray'd.
_Young Fash._ [_Laying hold on them._] Nay, nay, ne'er flinch for the
matter; for I have you safe. Come to your Trials immediately; I have no
time to give you Copies of your Indictment. There sits your Judge.--
_Both kneeling._ Pray, Sir, have Compassion on us.
_Nurse._ I hope, Sir, my Years will move your Pity; I am an aged Woman.
_Coup._ That is a moving Argument, indeed!
_Coup._ [_To Bull._] Are not you a rogue of Sanctity?
_Bull._ Sir, with respect to my Function, I do wear a Gown. I hope,
Sir, my Character will be consider'd; I am Heaven's Ambassador.
_Coup._ Did not you marry this vigorous young Fellow to a plump young
buxom Wench?
_Nurse._ [_To Bull._] Don't confess, _Roger_, unless you are hard put
to it, indeed?
_Coup._ Come, out with't--Now is he chewing the Cud of his Roguery, and
grinding a Lye between his Teeth.
_Bull._ Sir,----I cannot positively say----I say, Sir----positively I
cannot say----
_Coup._ Come, no Equivocation, no Roman Turns upon us. Consider thou
stand'st upon Protestant Ground, which will slip from under thee like
a _Tyburn_ Car; for in this Country we have always ten Hangmen for one
Jesuit.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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