_Neverout._ Miss, come to me, and I’ll take you up. _Lady Sparkish._ Well, but without a Jest, I hope, Miss, you are not hurt. _Col._ Nay, she must be hurt for certain; for you see, her Head is all of a Lump. _Miss._ Well, remember this, Colonel, when I have Money, and you have none. _Lady Smart._ But, Colonel, when do you design to get a House, and a Wife, and a Fire to put her in? _Miss._ Lord! who would be marry’d to a Soldier, and carry his Knapsack? _Neverout._ Oh! Madam: _Mars_ and _Venus_, you know. _Col._ Egad, Madam, I’d marry To-morrow, if I thought I could bury my Wife just when the Honey-Moon is over; but they say, A Woman has as many Lives as a Cat. _Lady Answ._ I find, the Colonel thinks, a dead Wife under the Table is the best Goods in a Man’s House. _Lady Smart._ O but, Colonel, if you had a good Wife, it would break your Heart to part with her. _Col._ Yes, Madam; for they say, he that has lost his Wife and Sixpence, has lost a Tester. _Lady Smart._ But, Colonel, they say, that every marry’d Man should believe there’s but one good Wife in the World, and that’s his own. _Col._ For all that, I doubt, a good Wife must be bespoke, for there is none ready made. _Miss._ I suppose, the Gentleman’s a Woman-Hater; but, Sir, I think, you ought to remember, that you had a Mother: And pray, if it had not been for a Woman, where would you have been, Colonel? _Col._ Nay, Miss, you cry’d W——e first, when you talk’d of the Knapsack. _Lady Answ._ But I hope you won’t blame the whole Sex, because some are bad. _Neverout._ And they say, he that hates Woman, suck’d a Sow. _Col._ Oh! Madam; there’s no general Rule without an Exception. _Lady Smart._ Then, why don’t you marry, and settle? _Col._ Egad, Madam, there’s nothing will settle me but a Bullet. _Ld. Sparkish._ Well, Colonel, there’s one Comfort, that you need not fear a Cannon-Bullet. _Col._ Why so, my Lord? _Ld. Sparkish._ Because they say, he was curs’d in his Mother’s Belly, that was kill’d by a Cannon-Bullet. _Miss._ I suppose, the Colonel was cross’d in his first Love, which makes him so severe on all the Sex. _Lady Answ._ Yes; and I’ll hold a hundred to one, that the Colonel has been over Head and Ears in Love with some Lady, that has made his Heart ake. _Col._ Oh! Madam, We Soldiers are Admirers of all the fair Sex. _Miss._ I wish, I could see the Colonel in Love, till he was ready to die. _Lady Smart._ Ay; but I doubt, few People die for Love in these days. _Neverout._ Well, I confess, I differ from the Colonel; for I hope to have a rich and a handsome Wife yet before I die. _Col._ Ay, _Tom_; live Horse, and thou shalt have Grass. _Miss._ Well, Colonel; but whatever you say against Women, they are better Creatures than Men; for Men were made of Clay, but Woman was made of Man. _Col._ Miss, you may say what you please; but, faith, you’ll never lead Apes in Hell. _Neverout._ No, no; I’ll be sworn Miss has not an Inch of Nun’s Flesh about her.