_Cher._ Very welcome, gentlemen----Chamberlain, show the lion and the rose. [_Exit with the_ COMPANY. _Enter_ AIMWELL, _in a Riding Habit_, ARCHER _as Footman, carrying a Portmanteau_. _Bon._ This way, this way, gentlemen. _Aim._ Set down the things; go to the stable, and see my horses well rubbed. _Arch._ I shall, sir. [_Exit._ _Aim._ You're my landlord, I suppose? _Bon._ Yes, sir, I'm old Will Boniface, pretty well known upon this road, as the saying is. _Aim._ O, Mr. Boniface, your servant. _Bon._ O, sir,----what will your honour please to drink, as the saying is? _Aim._ I have heard your town of Litchfield much famed for ale, I think: I'll taste that. _Bon._ Sir, I have now in my cellar ten tun of the best ale in Staffordshire; 'tis smooth as oil, sweet as milk, clear as amber, and strong as brandy, and will be just fourteen years old the fifth day of next March. _Aim._ You are very exact, I find, in the age of your ale. _Bon._ As punctual, sir, as I am in the age of my children: I'll show you such ale----Here, tapster, broach number 1792, as the saying is:----Sir, you shall taste my Anno Domini----I have lived in Litchfield, man and boy, above eight and fifty years, and I believe have not consumed eight and fifty ounces of meat. _Aim._ At a meal, you mean, if one may guess your sense by your bulk. _Bon._ Not in my life, sir; I have fed purely upon ale: I have eat my ale, drank my ale, and I always sleep upon ale. _Enter_ TAPSTER, _with a Tankard_. Now, sir, you shall see: your worship's health: ha! delicious, delicious----fancy it Burgundy, only fancy it, and 'tis worth ten shillings a quart. _Aim._ [_Drinks._] 'Tis confounded strong. _Bon._ Strong! it must be so; or how would we be strong that drink it? _Aim._ And have you lived so long upon this ale, landlord? _Bon._ Eight and fifty years, upon my credit, sir; but it killed my wife, poor woman, as the saying is. _Aim._ How came that to pass? _Bon._ I don't know how, sir; she would not let the ale take its natural course, sir: she was for qualifying it every now and then with a dram, as the saying is, and an honest gentleman, that came this way from Ireland, made her a present of a dozen bottles of Usquebaugh----but the poor woman was never well after; but, however, I was obliged to the gentleman, you know. _Aim._ Why, was it the Usquebaugh that killed her? _Bon._ My Lady Bountiful said so--she, good lady, did what could be done; she cured her of three tympanies, but the fourth carried her off; but she's happy, and I'm contented, as the saying is. _Aim._ Who's that Lady Bountiful, you mentioned?