Mr. _Ven._ Why the short and the long of the Business is this; I made a Purchase lately, and in that I did estate the Child (about which I'm sued) Joint-Purchaser with me in all the Land I bought. Mrs. _Ven._ Right Husband; and you know 'twas I that advised you to make the Purchase, and therefore I'll never give my Consent to have the Child brought up by such a stinking Tar-barrel as now sues for him; he'd only bring him up to be a Swabber; no, no, he was born a Merchant and a Gentleman, and he shall live and die so. _Dodge._ You are a worthy Gentlewoman upon my word; there are but few of such a noble Temper: But what makes the Fool of the Husband then so troublesome; does he not know when he's well? Mrs. _Ven._ So 'tis a sign. _Dodge._ A Blockhead, to proclaim his own Disgrace, and make himself laugh'd at. Mr. _Ven._ That's not it, he hopes to be the better by what is settled on the Boy. _Dodge._ O, God's so, that's true: But never fear, I'll be hang'd if he carry it, for you have Money, as I told you, Sir, before: but see, Sir, there they are. Mr. _Ven._ Yes, Yes, I saw them before: but come, where's our Wine? (_Within_) [the Bell rings as at the Bar. _Enter Drawer with a Bottle of Wine._ _Draw._ Here Sir,--Coming, Coming, Sir: _Philip_, speak up in the Mermaid, and bid _Jack_ light a Fire. [_Exit_ Drawer. _Comp._ Well Mr. _Pettifog_, and what think you of my Suit, Sir? _Pett._ Why look you Sir, the Defendant you know was arrested first by a _Latitat_ in an Action of Trespass. _Comp._ Yes, and a Lawyer told me, it shou'd have been an Action of the Case, did he not, Wife? _Peg._ I have no Skill in the Law you know Husband, but the Gentleman did say so. _Pett._ Aye, but your Action of the Case in this Point is too ticklish. _Comp._ Well, but pray tell me, do you think I shall overthrow my Adversary? _Pett._ Without all doubt, the Child he says is none of yours, What of that! I marry a Widow, and am by Consequence possess'd of a Ward. Now shall not I have the Management of that Ward? Now Sir you lie at a stronger Ward, for _Partus sequitur ventrem_, says the Civil Law: So that if you were within the Compass of the four Seas, as the Common Law goes, the Child must be yours, that's certain. _Comp._ Say you so, Sir? Why then the Child's my own, for I have been a Coaster these five Years and more; and so my Service to you: [Drinks]. O your Attorneys in _Guild-hall_ have a rare time on't, by the Lord _Harry_. _Peg._ They are as it were both Judg and Jury themselves. _Comp._ And O how they will laugh at their Clients when they sit in a Tavern, and call them Fools, Blockheads and Coxcombs, and then whip up their Causes as nimbly as a Barber trims his Customers on a _Christmas-Eve_; a Snip, a Wipe and away. _Pett._ That's very common, you shall have the like at a _Nisi-prius_. _Enter Drawer._ _Draw._ Here's a Gentleman, one Mr. Justice _Merryman_, enquires for Mr. _Ventere_ the Merchant.