_Wild._ Then, Madam, there was never such a pattern of unity. Her wants were still prevented by my supplies; my own heart whisper’d me her desires, ‘cause she herself was there; no contention ever rose, but the dear strife of who should most oblige: no noise about authority; for neither would stoop to command, ‘cause both thought it glory to obey. _Lure._ Stuff! stuff! stuff! I won’t believe a word on’t. _Wild._ Ha, ha, ha. Then, Madam, we never felt the yoke of matrimony, because our inclinations made us one; a power superior to the forms of wedlock. The marriage torch had lost its weaker light in the bright flame of mutual love that join’d our hearts before; then— _Lure._ Hold, hold, Sir; I cannot bear it; Sir Harry, I’m affronted. _Wild._ Ha, ha, ha. Affronted! _Lure._ Yes, Sir; ’tis an affront to any woman to hear another commended; and I will resent it.—In short, Sir Harry, your wife was a— _Wild._ Buz, Madam—no detraction! I’ll tell you what she was. So much an angel in her conduct, that though I saw another in her arms, I should have thought the devil had rais’d the phantom, and my more conscious reason had given my eyes the lie. _Lure._ Very well! Then I a’n’t to be believ’d, it seems. But, d’ye hear, Sir? _Wild._ Nay, Madam, do you hear! I tell you, ’tis not in the power of malice to cast a blot upon her fame; and though the vanity of our sex, and the envy of yours, conspir’d both against her honour, I would not hear a syllable. [_Stopping his ears._ _Lure._ Why then, as I hope to breathe, you shall hear it. The picture! the picture! the picture! [_Bawling aloud._ _Wild._ Ran, tan, tan. A pistol-bullet from ear to ear. _Lure._ That picture which you had just now from the French marquis for a thousand pound; that very picture did your very virtuous wife send to the marquis as a pledge of her very virtuous and dying affection. So that you are both robb’d of your honour, and cheated of your money. [_Aloud._ _Wild._ Louder, louder, Madam. _Lure._ I tell you, Sir, your wife was a jilt; I know it, I’ll swear it. She virtuous! she was a devil! _Wild._ [_Sings._] Tal, al, deral. _Lure._ Was ever the like seen! He won’t hear me. I burst with malice, and now he won’t mind me! Won’t you hear me yet? _Wild._ No, no, Madam. _Lure._ Nay, then I can’t bear it. [_Bursts out a crying._] Sir, I must say that you’re an unworthy person, to use a woman of quality at this rate, when she has her heart full of malice; I don’t know but it may make me miscarry. Sir, I say again and again, that she was no better than one of us, and I know it; I have seen it with my eyes, so I have. _Wild._ Good heav’ns deliver me, I beseech thee. How shall I ’scape!