_Bis._ Ay, 'tis so beaten that the way is spoiled. _Dur._ There is but one thing should make me thy husband--I could marry thee to-day, for the privilege of beating thee to-morrow. _Old Mir._ Come, come, you may agree for all this;--Mr. Dugard, are not you pleased with this? _Dug._ So pleased, that, if I thought it might secure your son's affection to my sister, I would double her fortune. _Y. Mir._ Fortune! has she not given me mine? my life--estate--my all? and what is more, her virtuous self?--Behold the foil [_Pointing to_ LAMORCE.] that sets this brightness off! [_To_ ORIANA.] Here view the pride, [_To_ ORIANA.] and scandal of the sex! What liberty can be so tempting there, [_To_ LAMORCE. As a soft, virtuous, am'rous bondage here? [_To_ ORIANA. THE END. TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE Punctuation and orthography in the text depart from modern practice, especially in the use of capitalisation following semi-colon and colon and in the failure to capitalise such terms as, e.g. christendom. On a few occasions where no confusion is possible, Young Mirabel (Y. Mir.) appears simply as Mirabel (Mir.) The name of a character is not italicised where it is immediately preceded or followed by text in italics. The following substantive changes have been made to the text: In Act 2, scene 1, the word "make" was added to the following passage: _Old Mir._ Neither! Don't make me angry now, Bob--pray, don't MAKE me angry. In Act 3, scene 1, a second instance of the word "been" was removed from the sentence: _Y. Mir._ Why sir, han't I been beating (...) Towards the end of Act 3, it is conceivable that the line: _Old Mir._ What's that to you, sir? should be spoken by Young Mirabel. In Act 5, scene 1, _Dug._ (Dugard) was changed to _Dur._ (Duretete) for the line: The fellow has quite forgot this journey;--have you bespoke post horses?