L. Lam. Thou art i’th’ right—Do’st know my Quality, and thy own
Poverty? And hast thou nothing to ask that I may grant?
Lav. Sure she loves me! and I, frail Flesh and Blood, Cannot resist her
Charms; but she’s of the damn’d Party. [Aside.
L. Lam. Are all your Party, Sir, so proud?
Lov. But what have I to do with Religion! Is Beauty the worse, or a
kind Wench to be refus’d for Conventickling? She lives high on the
Spoils of a glorious Kingdom, and why may not I live upon the Sins of
the Spoiler? [Aside.
L. Lam. Sir—you are poor!
Lov. So is my Prince; a Plague on the occasion.
L. Lam. I think you are—no Fool too.
Lov. I wou’d I were, then I had been a Knave, had thriv’d, and possibly
by this time had been tugging for rifled Crowns and Kingdoms.
L. Lam. This Satir ill befits my present Bus’ness with you—you—want
some Necessaries—as Clothes, and Linen too; and ’tis great pity so
proper a Man shou’d want Necessaries. _Gilliflower_—take my Cabinet
Key, and fetch the Purse of Broad-pieces that lies in the lower Drawer;
’tis a small Present, Sir, but ’tis an Earnest of my farther Service.
[_Gill._ goes out and returns with a Purse.
Lov. I’m angry, that I find one Grain of Generosity in this whole Race
of Hypocrites. [Aside.
L. Lam. Here, Sir,’tis only for your present use; for Clothes—three
hundred Pieces; let me see you sweet—
Lov. Stark mad, by this good Day.
L. Lam. Ah, _Gilliflower!_ How prettily those Cavalier 363 things
charm; I wonder how the Powers above came to give them all the Wit,
Softness, and Gallantry—whilst all the great ones of our Age have the
most slovenly, ungrateful, dull Behaviour; no Air, no Wit, no Love, nor
any thing to please a Lady with.
Gill. Truly, Madam, there’s a great Difference in the Men; yet Heaven
at first did its part, but the Devil has since so over-done his, that
what with the Vizor of Sanctity, which is the gadly Sneer, the drawing
of the Face to a prodigious length, the formal Language, with a certain
Twang through the Nose, and the pious Gogle, they are fitter to scare
Children than beget love in Ladies.
Lav. You hit the Character of your new Saint.
L. Lam. And then their Dress, _Gilliflower_.
Gil. Oh! ’Tis an Abomination to look like a Gentleman; long Hair is
wicked and cavalierish, a Periwig is flat Popery, the Disguise of the
Whore of _Babylon_; handsom Clothes, or lac’d Linen, the very Tempter
himself, that debauches all their Wives and Daughters; therefore the
diminutive Band, with the Hair of the Reformation Cut, beneath which a
pair of large sanctify’d Souses appear, to declare to the World they
had hitherto escap’d the Pillory, tho deserv’d it as well as _Pryn_.
L. Lam. Have a care what you say, _Gilliflower_.
Gil. Why, Madam, we have no Informers here.
Enter _Page_.
Page. Madam, here’s Old _Noll’s_ Wife desires Admittance to your
Hon—your Highness.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account