_Wild_. Ay, _Charles_ with the dearest She-Saint, and I hope Sinner.
Sir _Char_. What, at Church? Pox, I shall be discover’d now in my Amours.
That’s an odd place for Love-Intrigues.
_Wild_. Oh, I am to pass for a sober, discreet Person to the Relations;
but for my Mistress, she’s made of no such sanctify’d Materials; she is a
Widow, _Charles_, young, rich, and beautiful.
Sir _Char_. Hah! if this shou’d prove my Widow, now. [_Aside_.
_Wild_. And though at her own dispose, yet is much govern’d by Honour,
and a rigid Mother, who is ever preaching to her against the Vices of
Youth, and t’other end of the Town Sparks; dreads nothing so much as her
Daughter’s marrying a villanous Tory. So the young one is forc’d to
dissemble Religion, the best Mask to hide a kind Mistress in.
Sir _Char_. This must be my Lady _Galliard_. [_Aside_.
_Wild_. There is at present some ill understanding between us; some
damn’d Honourable Fop lays siege to her, which has made me ill received;
and I having a new Intrigue elsewhere, return her cold Disdain, but now
and then she crosses my Heart too violently to resist her. In one of
these hot Fits I now am, and must find some occasion to speak to her.
Sir _Char_. By Heaven, it must be she--I am studying now, amongst all our
She-Acquaintance, who this shou’d be.
_Wild_. Oh, this is of Quality to be conceal’d; but the dearest loveliest
Hypocrite, white as Lillies, smooth as Rushes, and plump as Grapes after
a Shower, haughty her Mein, her Eyes full of Disdain, and yet bewitching
sweet; but when she loves soft, witty, wanton, all that charms a Soul,
and but for now and then a fit of Honour, Oh, damn the Nonsense! wou’d be
all my own.
Sir _Char_. ‘Tis she, by Heaven! [_Aside_.]
Methinks this Widow shou’d prove a good Income to you, as things now
stand between you and your Uncle.
_Wild_. Ah, _Charles_, but I am otherways dispos’d of. There is the most
charming pretty thing in nature fallen in love with this Person of mine,
a rich City-Heiress, _Charles_, and I have her in possession.
Sir _Char_. How can you love two at once? I’ve been as wild and as
extravagant, as Youth and Wealth cou’d render me; but ne’er arrived to
that degree of Leudness, to deal my Heart about: my Hours I might, but
Love shou’d be intire.
_Wild_. Ah, _Charles_, two such bewitching Faces wou’d give thy Heart the
lye:--But Love divides us, and I must into Church. Adieu till Night.
[_Exit_.
Sir _Char_. And I must follow, to resolve my Heart in what it dreads to
learn. Here, my Cloke. [_Takes his Cloke from his Man, and puts it on_.]
Hah, Church is done! See, they are coming forth!
_Enter People cross the Stage, as from Church; amongst ‘em Sir_
Anthony Meriwill, _follow’d by Sir_ Timothy Treat-all.
Hah, my Uncle! He must not see me here.
[_Throws his Cloke over his Face_.
Sir _Tim_. What my old Friend and Acquaintance, Sir Anthony Meriwill!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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