_Bel_. No, no, there’s no need of that--Good-morrow, my best Friend.
_Friend_. But e’er you go, my dearest Friend and Brother,
Now you are sure of all the Joys you wish
From Heaven, do not forgetful grow of that great Trust
I gave you of all mine; but, like a Friend,
Assist me in my great Concern of Love
With fair Diana, your lovely Cousin.
You know how long I have ador’d that Maid;
But still her haughty Pride repell’d my Flame,
And all its fierce Efforts.
_Bel_. She has a Spirit equal to her Beauty,
As mighty and tyrannick; yet she has Goodness,
And I believe enough inclin’d to Love,
When once her Pride’s o’ercome. I have the Honour
To be the Confident of all her Thoughts:
And to augment thy Hopes, ‘tis not long since
She did with Sighs confess to me, she lov’d
A Man, she said, scarce equal to her Fortune:
But all my Interest could not learn the Object;
But it must needs be you, by what she said.
This I’ll improve, and so to your Advantage--
_Friend_. I neither doubt thy Industry, nor Love;
Go, and be careful of my Interest there,
Whilst I preserve thine as intirely here.
[_Ex. severally_.
SCENE III. _Sir_ Timothy’s _House_.
_Enter Sir_ Timothy, Sham, Sharp, _and_ Boy.
_Sharp_. Good morrow, Sir _Timothy_; what, not yet ready, and to meet
Mr. _Bellmour_ at Five? the time’s past.
Sir _Tim_.--Ay, Pox on’t--I han’t slept to Night for thinking on’t.
_Sham_. Well, Sir _Timothy_, I have most excellent News for you, that
will do as well; I have found out--
Sir _Tim_. A new Wench, I warrant--But prithee, _Sham_, I have other
matters in hand; ‘Sheart, I am so mortify’d with this same thought of
Fighting, that I shall hardly think of Womankind again.
_Sharp_. And you were so forward, Sir Timothy--
Sir _Tim_. Ay, _Sharp_, I am always so when I am angry; had I been but
A little more provok’d then, that we might have gone to’t when the heat
was brisk, I had done well--but a Pox on’t, this fighting in cool
Blood I hate.
_Sham_. ‘Shaw, Sir, ‘tis nothing, a Man wou’d do’t for Exercise in a
Morning.
Sir _Tim_. Ay, if there were no more in’t than Exercise; if a Man cou’d
take a Breathing without breathing a Vein--but, _Sham_, this Wounds, and
Blood, sounds terribly in my Ears; but since thou say’st ‘tis nothing,
prithee do thou meet _Bellmour_ in my stead; thou art a poor Dog, and
’.is no matter if the World were well rid of thee.
_Sham_. I wou’d do’t with all my Soul--but your Honour, Sir--
Sir _Tim_.--My Honour! ‘tis but Custom that makes it honourable to fight
Duels--I warrant you the wise _Italian_ thinks himself a Man of Honour;
and yet when did you hear of an _Italian_, that ever fought a Duel? Is’t
not enough, that I am affronted, have my Mistress taken away before my
Face, hear my self call’d, dull, common Man, dull Animal, and the
rest?--But I must after all give him leave to kill me too, if he
can--And this is your damn’d Honourable _English_ way of shewing a
Man’s Courage.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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