_Cel_. ‘Tis not so lucky--but who art thou
That dost with so much pity ask?
_Dia_. He seems a Gentleman--handsome and young-- [_Aside_.
Pray ask no Questions, Sir; but if you are what you seem,
Give a Protection to an unhappy Maid.
--Do not reply, but let us haste away.
_Cel_. Hah--What do I hear! sure, ‘tis _Diana_.
--Madam, with haste, and joy, I’ll serve you.
--I’ll carry her to my own Lodgings.
Fortune, in this, has done my Sufferings right,
My Rival’s in my Power, upon her Wedding-Night. [_Aside_.
[_Exeunt_.
_Enter_ Bellmour, _Sir_ Tim. Sham, _and_ Sharp.
Sir _Tim_. Lord, Lord, that you should not know your Friend and humble
Servant, _Tim. Tawdrey_--But thou look’st as if thou hadst not been
a-bed yet.
_Bel_. No more I have.
Sir _Tim_. Nay, then thou losest precious time, I’ll not detain thee.
[_Offers to go_.
_Bel_. Thou art mistaken, I hate all Woman-kind--
Sir _Tim_. How, how!
_Bel_, Above an Hour--hark ye, Knight--I am as leud, and as debaucht
as thou art.
Sir _Tim_. What do you mean, _Frank_?
_Bel_. To tell a Truth, which yet I never did.
--I whore, drink, game, swear, lye, cheat, rob, pimp, hector, all,
all I do that’s vitious.
Sir _Tim_. Bless me!
_Bel_. From such a Villian, hah!
Sir _Tim_. No, but that thou should’st hide it all this while.
_Bel_. Till I was married only, and now I can dissemble it no longer--
come--let’s to a Baudy-House.
Sir _Tim_. A Baudy-house! What, already!
This is the very quintessence of Leudness.
--Why, I thought that I was wicked, but, by Fortune,
This dashes mine quite out of Countenance.
_Bel_. Oh, thou’rt a puny Sinner!--I’ll teach thee Arts (so rare) of Sin,
the least of them shall damn thee.
Sir _Tim_. By Fortune, _Frank_, I do not like these Arts.
_Bel_. Then thou’rt a Fool--I’ll teach thee to be rich too.
Sir _Tim_. Ay, that I like.
_Bel_. Look here, my Boys!
[_Hold up his Writings, which he takes out of his Pockets_.
The Writings of 3000 pounds a Year:
--All this I got by Perjury.
Sir _Tim_. By Fortune, a thriving Sin.
_Bel_. And we will live in Sin while this holds out.
_And then to my cold Home--Come let’s be gone:
Oh, that I ne’er might see the rising Sun_.
[_Exeunt_.
ACT IV.
SCENE I. Celinda’s _Chamber_.
_Discovers_ Celinda _as before sitting in a Chair_,
Diana _by her in another, who sings_.
SONG.
I.
Celinda, _who did Love disdain,
For whom had languished many a Swain,
Leading her bleating Flocks to drink,
She spy’d upon the River’s brink
A Youth, whose Eyes did well declare
How much he lov’d, but lov’d not her_.
II.
_At first she laugh’d, but gaz’d the while,
And soon it lessen’d to a Smile;
Thence to surprize and wonder came,
Her Breast to heave, her Heart to flame;
Then cry’d she out, Ah, now I prove
Thou art a God, Almighty Love_.
III.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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