_Mrs. Joyn._ I will to-morrow early; it shall be the first thing I'll do after my prayers. _Gripe._ If Dapperwit should contaminate her!--I cannot rest till I have redeemed her from the jaws of that lion.--Good night. _Mrs. Joyn._ Good gentleman. [_Exeunt_ GRIPE _and_ Mrs. MARTHA. _Sir Sim._ Ha! ha! ha! Mrs. Joyner. _Mrs. Joyn._ What's the matter, Sir Simon? _Sir Sim._ Ha! ha! ha!--let us make haste to your house, or I shall burst, faith and troth, to see what fools you and I make of these people. _Mrs. Joyn._ I will not rob you of any of the credit; I am but a feeble instrument, you are an engineer. _Sir Sim._ Remember what you say now when things succeed, and do not tell me then,--I must thank your wit for all. _Mrs. Joyn._ No, in truly, Sir Simon. _Sir Sim._ Nay, I am sure Dapperwit and I have been partners in many an intrigue, and he uses to serve me so. _Mrs. Joyn._ He is an ill man to intrigue with, as you call it. _Sir Sim._ Ay, so are all your wits; a pox! if a man's understanding be not so public as theirs, he cannot do a wise action but they go away with the honour of it, if he be of their acquaintance. _Mrs. Joyn._ Why do you keep such acquaintance then? _Sir Sim._ There is a proverb, Mrs. Joyner, "You may know him by his company." _Mrs. Joyn._ No, no, to be thought a man of parts, you must always keep company with a man of less wit than yourself. _Sir Sim._ That's the hardest thing in the world for me to do, faith and troth. _Mrs. Joyn._ What, to find a man of less wit than yourself? Pardon my raillery, Sir Simon. _Sir Sim._ No, no, I cannot keep company with a fool:--I wonder how men of parts can do't, there's something in't. _Mrs. Joyn._ If you could, all your wise actions would be your own, and your money would be your own too. _Sir Sim._ Nay, faith and troth, that's true; for your wits are plaguily given to borrow. They'll borrow of their wench, coachman, or linkboy, their hire, Mrs. Joyner; Dapperwit has that trick with a vengeance. _Mrs. Joyn._ Why will you keep company with him then, I say? for, to be plain with you, you have followed him so long, that you are thought but his cully;[27] for every wit has his cully, as every squire his led captain. _Sir Sim._ I his cully, I his cully, Mrs. Joyner! Lord, that I should be thought a cully to any wit breathing! _Mrs. Joyn._ Nay, do not take it so to heart, for the best wits of the town are but cullies themselves. _Sir Sim._ To whom, to whom, to whom, Mrs. Joyner? _Mrs. Joyn._ To sempstresses and bawds. _Sir Sim._ To your knowledge, Mrs. Joyner.--[_Aside._] There I was with her. _Mrs. Joyn._ To tailors and vintners, but especially to the French houses. _Sir Sim._ But Dapperwit is a cully to none of them; for he ticks. _Mrs. Joyn._ I care not, but I wish you were a cully to none but me; that's all the hurt I wish you.