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Show The Way to win him. 13 Enter Oriana.. Well, M a d a m , w h y d'ye follow me? Ori. Well, Sir, w hy do you fhun me? Aiir. 'Tis m y humour, Madam, and I a m naturally fway d by Inclination. Ori. Have you forgot our Contract, Sir ? Mir. All I remember of that Contract is, that it was made fome three Years ago, and that's enough in Confcience to forget the reft on't. Ori. 'Tis fufhcient, Sir, to recollect the paffing of it, for in that Circumftance, I prefume, lies the Force of the Obligation. Mir. Obligations, M a d a m , that are forc'd upon the Will . are no tye upon the Confcience ; I was a Slave to m y Pat-fion when L pafs'd the Inftrument, but the Recovery of my Freedom makes the Contract void. Ori. Sir, you can't make that a Compulfion which was your o w n Choice ; befides, Sir, a Subjection to your own Defires has not the Vertue of a forcible Conftraint: And you will find, Sir, that to plead your Paffion for the killing of a M a n will hardly exempt you from the Juftice of the Punifhment. ' Mir. And fo, Madam, you make the Sin of Murder and the Crime of a Contract the very fame, becaufe that Hanging and Matrimony are fo much alike. Ori. Come, Mr. Mirabel, thefe Exprcffions I expected from the Raillery of your humour, but 1 hope for very different Sentiments from your Honour and Generofity. Mir. Look'e, Madam, as for m y Generofity, 'tis at your Service, with all m y heart: I'll keep you a Coach and fix Horfes, if you pleafe, only permit me to keep m y Honour to m y felf; for I can afTure you, Madam, that the thing cali'd Honour is a Circumftance abfolutely unneceflary in a natural Correfpondence between Male and Female, and he's a Mad-man that lays it out, confidering its Scarcity, upon any fuch trivial Occafions. There's Honour requir'd of us by our Friends, and Honour due to our Enemies, and they return it to us again ; but I never heard of a M a n that left but an Inch of his Honour in a Woman's keeping, that cou'd ever get the leaft account on't Confider, M a d a m , you have no fuch thing among ye, and 'tis a main point of Policy to keep no Faith with Reprobates thou art a pretty little Reprobate, and fo get thee about thy Bufinefs. R3 Qri- |
