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Show IO The Recruiting Officer. Sd. Ay, Melinda, he is come, and I'll take care he fha'nt go without a Companion. Mel. You are certainly mad, Coufin. Sil. A n d there's a Pleafure in being mad, which none but Mad-men know. Mel. Thou, poor Romantick Quixote I -Haft thou the Vanity to imagine, that a young fprightly Officer, that rambles o'er half the Globe in half a Year, can confine his Thoughts to the little Daughter of a Country-Juftice, in an obfcure part of the World. Sil. Pfha ! what care I for his Thoughts ; I fhou'd not like a M a n withconfin'd Thoughts, it lhews a narrownefs of Soul. Conftancy is but a dull fleepy Quality at beft, they will hardly admit it among the manly Virtues; nor do I think it defences a place with Bravery, Knowledge, Policy, Juftice, and fome other Qualities that are proper to that noble Sex. In fhort, Melinda, 1 think a Petticoat a mighty fnnple thing, and I a m heartily tir'd of m y Sex. Mel. That is, you are tir'd of an Appendix to our Sex, that you can't fo handfomely get rid of in Petticoats, as if you were in Breeches O' m y Confcience, Silvia, had'ft thou been a Man, thou hadft been the greateft Rake in Chriftendom. Sil. I fhou'd have endeavour'd to know the World, which a M a n can never do throughly, without half a hundred Friend-fhips, and as many Amours; but n q w 1 think on't, how ftands y^ur Affair with Mr. Worthy * Mel. He's m y Averfion. Sil. Vapours ! Mel. What do you fay, M a d a m ? Sil. I fay, that you fhou'd not ufe that honeft Fellow fo inhumanly. He's a Gentleman of Parts and Fortune ; and befides that, he's m y Plume's Friend, and by all that's facred, if you don't ufe him better, I fhall expect Satisfaction. Mel. Satisfaction! you begin to fancy your felf in Breeches in good earneft But to be plain with you, I like Worthy the worfe for being fo intimate with your Captain, for I take him to be a loofe, idle, unmannerly Coxcomb. Sil. O , Madam!- you never faw him, perhaps, fince you ivere Miftrefs of Twenty thoufand Pounds ; you only knew him when you were capitulating with Worthy for a Settlement, which perhaps might encourage him to be a little loofe, and unmannerly with you. Mel. What do you mean, M a d a m ? Sil. M y Meaning needs no Interpretation, Madam. Mel. |