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Show r ! 2 $^^The Provok'd Wife. up but to a fourth part of my Ill-Nature, I'd ftand buff to her Relations, and thruft her out of doors. But Marriage has funk m e down to fuch an Ebb of Refolution, I dare not draw my Sword, tho even to get rid of m y Wife. But here (he comes. Enter Lady Brute. L. B. D o you ditiQ at home to-day, Sir John * Sir J. Why, do you expecT: I fhould tell you, \yili: I don't know my felf? L. B. I thought there was no harm in asking you. Sir J, If thinking wrong were an excufe for lmper-tinence, W o m e n might be juftify'd in moft things they fay or do. L. B. I'm forry I've faid any thing to difpleafe you. Sir J. Sorrow for things paft, is of as little n'mpor-tance to me, as m y dining at home or abroad ought to be to you. L. B. M y enquiry wras only that I might have pro- . vided what you hVd. Sir J. Six to four you had been in the wrong there again •, for what 1 lik'd yefterday I don't like to-day, and what I like to-day, 'tis odds I mayn't like to-mor-row. L. B. But if I had ask'd you what you lik'd ? Sir /. W h y then there would be more asking about it, than the thing is worth. L. B. I wilh I did but know how I might pleafe you. Sir J. Ay, but that fort of Knowledge is not a Wife's Talent. L. B. Whate'er m y Talent is, I'm fure my Will has ever been to make you eafy. Sir J. If W o m e n were to have their Wills, the World wou'd be finely govern'd. L. B. What reafon have I given you to ufe me as you do of late ? It once was otherwise : You married me for Love. Sir J. And you m e for Money : So you have your Reward, and I have mine. + L The ProvoPd Wife. 12 c t. ^ W h a H s i , that difturbs you? ' Sir J. A Parfon. ; L. B. Why, what has he done to you > Sir J, H e has married me. rW*;# c; T I The Devil s in the Fellow, I think I wastoli efore I married him, that thus 'twou'd be : But I thought I had Charms .enough to govern him; and that where there was an Eftate, a W o m a n muft needs be happy, fo m y Vanity has deceiv'd me, and m V Ambition has made me uneafy. But fome Comfort (till • if one would be reveng'd of him, thefe are good times ; a V/oman may have a Gallant, and a fcparate Mainte-nance too .The furly Puppy L_ yet hf>, a Fool for't; for hitherto he has been no Monfter: But Who knows how far he may provoke me 9 I never lov ci him, yet 1 have been ever true to him ; and that. in fpite of all the Attacks of!Art and Nature upon a poor weak Woman's Heart, in favour of a tempting Lover. ]' *» Methinks fo noble a Defence as I have made, fhou'd be rewarded with a better Ufage Or who can \r7~ , ps a S o o d Part of what l foffer from my Husband may be a Judgment upon me for my we^M0Tmyd ,L°Vf Lorci> with wh" Plea-lure coud I indulge that Thought, were there but a poffi- Miry of finding Arguments to make it good' And how do I know but there may Let m e fee What oppofes?. . M y Matrimonial V o w , tlrYv tl dl,d l V°W ? l think 1 PromiVd " ^ true to my Husband. Veil ; and he promis'd to be kind to me. cut he han't kept his Word , W7! tHen 1>m abfolv'd from mfne Ay, that K n a a ? , t 0 . m e \ T h e Argument's good between the the W f P ^ P f P l e ? W ^ n0t between the H u s b a"d and ewiter1 O, but that Condition was not expreft . ^o matter, 'twas underftood. * With mv rVl1^' if 1 ar§lie the matter a little longer w,th *y felf, I fhan't find fo many Bug-bears in the G 3 way, |
