OCR Text |
Show i ? 8 The Provoked Wife. Heartf. T o Nature. . LadyF**. W h y , what has Nature done for m e > Heartf. What you have undone by Art;. It made y0u handfome ; it gave you Beauty to a miracle, a Shape without a Fault, Wit enough to make them relilh and fo turn'd you loofe to your o w n Difcretion ; which ha* made fuch work with you, that you are become the Pity of our Sex, and the Jeftof your own. There is not a Feature in your Face, but you have found the way to teach it fome affected Convulfion; your Feet, your Hands, your very Fingers Ends are directed never to move without fome ridiculous Air or other-, and your Language is a futable Trumpet, to draw Peoples Eyes upon the Raree-fhow. Madam, [afide.'] Eft ce qu'on fais l'amour en Angle-terre com m e c,a, Lady Fan. [afide.] N o w cou'd I cry for Madnefs3but that I k n o w he'd laugh at m e for it. Heartf. N o w do you hate m e for telling you the Truth, but that's becaufe you don't believe it is fo ; for were you once convinc'd of mat, you'd reform for your own fake. But 'tis as hard to perfume a Woman to quit any thing that makes her ridiculous, as 'tis to prevail with a Poet to fee a Fault in his o w n Play. Lady Fan. Every Circumftance of nice Breeding muft needs appear ridiculous to one w h o has fo natural an Antipathy to Good-Manners. Heartf. But fuppofe I could find the means to convince you, that the whole World is of m y Opinion, and that thofe w h o flatter and commend you, do it to noo-ther intent, but to make you perfevere in your Folly, that they may continue in their Mirth. Lady Fan. Sir, tho you and all that World you talk of, fhou'd be fo impertinently officious, as to think to perfuade m e I don't know how to behave m y felf \ 1 fn°ud ft ill have Charity enough for m y own Underftanding,to believemy felf in the right, and all you in the wrong. Madam. Le voila more. [Exeunt Lady FanaW and Madamoifelle. mi The Provoked Wife. i? 9 « L ^jfT^T S^? TS*" her finSk Clapper has pubjifh^ the Senfe of the whole Sex. " Well, this once I have endeavour'd to warn the Blackamoor white; but henceforward I'll fooner undertake to teach Sincerity to a Courtier, Generofity to an Ufurer Honefty to a Lawyer, nay, Humility to a Divine, than Difcretion to a W o m a n 1 fee has once fet her Heart upon playing the Fool. Enter Conftant. Morrow, Conftant. Conft. Good-morrow, Jack: what are you doing here this Morning ? Heartf. Doing ! guefs if thou canft. Why 1 have been endeavouring to perfuade m y Lady Tancyful, that fhe'sthe foolifheft W o m a n about T o w n. Conft. A pretty Endeavour truly. Heartf. 1 have told her in as plain Englifh as I could fpeak, both what the T o w n fays of her, and what I think of her. In fhort, I have us'd her as an abfolute King would do Magna Charta. Conft. And how does fhe take it ? Heartf. As Children do Pills j bite them, but can't fwallow them. Conft, But, prithee, what has put it into your Head, of all Mankind, to turn Reformer ? Heartf, W h y , one thing was, the Morning hung upon my Hands, I did not k n o w what to do with m y felf; and another was, that as little as I care for W o m e n , I cou'd not fee with patience one that Heaven had taken fuch wondrous pains about, be fo very induftrious to make her felf the Jack-Pudding of the Creation. Conft. Well, now could 1 almoft wifh to fee my cruel Miftrefs make the felf-fame ufe of what Heaven has done for her, that fo I might be cur'd of a Difeafe that makes m e fo very uneafy ; for Love, Love is the Devil, Heartfree. Heartf. And why do you let the Devil govern you ? ' Conft, Becaufe I have more Flefh and Blood than Grace and Self-denial. My dear, dear Miftrefs, 'dfdeath ! that fo genteel a W o m a n fhould be a Saint, when Religion's out of falhion \ Heartf, |