_A Gallery in the Boarding House; in the flat are two practicable
doors. LYNX heard within._
LYNX. (_Within._)--Villain! Villain! what do you here?--(_a noise as
of a struggle; a scream heard_)--I am unarmed, or you should not leave
this place alive; come, Emmeline, come with me.
_Enter LYNX dragging out his wife, she is pale and agitated._
MRS. LY. Ah Lionel--is it, is it you? Oh bless you, bless
you.--(_taking his hands--he places her in a chair_)--I have brought
this upon myself.
LYNX. But you are safe; and who has saved you?
MRS. LY. (_Falling on his neck._)--My husband!
LYNX. Stay you here, I _will_ follow him and have revenge.
MRS. LY. (_Clinging to him._)--Nay, nay, I implore you stay near
me--about me--leave me not again.
LYNX. But I have now a clue to him, which I will not forsake till his
heart's blood atones for my injuries.
MRS. LY. Do you know him, that you speak thus?
LYNX. I do, indeed.
MRS. LY. Who--and what is he?
LYNX. Who? listen, Emmeline; the deceiver of my sister, and the father
of that girl, through whom we separated and thus meet again.
MRS. LY. The father!
LYNX. I dared not confess as much before. I was bound, sworn to
secrecy by my sister; but her death now makes me free to tell you all.
MRS. LY. Forgive me--I--I am satisfied.
LYNX. You shall first know that you have good cause to be so; that
villain in early life wronged my sister; she afterwards married; had
her previous intimacy with this man been known, ruin, in the noble
sphere in which she moved, must have awaited her; I kept her secret
religiously, and as you know, at the expence of my own peace; I was as
a father to the girl; and though she left the asylum in which I placed
her, yet 'twas for an honourable and a happy marriage.
MRS. LY. No more, no more, dear Lionel; I have been a weak, and
foolish woman, but never will I doubt you again.
LYNX. And never more, dear Emmeline will I give you cause; on the
conduct of the husband chiefly rests the virtue of the wife, and I
here renounce all my follies for ever. But for that villain----
MRS. LY. Nay, nay, be satisfied, be at peace; and let mutual
confidence henceforth secure to us that happiness to which we have so
long been strangers.
LYNX. It shall, Emmeline, it shall.--(_They embrace._)
_Enter MR. and MRS. YOUNGHUSBAND and MR. and MRS. DISMAL, arm in arm,
and laughing; MRS. DOVE following._
MRS. Y. What! Mr. and Mrs. Lynx, and embracing too: then you have
explained and made it up, as we have done. Well, this is delightful!
Mr. and Mrs. Dismal are friends; I saw him watching his house; I
rushed out--dragged him in.--Y., who was with him, followed; we pouted
a little--coquetted a little--cried a little--and then rushed into one
another's arms; didn't we, Frederick?
YOUNG. No, I----
MRS. Y. Hush! remember, dear; you have promised never to contradict me
again.
MRS. DIS. And my George has vowed to be as kind, and as attentive in
future, as----
DIS. As I can.
MRS. Y. There is poor Mrs. Dove in an agony about her Henry. She left
Mrs. Coddle--came to us--was told that her husband was in this
house--and he is still no where to be found.
LYNX. We heard both him and Mr. Coddle here not long since.
(_DOVE, without._)
DOVE. Martha!
MRS. DOVE. Ah! I hear his welcome voice.
_Enter DOVE, his clothes torn to ribbands._
DOVE. Martha! are you here? Oh, look at me!
MRS. DOVE. Henry! look at me, and forgive me.
DOVE. Forgive you, Martha! yes, that I will, after what I've suffered
since our abduction. This is all Mr. Coddle's doings; I was his
witness, and he wouldn't let me leave him, till I had seen aunt Hobbs
and Mrs. Coddle, in his presence. We have seen 'em; aunt Hobbs is gone
off again; and Mr. and Mrs. Coddle are coming here with all their
differences _re-united_.
MRS. DOVE. Your aunt Hobbs!
DOVE. Don't ask questions now, dear; when we are alone I'll
_liquidate_ every thing.
MRS. DOVE. Elucidate!
DOVE. Now, you are going to begin again, love!
MRS. DOVE. No, Henry, I forgot myself; I never shall correct you more,
dear.
_Enter CODDLE, capering, dressed in a suit of Nankeen; MRS. CODDLE on
his arm._
COD. Here we are! here we are! Belvidera has retreated in confusion;
and the conquering hero, with his only lawful wife, stands before you
in all the conscious pride of innocence, and a complete suit of
Nankeen.
ALL. Nankeen!
COD. Yes; no lining--no, Mrs. Coddle has heard all--and has forgiven
all; she is now convinced how I was duped by my first wife; has had
proof of her leaving me--of her plundering me--of her coming here
merely to make a property of me, of the illegality of the marriage;
and here we are united and happy again; and there stands my friend and
preserver, of whom I shall ever think with gratitude.--(_Pointing to
DOVE._)
DOVE. Then allow me to observe, while you were pillaging your
wardrobe, your gratitude might have jogged your memory a little,
respecting the condition of your preserver's clothes; this is quite
the result of your own exuberance.
MRS. DOVE. My dear Henry----
COD. Hush, Mrs. Dove; allow your husband to select his own words at
pleasure--yield a little to each other, 'tis the best and only way to
secure domestic peace. I shall yield everything. Look at me; I that
three days ago was all flannel and under-waistcoats, now intend to
defy air, draughts, open-windows, corner-houses, everything; and I and
Mrs. Coddle are going in search of the North Pole. Lynx, my boy, have
you cleared up your mystery and satisfied your wife? that's right, now
let us forgive and forget; forget all but those qualities that first
induced us to marry. Mrs. Sam, what did you have me for?
MRS. COD. Because I could discover, through all your eccentricities, a
natural goodness of heart.
COD. Then whenever you are inclined to be angry with me, always think
of that, and I in return will ever remember the affection that first
led me to seek you. Lynx, what did _you_ marry for?
LYNX. I freely confess it was for love.
COD. And you, Mrs. Lynx, married him from the same impulse?
MRS. LY. Yes, Sir.
COD. And you, Mr. and Mrs. Younghusband, married----
YOUNG. For the same reason, as our friends Mr. and Mrs. Lynx married.
MRS. Y. For the same reason precisely.
COD. And you, Mr. Dismal?
DIS. Because I was tired of living alone.
COD. And Mrs. D. was weary of the same life, no doubt?
MRS. DIS. I confess my weakness.
COD. And you, Mr. and Mrs. Dove, married--because----
MRS. DOVE. Being a widow, and accustomed to a sharer in my joys and
sorrows----
DOVE. You took me into partnership, at my master's dissolution.
COD. Well, then, whenever a disagreement breaks out among you in
future, recall the memory of those inducements which first led you to
think of each other, and you will find it to be a wonderful help to
the restoration of peace. Do you all agree to this?
ALL. Yes, yes.
COD. Then follow my example, and ratify the agreement by a hearty
conjugal embrace; _I_ will give the word of command. Make ready!--(_As
CODDLE puts his arm round his wife's waist, each of the husbands do
the same to their wives._)--Present!--(_CODDLE takes his wife's chin
between his fingers and thumb, and prepares to kiss her, all the
husbands do the same._)--Fire!--(_They all kiss and embrace at the
same moment._)
COD. There, this is the way that all matrimonial quarrels should
end--and if _you_ are of the same opinion--(_to the audience_)--then,
indeed, will our conjugal joy be complete, and our light lesson not
have been read in vain. You have seen the result of perpetual
jealousy, in the case of Mr. and Mrs. Lynx; of continual disputes and
contradiction in that of Mr. and Mrs. Younghusband; of a want of
cheerfulness and attention in Mr. and Mrs. Dismal; of the impolicy of
public correction in the instance of Mrs. Dove; and the necessity of
assimilating habits and tempers in the singular case of Mr. and Mrs.
Coddle; and though these may not be one half the causes of quarrel
between man and wife--yet, even their exposure may serve as beacon
lights, to avoid the rocks of altercation when sailing on the sea of
matrimony. So think of us, all ye anticipating and smiling single
people; for you _must_, or _ought_, all to be married, and the sooner
the better--and remember us ye already paired; and let our example
prove to you that to mutual forbearance, mutual confidence, mutual
habits, mutual everything, must we owe mutual happiness. And where can
the _best_ of happiness be found, but in a loyal and affectionate
Married Life?
_Disposition of the Characters at the fall of the Curtain._
Mr.L. Mrs.L.--Mr.Y. Mrs.Y--Mr.C. Mrs.C.--Mr.D. Mrs.D.--Mrs.Dove, Mr.Dove.
THE END.
G. Cowie, Printer, 13, Newcastle Street, Strand.
Transcriber's Note
Two sets of images of the same edition were used in this
transcription. The first, digitized by the Internet Archive from a
copy made available by the Robarts Library at the University of
Toronto, is posted at:
archive.org/details/populardramasasp00buckuoft
The text of _Married Life_ begins at p. 386. The second, digitized by
Google from a copy made available by the British Library, is posted
at:
books.google.com/books?id=JdhZAAAAcAAJ
In general, the grammar and spelling in the source text have not been
changed, and no attempt has been made to make the spelling consistent.
For example, the contraction for "will not" is spelled both "wont" and
"won't", and "secrecy" is also spelled "secresy". Emendations were
made to correct for minor printing problems.
The following changes were made to the text:
- For consistency, the formatting of names in stage directions has
been standardized throughout the text: small caps in the html version
and all caps in the text version. The abbreviations "Mr." and "Mrs."
have been transcribed consistently with a period.
- p. 11: LYNX. (_Looking off, L. H _)--They're your friends, Mr. and
Mrs. Coddle--Inserted a period after "L. H".
- p. 17: MRS. LY. (_Looking off, L. H,_)--Who is this?--Changed the
comma after "H" to a period.
- p. 18: YOUNG Allow me to tell Mrs. Lynx--Inserted a period after
"YOUNG".
- p. 23: _They approach the L H. door_--Inserted a period after "L".
- p. 24: (_she sinks into a chair _)--Inserted a period after
"_chair_".
- p. 25: YOUNG. You shall uot--(_without._)--Changed "uot" to "not".
- p. 43: "The monster to whom you are married. . ."--No attempt was
made to reproduce the convention in the source text of single
quotation marks printed down the left margin indicating that the text
is part of a continuous quote.
- p. 44: Ah, this door--(_pointing R. H _)--leads to the
canal--Inserted a period after "R. H".
- p. 52: LYNX. I am not in search of her--Changed "not" to "now". In
his next line, Lynx states he is seeking his wife to explain his
relationship with his niece, and thus "now" makes more sense. This
change was also made in the American edition published by Harold
Roorbach in 1889, a digitized copy of which is posted at:
archive.org/details/marriedlife00buck
- p. 56: Tol de rol lol.--(_Dancing._) You hear,--Inserted an em-dash
after "(_Dancing._)" for consistency.
- p. 56: receive your huband and his friend.--Changed "huband" to
"husband".
- p. 57: the more I reflect, the more I am imcensed against my
husband.--Changed "imcensed" to "incensed".