SCENE. I. _CHARLOTTE'S Apartment._
_CHARLOTTE leading in MARIA._
CHARLOTTE. This is so kind, my sweet friend, to come to see me at this
moment. I declare, if I were going to be married in a few days, as you
are, I should scarce have found time to visit my friends.
MARIA. Do you think, then, that there is an impropriety in it?--How
should you dispose of your time?
CHARLOTTE. Why, I should be shut up in my chamber; and my head would so
run upon--upon--upon the solemn ceremony that I was to pass through!--I
declare, it would take me above two hours merely to learn that little
monosyllable--_Yes._--Ah! my dear, your sentimental imagination does not
conceive what that little tiny word implies.
MARIA. Spare me your raillery, my sweet friend; I should love your
agreeable vivacity at any other time.
CHARLOTTE. Why, this is the very time to amuse you. You grieve me to see
you look so unhappy.
MARIA. Have I not reason to look so?
CHARLOTTE. [What new grief distresses you?
MARIA. Oh! how sweet it is, when the heart is borne down with
misfortune, to recline and repose on the bosom of friendship! Heaven
knows that, although it is improper for a young lady to praise a
gentleman, yet I have ever concealed Mr. Dimple's foibles, and spoke of
him as of one whose reputation I expected would be linked with mine: but
his late conduct towards me has turned my coolness into contempt. He
behaves as if he meant to insult and disgust me; whilst my father, in
the last conversation on the subject of our marriage, spoke of it as a
matter which laid near his heart, and in which he would not bear
contradiction.
CHARLOTTE. This works well: oh! the generous Dimple. I'll endeavour to
excite her to discharge him. [_Aside._] But, my dear friend, your
happiness depends on yourself. Why don't you discard him? Though the
match has been of long standing, I would not be forced to make myself
miserable: no parent in the world should oblige me to marry the man I
did not like.
MARIA. Oh! my dear, you never lived with your parents, and do not know
what influence a father's frowns have upon a daughter's heart. Besides,
what have I to allege against Mr. Dimple, to justify myself to the
world? He carries himself so smoothly, that every one would impute the
blame to me, and call me capricious.
CHARLOTTE. And call her capricious! Did ever such an objection start
into the heart of woman? for my part, I wish I had fifty lovers to
discard, for no other reason than because I did not fancy them.] My dear
Maria, you will forgive me; I know your candour and confidence in me;
but I have at times, I confess, been led to suppose that some other
gentleman was the cause of your aversion to Mr. Dimple.
MARIA. No, my sweet friend, you may be assured, that though I have seen
many gentlemen I could prefer to Mr. Dimple, yet I never saw one that I
thought I could give my hand to, until this morning.
CHARLOTTE. This morning!
MARIA. Yes; one of the strangest accidents in the world. The odious
Dimple, after disgusting me with his conversation, had just left me,
when a gentleman, who, it seems, boards in the same house with him, saw
him coming out of our door, and, the houses looking very much alike, he
came into our house instead of his lodgings; nor did he discover his
mistake until he got into the parlour, where I was: he then bowed so
gracefully, made such a genteel apology, and looked so manly and
noble!--
CHARLOTTE. I see some folks, though it is so great an impropriety, can
praise a gentleman, when he happens to be the man of their fancy.
[_Aside._]
MARIA. I don't know how it was,--I hope he did not think me
indelicate,--but I asked him, I believe, to sit down, or pointed to a
chair. He sat down, and, instead of having recourse to observations upon
the weather, or hackneyed criticisms upon the theatre, he entered
readily into a conversation worthy a man of sense to speak, and a lady
of delicacy and sentiment to hear. He was not strictly handsome, but he
spoke the language of sentiment, and his eyes looked tenderness and
honour.
CHARLOTTE. Oh! [_Eagerly._] you sentimental, grave girls, when your
hearts are once touched, beat us rattles a bar's length. And so you are
quite in love with this he-angel?
MARIA. In love with him! How can you rattle so, Charlotte? Am I not
going to be miserable? [_Sighs._] In love with a gentleman I never saw
but one hour in my life, and don't know his name! No; I only wished
that the man I shall marry may look, and talk, and act, just like him.
Besides, my dear, he is a married man.
CHARLOTTE. Why, that was good-natured.--He told you so, I suppose, in
mere charity, to prevent you falling in love with him?
MARIA. He didn't tell me so; [_Peevishly._] he looked as if he was
married.
CHARLOTTE. How, my dear; did he look sheepish?
MARIA. I am sure he has a susceptible heart, and the ladies of his
acquaintance must be very stupid not to--
CHARLOTTE. Hush! I hear some person coming.
[_Enter LETITIA._
LETITIA. My dear Maria, I am happy to see you. Lud! what a pity it is
that you have purchased your wedding clothes.
MARIA. I think so. [_Sighing._]
LETITIA. Why, my dear, there is the sweetest parcel of silks come over
you ever saw! Nancy Brilliant has a full suit come; she sent over her
measure, and it fits her to a hair; it is immensely dressy, and made for
a court-hoop. I thought they said the large hoops were going out of
fashion.
CHARLOTTE. Did you see the hat? Is it a fact that the deep laces round
the border is still the fashion?]
DIMPLE [_within_]. Upon my honour, sir.
MARIA. Ha! Dimple's voice! My dear, I must take leave of you. There are
some things necessary to be done at our house. Can't I go through the
other room?
_Enter DIMPLE and MANLY._
DIMPLE. Ladies, your most obedient.
CHARLOTTE. Miss Van Rough, shall I present my brother Henry to you?
Colonel Manly, Maria--Miss Van Rough, brother.
MARIA. Her brother! [_Turns and sees MANLY._] Oh! my heart! the very
gentleman I have been praising.
MANLY. The same amiable girl I saw this morning!
CHARLOTTE. Why, you look as if you were acquainted.
MANLY. I unintentionally intruded into this lady's presence this
morning, for which she was so good as to promise me her forgiveness.
CHARLOTTE. Oh! ho! is that the case! Have these two pensorosos been
together? Were they Henry's eyes that looked so tenderly? [_Aside._] And
so you promised to pardon him? and could you be so good-natured?--have
you really forgiven him? I beg you would do it for my sake [_Whispering
loud to MARIA._]. But, my dear, as you are in such haste, it would be
cruel to detain you; I can show you the way through the other room.
MARIA. Spare me, my sprightly friend.
MANLY. The lady does not, I hope, intend to deprive us of the pleasure
of her company so soon.
CHARLOTTE. She has only a mantua-maker who waits for her at home. But,
as I am to give my opinion of the dress, I think she cannot go yet. We
were talking of the fashions when you came in, but I suppose the subject
must be changed to something of more importance now.--Mr. Dimple, will
you favour us with an account of the public entertainments?
DIMPLE. Why, really, Miss Manly, you could not have asked me a question
more _mal-apropos_. For my part, I must confess that, to a man who has
traveled, there is nothing that is worthy the name of amusement to be
found in this city.
CHARLOTTE. Except visiting the ladies.
DIMPLE. Pardon me, madam; that is the avocation of a man of taste. But
for amusement, I positively know of nothing that can be called so,
unless you dignify with that title the hopping once a fortnight to the
sound of two or three squeaking fiddles, and the clattering of the old
tavern windows, or sitting to see the miserable mummers, whom you call
actors, murder comedy and make a farce of tragedy.
MANLY. Do you never attend the theatre, sir?
DIMPLE. I was tortured there once.
CHARLOTTE. Pray, Mr. Dimple, was it a tragedy or a comedy?
DIMPLE. Faith, madam, I cannot tell; for I sat with my back to the stage
all the time, admiring a much better actress than any there--a lady who
played the fine woman to perfection; though, by the laugh of the horrid
creatures round me, I suppose it was comedy. Yet, on second thoughts, it
might be some hero in a tragedy, dying so comically as to set the whole
house in an uproar.--Colonel, I presume you have been in Europe?
MANLY. Indeed, sir, I was never ten leagues from the continent.
DIMPLE. Believe me, Colonel, you have an immense pleasure to come; and
when you shall have seen the brilliant exhibitions of Europe, you will
learn to despise the amusements of this country as much as I do.
MANLY. Therefore I do not wish to see them; for I can never esteem that
knowledge valuable which tends to give me a distaste for my native
country.
DIMPLE. Well, Colonel, though you have not travelled, you have read.
MANLY. I have, a little, and by it have discovered that there is a
laudable partiality which ignorant, untravelled men entertain for
everything that belongs to their native country. I call it laudable; it
injures no one; adds to their own happiness; and, when extended, becomes
the noble principle of patriotism. Travelled gentlemen rise superior, in
their own opinion, to this: but if the contempt which they contract for
their country is the most valuable acquisition of their travels, I am
far from thinking that their time and money are well spent.
MARIA. What noble sentiments!
CHARLOTTE. Let my brother set out from where he will in the fields of
conversation, he is sure to end his tour in the temple of gravity.
MANLY. Forgive me, my sister. I love my country; it has its foibles
undoubtedly;--some foreigners will with pleasure remark them--but such
remarks fall very ungracefully from the lips of her citizens.
DIMPLE. You are perfectly in the right, Colonel--America has her faults.
MANLY. Yes, sir; and we, her children, should blush for them in private,
and endeavour, as individuals, to reform them. But, if our country has
its errors in common with other countries, I am proud to say America--I
mean the United States--have displayed virtues and achievements which
modern nations may admire, but of which they have seldom set us the
example.
CHARLOTTE. But, brother, we must introduce you to some of our gay folks,
and let you see the city, such as it is. Mr. Dimple is known to almost
every family in town; he will doubtless take a pleasure in introducing
you.
DIMPLE. I shall esteem every service I can render your brother an
honour.
MANLY. I fear the business I am upon will take up all my time, and my
family will be anxious to hear from me.
MARIA. His family! But what is it to me that he is married! [_Aside._]
Pray, how did you leave your lady, sir?
CHARLOTTE. My brother is not married [_Observing her anxiety._]; it is
only an odd way he has of expressing himself. Pray, brother, is this
business, which you make your continual excuse, a secret?
MANLY. No, sister; I came hither to solicit the honourable Congress,
that a number of my brave old soldiers may be put upon the pension-list,
who were, at first, not judged to be so materially wounded as to need
the public assistance. My sister says true [_To MARIA._]: I call my late
soldiers my family. Those who were not in the field in the late glorious
contest, and those who were, have their respective merits; but, I
confess, my old brother-soldiers are dearer to me than the former
description. Friendships made in adversity are lasting; our countrymen
may forget us, but that is no reason why we should forget one another.
But I must leave you; my time of engagement approaches.
CHARLOTTE. Well, but, brother, if you will go, will you please to
conduct my fair friend home? You live in the same street--I was to have
gone with her myself--[_Aside._] A lucky thought.
MARIA. I am obliged to your sister, sir, and was just intending to go.
[_Going._
MANLY. I shall attend her with pleasure.
[_Exit with MARIA, followed by DIMPLE and CHARLOTTE._]
MARIA. Now, pray, don't betray me to your brother.
[CHARLOTTE. [_Just as she sees him make a motion to take his leave._] One
word with you, brother, if you please.
[_Follows them out._
_Manent DIMPLE and LETITIA._
DIMPLE. You received the billet I sent you, I presume?
LETITIA. Hush!--Yes.
DIMPLE. When shall I pay my respects to you?
LETITIA. At eight I shall be unengaged.
_Re-enter CHARLOTTE._
DIMPLE. Did my lovely angel receive my billet? [_To CHARLOTTE._
CHARLOTTE. Yes.
DIMPLE. What hour shall I expect with impatience?
CHARLOTTE. At eight I shall be at home unengaged.
DIMPLE. Unfortunately! I have a horrid engagement of business at that
hour. Can't you finish your visit earlier, and let six be the happy
hour?
CHARLOTTE. You know your influence over me.]
[_Exeunt severally._
SCENE II. _VAN ROUGH'S House._
VAN ROUGH [_alone_].
It cannot possibly be true! The son of my old friend can't have acted so
unadvisedly. Seventeen thousand pounds! in bills! Mr. Transfer must have
been mistaken. He always appeared so prudent, and talked so well upon
money-matters, and even assured me that he intended to change his dress
for a suit of clothes which would not cost so much, and look more
substantial, as soon as he married. No, no, no! it can't be; it cannot
be. But, however, I must look out sharp. I did not care what his
principles or his actions were, so long as he minded the main chance.
Seventeen thousand pounds! If he had lost it in trade, why the best men
may have ill-luck; but to game it away, as Transfer says--why, at this
rate, his whole estate may go in one night, and, what is ten times
worse, mine into the bargain. No, no; Mary is right. Leave women to look
out in these matters; for all they look as if they didn't know a journal
from a ledger, when their interest is concerned they know what's what;
they mind the main chance as well as the best of us--I wonder Mary did
not tell me she knew of his spending his money so foolishly. Seventeen
thousand pounds! Why, if my daughter was standing up to be married, I
would forbid the banns, if I found it was to a man who did not mind the
main chance.--Hush! I hear somebody coming. 'Tis Mary's voice: a man
with her too! I shou'dn't be surprised if this should be the other
string to her bow. Aye, aye, let them alone; women understand the main
chance.--Though, i' faith, I'll listen a little.
[_Retires into a closet._
_MANLY leading in MARIA._
MANLY. I hope you will excuse my speaking upon so important a subject so
abruptly; but, the moment I entered your room, you struck me as the lady
whom I had long loved in imagination, and never hoped to see.
MARIA. Indeed, sir, I have been led to hear more upon this subject than
I ought.
MANLY. Do you, then, disapprove my suit, madam, or the abruptness of my
introducing it? If the latter, my peculiar situation, being obliged to
leave the city in a few days, will, I hope, be my excuse; if the former,
I will retire, for I am sure I would not give a moment's inquietude to
her whom I could devote my life to please. I am not so indelicate as to
seek your immediate approbation; permit me only to be near you, and by a
thousand tender assiduities to endeavour to excite a grateful return.
MARIA. I have a father, whom I would die to make happy; he will
disapprove--
MANLY. Do you think me so ungenerous as to seek a place in your esteem
without his consent? You must--you ever ought to consider that man as
unworthy of you who seeks an interest in your heart, contrary to a
father's approbation. A young lady should reflect that the loss of a
lover may be supplied, but nothing can compensate for the loss of a
parent's affection. Yet, why do you suppose your father would
disapprove? In our country, the affections are not sacrificed to riches
or family-aggrandizement: should you approve, my family is decent, and
my rank honourable.
MARIA. You distress me, sir.
MANLY. Then I will sincerely beg your excuse for obtruding so
disagreeable a subject, and retire. [_Going._
MARIA. Stay, sir! your generosity and good opinion of me deserve a
return; but why must I declare what, for these few hours, I have scarce
suffered myself to think?--I am--
MANLY. What?
MARIA. Engaged, sir; and, in a few days, to be married to the gentleman
you saw at your sister's.
MANLY. Engaged to be married! And have I been basely invading the rights
of another? Why have you permitted this? Is this the return for the
partiality I declared for you?
MARIA. You distress me, sir. What would you have me say? You are too
generous to wish the truth. Ought I to say that I dared not suffer
myself to think of my engagement, and that I am going to give my hand
without my heart? Would you have me confess a partiality for you? If so,
your triumph is complete, and can be only more so when days of misery
with the man I cannot love will make me think of him whom I prefer.
MANLY. [_After a pause._]. We are both unhappy; but it is your duty to
obey your parent--mine to obey my honour. Let us, therefore, both follow
the path of rectitude; and of this we may be assured, that if we are not
happy, we shall, at least, deserve to be so. Adieu! I dare not trust
myself longer with you.
[_Exeunt severally._
_End of the Fourth Act._
ACT V.
SCENE I. _DIMPLE'S Lodgings._
JESSAMY [_meeting JONATHAN_].
Well, Mr. Jonathan, what success with the fair?
JONATHAN. Why, such a tarnal cross tike you never saw! You would have
counted she had lived upon crab-apples and vinegar for a fortnight. But
what the rattle makes you look so tarnation glum?
JESSAMY. I was thinking, Mr. Jonathan, what could be the reason of her
carrying herself so coolly to you.
JONATHAN. Coolly, do you call it? Why, I vow, she was fire-hot angry:
may be it was because I buss'd her.
JESSAMY. No, no, Mr. Jonathan; there must be some other cause: I never
yet knew a lady angry at being kissed.
JONATHAN. Well, if it is not the young woman's bashfulness, I vow I
can't conceive why she shou'dn't like me.
JESSAMY. May be it is because you have not the graces, Mr. Jonathan.
JONATHAN. Grace! Why, does the young woman expect I must be converted
before I court her?
JESSAMY. I mean graces of person: for instance, my lord tells us that we
must cut off our nails even at top, in small segments of circles--though
you won't understand that--In the next place, you must regulate your
laugh.
JONATHAN. Maple-log seize it! don't I laugh natural?
JESSAMY. That's the very fault, Mr. Jonathan. Besides, you absolutely
misplace it. I was told by a friend of mine that you laughed outright at
the play the other night, when you ought only to have tittered.
JONATHAN. Gor! I--what does one go to see fun for if they can't laugh?
JESSAMY. You may laugh; but you must laugh by rule.
JONATHAN. Swamp it--laugh by rule! Well, I should like that tarnally.
JESSAMY. Why, you know, Mr. Jonathan, that to dance, a lady to play with
her fan, or a gentleman with his cane, and all other natural motions,
are regulated by art. My master has composed an immensely pretty gamut,
by which any lady or gentleman, with a few years' close application, may
learn to laugh as gracefully as if they were born and bred to it.
JONATHAN. Mercy on my soul! A gamut for laughing--just like fa, la, sol?
JESSAMY. Yes. It comprises every possible display of jocularity, from an
_affettuoso_ smile to a _piano_ titter, or full chorus _fortissimo_ ha,
ha, ha! My master employs his leisure-hours in marking out the plays,
like a cathedral chanting-book, that the ignorant may know where to
laugh; and that pit, box, and gallery may keep time together, and not
have a snigger in one part of the house, a broad grin in the other, and
a d----d grum look in the third. How delightful to see the audience all
smile together, then look on their books, then twist their mouths into
an agreeable simper, then altogether shake the house with a general ha,
ha, ha! loud as a full chorus of Handel's at an Abbey-commemoration.
JONATHAN. Ha, ha, ha! that's dang'd cute, I swear.
JESSAMY. The gentlemen, you see, will laugh the tenor; the ladies will
play the counter-tenor; the beaux will squeak the treble; and our jolly
friends in the gallery a thorough bass, ho, ho, ho!
JONATHAN. Well, can't you let me see that gamut?
JESSAMY. Oh! yes, Mr. Jonathan; here it is. [_Takes out a book._] Oh!
no, this is only a titter with its variations. Ah, here it is. [_Takes
out another._] Now, you must know, Mr. Jonathan, this is a piece written
by Ben Johnson [_sic_], which I have set to my master's gamut. The
places where you must smile, look grave, or laugh outright, are marked
below the line. Now look over me. "There was a certain man"--now you
must smile.
JONATHAN. Well, read it again; I warrant I'll mind my eye.
JESSAMY. "There was a certain man, who had a sad scolding wife,"--now
you must laugh.
JONATHAN. Tarnation! That's no laughing matter though.
JESSAMY. "And she lay sick a-dying;"--now you must titter.
JONATHAN. What, snigger when the good woman's a-dying! Gor, I--
JESSAMY. Yes, the notes say you must--"And she asked her husband leave
to make a will,"--now you must begin to look grave;--"and her husband
said"--
JONATHAN. Aye, what did her husband say?--Something dang'd cute, I
reckon.
JESSAMY. "And her husband said, you have had your will all your
life-time, and would you have it after you are dead, too?"
JONATHAN. Ho, ho, ho! There the old man was even with her; he was up to
the notch--ha, ha, ha!
JESSAMY. But, Mr. Jonathan, you must not laugh so. Why, you ought to
have tittered _piano_, and you have laughed _fortissimo_. Look here; you
see these marks, A, B, C, and so on; these are the references to the
other part of the book. Let us turn to it, and you will see the
directions how to manage the muscles. This [_Turns over._] was note D
you blundered at.--"You must purse the mouth into a smile, then titter,
discovering the lower part of the three front upper teeth."
JONATHAN. How? read it again.
JESSAMY. "There was a certain man"--very well!--"who had a sad scolding
wife,"--why don't you laugh?
JONATHAN. Now, that scolding wife sticks in my gizzard so pluckily that
I can't laugh for the blood and nowns of me. Let me look grave here, and
I'll laugh your belly full, where the old creature's a-dying.
JESSAMY. "And she asked her husband"--[_Bell rings._] My master's bell!
he's returned, I fear.--Here, Mr. Jonathan, take this gamut; and I make
no doubt but with a few years' close application, you may be able to
smile gracefully.
[_Exeunt severally._
SCENE II. _CHARLOTTE'S Apartment._
_Enter MANLY._
MANLY. What, no one at home? How unfortunate to meet the only lady my
heart was ever moved by, to find her engaged to another, and confessing
her partiality for me! Yet engaged to a man who, by her intimation, and
his libertine conversation with me, I fear, does not merit her. Aye!
there's the sting; for, were I assured that Maria was happy, my heart is
not so selfish but that it would dilate in knowing it, even though it
were with another. But to know she is unhappy!--I must drive these
thoughts from me. Charlotte has some books; and this is what I believe
she calls her little library.
[_Enters a closet._
_Enter DIMPLE leading LETITIA._
LETITIA. And will you pretend to say now, Mr. Dimple, that you propose
to break with Maria? Are not the banns published? Are not the clothes
purchased? Are not the friends invited? In short, is it not a done
affair?
DIMPLE. Believe me, my dear Letitia, I would not marry her.
LETITIA. Why have you not broke with her before this, as you all along
deluded me by saying you would?
DIMPLE. Because I was in hopes she would, ere this, have broke with me.
LETITIA. You could not expect it.
DIMPLE. Nay, but be calm a moment; 'twas from my regard to you that I
did not discard her.
LETITIA. Regard to me!
DIMPLE. Yes; I have done everything in my power to break with her, but
the foolish girl is so fond of me that nothing can accomplish it.
Besides, how can I offer her my hand when my heart is indissolubly
engaged to you?
LETITIA. There may be reason in this; but why so attentive to Miss
Manly?
DIMPLE. Attentive to Miss Manly! For heaven's sake, if you have no
better opinion of my constancy, pay not so ill a compliment to my taste.
[LETITIA. Did I not see you whisper to her to-day?
DIMPLE. Possibly I might--but something of so very trifling a nature
that I have already forgot what it was.
LETITIA. I believe she has not forgot it.
DIMPLE. My dear creature,] how can you for a moment suppose I should
have any serious thoughts of that trifling, gay, flighty coquette, that
disagreeable--
_Enter CHARLOTTE._
DIMPLE. My dear Miss Manly, I rejoice to see you; there is a charm in
your conversation that always marks your entrance into company as
fortunate.
LETITIA. Where have you been, my dear?
CHARLOTTE. Why, I have been about to twenty shops, turning over pretty
things, and so have left twenty visits unpaid. I wish you would step
into the carriage and whisk round, make my apology, and leave my cards
where our friends are not at home; that, you know, will serve as a
visit. Come, do go.
LETITIA. So anxious to get me out! but I'll watch you. [_Aside._] Oh!
yes, I'll go; I want a little exercise. Positively [_DIMPLE offering to
accompany her._], Mr. Dimple, you shall not go; why, half my visits are
cake and caudle visits; it won't do, you know, for you to go. [_Exit,
but returns to the door in the back scene and listens._]
DIMPLE. This attachment of your brother to Maria is fortunate.
CHARLOTTE. How did you come to the knowledge of it?
DIMPLE. I read it in their eyes.
CHARLOTTE. And I had it from her mouth. It would have amused you to have
seen her! She, that thought it so great an impropriety to praise a
gentleman that she could not bring out one word in your favour, found a
redundancy to praise him.
DIMPLE. I have done everything in my power to assist his passion there:
your delicacy, my dearest girl, would be shocked at half the instances
of neglect and misbehaviour.
CHARLOTTE. I don't know how I should bear neglect; but Mr. Dimple must
misbehave himself indeed, to forfeit my good opinion.
DIMPLE. Your good opinion, my angel, is the pride and pleasure of my
heart; and if the most respectful tenderness for you, and an utter
indifference for all your sex besides, can make me worthy of your
esteem, I shall richly merit it.
CHARLOTTE. All my sex besides, Mr. Dimple!--you forgot your
_tete-a-tete_ with Letitia.
DIMPLE. How can you, my lovely angel, cast a thought on that insipid,
wry-mouthed, ugly creature!
CHARLOTTE. But her fortune may have charms?
DIMPLE. Not to a heart like mine. The man, who has been blessed with the
good opinion of my Charlotte, must despise the allurements of fortune.
CHARLOTTE. I am satisfied.
DIMPLE. Let us think no more on the odious subject, but devote the
present hour to happiness.
CHARLOTTE. Can I be happy when I see the man I prefer going to be
married to another?
DIMPLE. Have I not already satisfied my charming angel that I can never
think of marrying the puling Maria? But, even if it were so, could that
be any bar to our happiness? for, as the poet sings,
_Love, free as air, at sight of human ties,
Spreads his light wings, and in a moment flies._
Come, then, my charming angel! why delay our bliss? The present moment
is ours; the next is in the hand of fate.
[_Kissing her._
CHARLOTTE. Begone, sir! By your delusions you had almost lulled my
honour asleep.
DIMPLE. Let me lull the demon to sleep again with kisses. [_He struggles
with her; she screams._]
_Enter MANLY._
MANLY. Turn, villain! and defend yourself. [_Draws._]
_VAN ROUGH enters and beats down their swords._
VAN ROUGH. Is the devil in you? are you going to murder one another?
[_Holding DIMPLE._
DIMPLE. Hold him, hold him,--I can command my passion.
_Enter JONATHAN._
JONATHAN. What the rattle ails you? Is the old one in you? let the
Colonel alone, can't you? I feel chock full of fight,--do you want to
kill the Colonel?--
MANLY. Be still, Jonathan; the gentleman does not want to hurt me.
JONATHAN. Gor! I--I wish he did; I'd shew him yankee boys play, pretty
quick.--Don't you see you have frightened the young woman into the
_hystrikes_?
VAN ROUGH. Pray, some of you explain this; what has been the occasion of
all this racket?
MANLY. That gentleman can explain it to you; it will be a very diverting
story for an intended father-in-law to hear.
VAN ROUGH. How was this matter, Mr. Van Dumpling?
DIMPLE. Sir,--upon my honour,--all I know is, that I was talking to this
young lady, and this gentleman broke in on us in a very extraordinary
manner.
VAN ROUGH. Why, all this is nothing to the purpose; can you explain it,
Miss? [_To CHARLOTTE._]
_Enter LETITIA_ [_through the back scene_].
LETITIA. I can explain it to that gentleman's confusion. Though long
betrothed to your daughter [_To VAN ROUGH._], yet, allured by my
fortune, it seems (with shame do I speak it) he has privately paid his
addresses to me. I was drawn in to listen to him by his assuring me that
the match was made by his father without his consent, and that he
proposed to break with Maria, whether he married me or not. But,
whatever were his intentions respecting your daughter, sir, even to me
he was false; for he has repeated the same story, with some cruel
reflections upon my person, to Miss Manly.
JONATHAN. What a tarnal curse!
LETITIA. Nor is this all, Miss Manly. When he was with me this very
morning, he made the same ungenerous reflections upon the weakness of
your mind as he has so recently done upon the defects of my person.
JONATHAN. What a tarnal curse and damn, too!
DIMPLE. Ha! since I have lost Letitia, I believe I had as good make it
up with Maria. Mr. Van Rough, at present I cannot enter into
particulars; but, I believe, I can explain everything to your
satisfaction in private.
VAN ROUGH. There is another matter, Mr. Van Dumpling, which I would have
you explain:--pray, sir, have Messrs. Van Cash & Co. presented you those
bills for acceptance?
DIMPLE. The deuce! Has he heard of those bills! Nay, then, all's up with
Maria, too; but an affair of this sort can never prejudice me among the
ladies; they will rather long to know what the dear creature possesses
to make him so agreeable. [_Aside._] Sir, you'll hear from me. [_To
MANLY._]
MANLY. And you from me, sir.--
DIMPLE. Sir, you wear a sword.--
MANLY. Yes, sir. This sword was presented to me by that brave Gallic
hero, the Marquis DE LA FAYETTE. I have drawn it in the service of my
country, and in private life, on the only occasion where a man is
justified in drawing his sword, in defence of a lady's honour. I have
fought too many battles in the service of my country to dread the
imputation of cowardice. Death from a man of honour would be a glory you
do not merit; you shall live to bear the insult of man and the contempt
of that sex whose general smiles afforded you all your happiness.
DIMPLE. You won't meet me, sir? Then I'll post you for a coward.
MANLY. I'll venture that, sir. The reputation of my life does not depend
upon the breath of a Mr. Dimple. I would have you to know, however, sir,
that I have a cane to chastise the insolence of a scoundrel, and a sword
and the good laws of my country to protect me from the attempts of an
assassin.--
DIMPLE. Mighty well! Very fine, indeed! Ladies and gentlemen, I take my
leave; and you will please to observe, in the case of my deportment, the
contrast between a gentleman who has read Chesterfield and received the
polish of Europe, and an unpolished, untravelled American.
[_Exit._
_Enter MARIA._
MARIA. Is he indeed gone?--
LETITIA. I hope, never to return.
VAN ROUGH. I am glad I heard of those bills; though it's plaguy unlucky;
I hoped to see Mary married before I died.
MANLY. Will you permit a gentleman, sir, to offer himself as a suitor to
your daughter? Though a stranger to you, he is not altogether so to her,
or unknown in the city. You may find a son-in-law of more fortune, but
you can never meet with one who is richer in love for her, or respect
for you.
VAN ROUGH. Why, Mary, you have not let this gentleman make love to you
without my leave?
MANLY. I did not say, sir--
MARIA. Say, sir!--I--the gentleman, to be sure, met me accidentally.
VAN ROUGH. Ha, ha, ha! Mark me, Mary; young folks think old folks to be
fools; but old folks know young folks to be fools. Why, I knew all about
this affair:--This was only a cunning way I had to bring it about. Hark
ye! I was in the closet when you and he were at our house. [_Turns to
the company._] I heard that little baggage say she loved her old father,
and would die to make him happy! Oh! how I loved the little
baggage!--And you talked very prudently, young man. I have inquired into
your character, and find you to be a man of punctuality and mind the
main chance. And so, as you love Mary, and Mary loves you, shall have my
consent immediately to be married. I'll settle my fortune on you, and
go and live with you the remainder of my life.
MANLY. Sir, I hope--
VAN ROUGH. Come, come, no fine speeches; mind the main chance, young
man, and you and I shall always agree.
LETITIA. I sincerely wish you joy [_Advancing to MARIA._]; and hope your
pardon for my conduct.
MARIA. I thank you for your congratulations, and hope we shall at once
forget the wretch who has given us so much disquiet, and the trouble
that he has occasioned.
CHARLOTTE. And I, my dear Maria,--how shall I look up to you for
forgiveness? I, who, in the practice of the meanest arts, have violated
the most sacred rights of friendship? I can never forgive myself, or
hope charity from the world; but, I confess, I have much to hope from
such a brother; and I am happy that I may soon say, such a sister.
MARIA. My dear, you distress me; you have all my love.
MANLY. And mine.
CHARLOTTE. If repentance can entitle me to forgiveness, I have already
much merit; for I despise the littleness of my past conduct. I now find
that the heart of any worthy man cannot be gained by invidious attacks
upon the rights and characters of others;--by countenancing the
addresses of a thousand;--or that the finest assemblage of features, the
greatest taste in dress, the genteelest address, or the most brilliant
wit, cannot eventually secure a coquette from contempt and ridicule.
MANLY. And I have learned that probity, virtue, honour, though they
should not have received the polish of Europe, will secure to an honest
American the good graces of his fair countrywomen, and, I hope, the
applause of THE PUBLIC.
_The End._
FOOTNOTES:
[4] The omitted passages in the First Edition, indicated by inverted
commas, are here enclosed in heavy brackets.
[5] A page reproduction of the original music is given in the Dunlap
reprint of this play.