LEONTINE. Peace, peace, for shame; and do not continue to aggravate baseness by hypocrisy. I know you, Sir, I know you. HONEYWOOD. Why, won't you hear me! By all that's just, I know not LEONTINE. Hear you, Sir! to what purpose? I now see through all your low arts; your ever complying with every opinion; your never refusing any request; your friendship's as common as a prostitute's favours, and as fallacious; all these, Sir, have long been contemptible to the world, and are now perfectly so to me. HONEYWOOD. Ha! contemptible to the world! that reaches (Aside.) me. LEONTINE. All the seeming sincerity of your professions, I now find, were only allurements to betray; and all your seeming regret for their consequences only calculated to cover the cowardice of your heart. Draw, villain! Enter Enter CROAKER, out of breath. CROAKER. Where is the villain? Where is the incendiary? (Seizing the postboy.) Hold him fast, the dog: he has the gallows in his face. Come, you dog, confess; confess all, and hang yourself. POSTBOY. Zounds! master, what do you throttle me for? CROAKER, beating him. Dog, do you resist; do you resist? POSTBOY. Zounds! master, I'm not he; there's the man that we thought was the rogue, and turns out to be one of the company. How! CROAKER, HONEYWOOD. Mr. Croaker, we have all been under a strange mistake here; I find there is nobody guilty; it was all an error; entirely an error of our own. And I CROAKER. say, Sir, that you're in an error; for there's guilt and double guilt, a plot, a damned jesuitical pestilential plot, and I must have proof of it. HONEY HONEYWOOD. Do but hear me. CROAKER. What, you intend to bring 'em off, I suppose; I'll hear nothing. HONEYWOOD. Madam, you seem at least calm enough to hear Good Jarvis, let me then explain it to you. JARVIS. What signifies explanations when the thing is done? HONEYWOOD. Will nobody hear me? Was there ever such a set, so blinded by passion and prejudice! (To the postboy.) My good friend, I believe you'll be surprised, when I assure you POSTBOY. Sure me nothing I'm sure of nothing but a good beating. CROAKER. |