FOOTE.

Come then, prompter begin..

PEARS E.

Lord, fir, we are all at a ftand.

FOOTE.

What's the matter.

PEARSE.

Mrs. O-Shochnefy has return'd the

part of the bawd; the fays fhe is a gentlewoman, and it would be a reflection on her family to do any fuch thing.

... Indeed!

FOOTE.

PEARS E.

If it had been only a whore, fays fhe, I fhould not have minded it; because no lady need be asham'd of doing that.

FOOTE.

Well, there is no help for it; but these gentlemen must not be disappointed. Well, I'll do the character myself.

ACT

************** sasaya

**************

A C T. I.

Sir WILLIAM WEALTHY, and Mr.

C

RICHARD WEALTHY.

Sir WILLIAM.

XOME, come, brother, I know the world. People, who have, their at*tention eternally fix'd upon one object, can't help being a little narrow

in their notions.

R. WEALTHY

I

A fagacious remark that, and highly probable, that we merchants, who maintain a conftant correfpondence with the four quarters of the world, fhould know lefs of it than you fashionable fellows, whofe whole experience is bounded by Westminster bridge.

Sir WILLIAM.

Nay, brother, as a proof that I am not blind to the benefit of travelling, George, you know, has been in Germany thefe four years.

R. WEALTHY.

Where he is well grounded in gaming and gluttony; France has furnish'd him with fawning and flattery; Italy equip'd him with capriols and cantatas: and thus accomplish'd, my young gentleman is return'd with a cargo of whores, cooks, valets de chambre', and fiddlesticks, a moft valuable member of the British commonwealth.

The early part, Ifhould imagine, might merit your approbation.

R. WEALTHY.

Leaft of all. What, I fuppofe, because he has run the gauntlet thro' a public fchool, where, at fixteen, he had practis'd more vices than he would otherwife have heard of at fixty.

Sir WILLIAM.

Ha, ha, préjudice !

R. WEALTHY.

R. WEALTHY.

Then, indeed, you remov'd him to the univerfity; where, left his morals fhould be mended, and his understanding improv'd, you fairly fet him free from the restraint of the one, and the drudgery of the other, by the priviledg'd diftinction of a filk gown and velvet сар.

Sir WILLIAM.

And all thefe evils, you think, a city education would have prevented?

R. WEALTHY.

Doubtlefs. Proverbs, proverbs, brother William, convey whole fome inftruction. Idlenefs is the root of all evil. Regular hours, conftant employment, and good example, can't fail to form the mind.

Sir WILLIAM.

you

Why truly, brother, had ftuck to your old civic vices, hypocrify, couzenage, and avarice, I don't know, whether I might not have committed George to your care; but, you cockneys, now beat us fuburbians at our own weapons. What, old boy, times are chang'd fince the date of thy indentures; when the fleek, crop-ear'd 'prentice us'd to dangle after his mistress, with the great gilt Bible under hist arm, to St. Bride's, on a Sunday; bring home the text, repeat the divifions of the difcourfe, dine at twelve, and regale, upon a gaudy day, with buns and beer at Iflington or Mile-End.

:

R. WEALTHY.

R. WEALTHY.

Wonderfully facetious!

Sir WILLIAM.

Our modern lads are of a different metal. They have their gaming clubs in the garden, their little lodgings, the fnug depofitories of their rufty fwords, and occafional bag-wigs; their horses for the turf; ay, and their commiffions of bankruptcy too, before they are well out of their time.

R. WEALTHY,

Infamous afperfion!

Sir WILLIAM.

But the laft meeting at Newmarket, lord Lofty receiv'd, at the hazard table, the identical note from the individual taylor, to whom he had paid it but the day before, for a new fet of liveries.

Invention !

R. WEALTHY,

Sir WILLIAM.

These are anecdotes you will never meet with in your weekly travels from Cateaton-street to your boarded box in Clapham, brother.

R. WEALTHY.

And yet that boarded box, as your prodigal fpendthrift proceeds, will foon be the only feat of the family.