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"ble young baronet, at the weft end of the "town, the apparent object of her own choice." Lady Rifc. Finely circumftantial, it is impoffible for any body to err in the perfon.

Lucy. Not in nature; now, I think, we fhall pull down Mifs Prudery's pride.

Lady Rifc. It cannot fail. Kitty, you have carefully perufed the inftructions I gave you. Kitty. Please your ladyfhip, I have them by

heart.

Lady Rifc. Don't be too forward in replying to any question they put to you; but anfwer with a kind of reluctant hesitation, as if the facts were forc'd from your mouth.

Kitty. Never fear, Madam.

L

Lady Rifc. Don't forget, to make frequent profeffions of the great love and affection you bear your young miftrefs, that you could not have thought it, fhan't know whom to truft for the future; ready to lay down your life for your lady.

Lucy. Suggeft too, that fome ftrange arts must have been used, or you are convinc'd fhe could never have been brought to fubmit.

Kitty. I fhall carefully, Madam, obey your directions.

Lady Rife. And fqueeze out a tear now and then if you can.

Lucy. Or, if they won't come, rub your eyes till they are red.

Lady Rife. Right; this will give probability to all that you fay.

Lucy. Otherwife, the young hypocrite's behaviour has been always fo fpecious, those wno know her won't credit the ftory.

Kitty. Suppofe, Madam, Sir James Biddulph, or any body elfe, fhould make any enquiry?

Lady Rife. Anfwer none of their queftions; your tenderness for Lydia will be a proper excufe; to your mafter's authority, indeed, you are obliged to fubmit. You comprehend me? Kitty. Perfectly, Madam.

Lady Rifc. Within, I will give you further inftructions; and remember, Kitty, your fortune is at stake: Succefs, in this one inftance, will make you eafy for life.

Kitty. The best I can do will be but a poor return for your ladyfhip's goodness.

Lady Rife. Send the news-paper into your mafter. [Exit Kitty.] You have, James, feen none of our people this morning?

James. I have not enter'd the shop.

Lady Rifc. Then get out of the way as faft as you can; fecrete yourself fomewhere, that will give additional strength to the story. Your withdrawing will argue a confciousness arising from guilt.

James. That I moft fufficiently feel.

Lady Rife. Succefs will foon drown the re membrance. [Exit James.] That fellow muft not appear; his mind is fo maukish, that, should he be confronted with Lydia, he would betray our whole plot in an inftant.

Lucy. It is a wonder, Madam, how you have got all this addrefs: inftead of a private family, you are form'd to govern a country.

Lady Rife. Why, I think, I may without vanity fay, that I deriv'd from nature fome talents for this kind of intrigue; but to the care of my education I chiefly owe what I am.

Lucy.

Lucy. Indeed, Madam!

Lady Rifc. My father was a stock-broker, you know, and your father, my first husband, an attorney, my dear.

Lucy. True, Madam.

Lady Rifc. And as they had no reserve, they kept no fecrets from me, I must have been a blockhead, indeed, not to have made fome progrefs in their profeffional arts.

Lucy. True, Madam.

Lady Rife. But after defeating Sir James Biddulph's defigns upon Lydia, to turn the tide of his affections, and fubftitute you in her room, will, Lucy, be the great political effort.

Lucy. From your ladyfhip's great abilities there cannot be the leaft doubt of fuccefs: befides, her father is fo hafty and violent that, I am fure, he will never be brought to forgive her.

Lady Rifc. There is no relying on that; no mortal was ever fo mutable. Our various climate is not fo inconftant as he. Sir Robert is choleric enough, but then, as he is provoked without caufe, he is appeafed without reafon; one word will inflame, another extinguifh the fire; whom one minute he perfe cutes, the next he protects. His joy, grief, love, hatred, are in eternal rotation, and I have been often tempted to think his mind a machine, moved only by the immediate objects before it.

Lucy.

And yet, Madam, how compleatly you rule him!

Lady Rife. No longer, child, than I ftay by his fide; after that, the fift perfon has him

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that

that fees him, and all my impreffions are effac'd in an inftant.

Enter Kitty.

Kitty. My mafter has got at the paragraph. Lady Rifc. Has he fo? well, and

Kitty. He enquired, Madam, for you, and putting his finger here, bid me fhew this directly to your ladyship.

Lady Rife. He did not fufpect then that I had seen it before?

Kitty. Not in the leaft-but here he comes tottering and trembling-with his face as white as a fheet.

Lady Rifc. Get you behind.

Enter Sir Robert Rifcounter.

Sir Rob. Rifc. Well, my dear, have you read

Lady Rifc. Sir Robert, I have.

Sir Rob. Rifc. Have you fo? Well, and pray what do you think? Did you ever fee fuch an audacious, abominable, impudent, fcandalous piece of fcurrility? Zounds, give me my cane, I will go directly to the rafcally printer's, and

Lady Rife. But fuppofe, Sir Robert, the printer fhould not be paffive, and, in return for the ftrokes of your cane, fhould leave the marks of his nails in your face.

Sir Rob. There may be fomething in that, as your ladyship fays, I have heard fome of the rogues are frong and sturdy enough.

Lady Rifc. And, firft, let us be fure who the party is the paragraph points at.

Sir Rob.

Sir Rob. Hey! what d'ye fay? points at ? why, it is as clear as the fun-[takes the paper] banker---Monument--- firft venture---zounds they might as well have published my name, and my daughter's, at length.

Lady Rifc. Why, to fay truth, the marks are pretty strong; but ftill let us coolly confider the cafe. Kitty, go down; Lucy, my dear, leave Sir Robert and me together a little. [Exit Lucy and Kitty.

Sir Rob. Ay, go, child, pr'ythee go. I don't believe, Lady Rifcounter, that there is a fingle man in the Ward, who would have the least hesitation in pronouncing who was--

Lady Rifc. Well, but don't let us be in fuch hurry to make the application ourselves; the malice of others will be ready enough to do that let me fee, is there no other banker lives near the Monument?

Sir Rob. Not that I know; but fuppofe there fhould, here, the west end of the town, and the amiable baronet, puts the matter out of difpute: hey, what d'ye fay ?--

Lady Rifc. That, indeed; but, hold a little, does not it mention the name of the paramour? Ay, here it is, J---S.

Sir Rob. J--s.

Lady Rifc. J---s, I don't recollect any body that vifits here, whofe name thofe letters will fuit.

Sir Rob. There is no Jones, nor Joddrell poo, pox, that is an L--nor Jennings, nor Jarvis, nor Jenkins, nor

Lady Rifc. Not that I recollect.

Sir Rob. There is Jacobs the Jew, but

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