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Gen. You have told me condefcendingly, Mifs Walfing. ham, that you have no objection to change your name. bave but one question more to afk.

Mifs Wal. Pray propofe it, Sir.

Gen. Would the name of Savage be difagreeable to you? fpeak frankly again my dear girl.

Mifs Wal. Why, then again, I frankly fay, no.

Gen. You are too good to me.-Torrington thought I fhould meet with a repulfe.-[afide.

Mifs Wal. Have you communicated this bufinefs to the Captain, Sir?

Gen. No, my dear Madam, I did not think that at all neceffary. I propofe that he fhall be married in a few days. Mifs. Wal. What, whether I will or not?

Gen. O, you can have no objection!

Mifs. Wal. I must be confulted, however, about the day, General; but nothing in my power fhall be wanting to make him happy.

Gen. Obliging loveliness!

Mifs Wal. You may imagin, that if I had not been previ oufly impreft in favor of your propofal, it would not have met my concurrence fo readily.

Gen. Then you own I had a previous friend in the garrifon. Mifs Wal. I don't blufh to acknowledge it, Sir, when I confider the accomplishments of the object.

Gen. O, this is too much, Madam; the principal merit of the object is his paffion for Mifs Walfingham.

Mifs Wal. Don't fay that General, I beg of you; for I don't think there are many women in the kingdom, who could behold him with indifference.

Gen. Ah, you flattering angle! and yet by the memory of Marlborough, my lovely girl, it was the idea of a prepoffeffion on your part, which encouraged me to hope for a favorable reception.

Mifs Wal. Then I must have been very indiscreet, for I labored to conceal that prepoffeffion as much as poffible.

Gen. You could not conceal it from me; the female heart is a field I am thoroughly acquainted with.

Mifs Wal. I doubt not your knowledge of the female heart General: but as we now underfland one another fo perfectly, you will give me leave to retire.

Gen. One word, my dear creature, and no more: I shall wait on you fome time to-day about the necefiary fettlement. Mifi Wal. You must do as you pleafe, General; you are invincible in every thing.

Gen. And if you pleafe we will keep every thing a profound fecret till the articles are all fettled, and the definitve treaty ready for execution,

Mifs Wal. You may be fure that delicacy will not fuffer me to be communicative on the fubject, Sir.

Gen. Then you leave every thing to my management.

Mifs Wal. I can't trust a more noble negociator. (goes out. Gen. The day is my own, (fings) Britons ftrike home; ftrike home.

Scene between General SAVAGE, Captain SAVAGE, Miss WalSINGHAM, and TORRINGTON, a Lawyer; in which the General difcovers his mistake.

Capt. Sav. NAY, but my dearest Miss Walfingham the

extenuation of my conduct to Belville'made it absolutely neceffary for me to difcover my engagements with you; and as happiness is now fo fortunately in our reach, I flatter my felf that you will be prevailed upon to forgive an error which proceeded only from extravagance of love.

Mifs Wal. To think me capable of fuch an action, Captain Savage! I am terrified at the idea of an union with you ; and it is better for a woman at any time, to facrifice an infolent lover, than to accept of a suspicious husband.

Capt. In the happieft union, my deareft creature, there muft always be fomething to overlook on both fides.

Mifs Wal. Very civil, truly.

Capt. Pardon me, my life, for this frankness; and recollect, that if the lover has thro' mifconception, been unhappily guilty, he brings a husband altogether reformed to your hands.

Mifs Wal. Well, I fee I muft forgive you at laft; fo I may as well make a merit of neceffity, you provoking creature.

Capt. And may I indeed hope for the bleffing of this hand. Mifs Wal. Why you wretch, would you have me force it upon you? I think after what I have said, a foldier might venture to take it without further ceremony.

Capt. Angelic creature! thus I feize it, as my lawful prize. Mifs Wal. Well, but now you have obtained this ineftima

ble prize, Captain, give me leave again to ask if you have had a certain explanation with the General ?

Capt. How can you doubt it?

Mifs Wal. And is he really impatient for our marriage? Capt. 'Tis incredible how earnest he is.

Mifs Wal. What did he tell you of his interview with me this evening when he brought Mr. Torrington ?

Capt. He did.

Mifs Wal. O, then I can have no doubt.

Capt. If a fhadow of doubt remains, here he comes to remove it. Joy, my dear Sir, joy a thousand times! Enter General SAVAGE and TORRINGTON.

Gen. What my dear boy have you carried the day? Mifs Wal. I have been weak enough to indulge him with a victory, indeed, General.

Gen. Fortune favors the brave, Torrington.

Tor. I congratulate you heartily on this decree, General. Gen. This had nearly proved a day of disappointment, but the ftars have fortunately turned it in my favor, and now I reap the rich reward of my victory.

Capt. And here I take her from you as the greatest good which heaven can fend me.

Mifs Wal. O captain!

Gen. You take her as the greatest good which Heaven can fend you, Sirrah! I take her as the greatest good which Heaven can fend me; and now what have you to fay to her? Mifs Wal. General Savage!

Tor. Here will be a fresh injunction to stop proceedings. Mifs Wal. Are we never to have done with mistakes? Gen. What mistakes can have happened now, fweetelt, you delivered up your dear hand this moment!

Mifs Wal. True, Sir; but I thought you were going to bestow my dear hand upon this dear gentleman. Gen. How! that dear gentleman ?

Capt. I am thunderstruck!

Tor. Fortune favors the brave, General, none but the brave-[Laughingly.*

Gen. So the covert way is cleared at laft; and you have all along imagined that I was negociating for this fellow, when I was gravely foliciting for myself.

Mifs W. No other idea, Sir, ever entered my imagination. Tor. General, noble minds 'hould never defpair. [ Laughingly.

S

Gen. Well, my hopes are all blown up to the moon at once, and I shall be the laughing stock of the whole town.

Scene between MRS. BELLVILLE, Mifs WALSINGHAM, and Lady RACHEL MILDEW.-On DUELLING.

Mrs Belv. WHERE is the generofity, where is the fenfe, [alone.] where is the fhame of men, to find pleasure in pursuits which they cannot remember without the deepeft horror; which they cannot follow without the meanest fraud; and which they cannot effect without confequences the most dreadful ? The greatest triumph which a libertin can ever experience is too despicable to be envied; 'tis at best nothing but a victory over humanity; and if he is a husband, he must be doubly tortured on the wheel of recollection.

Enter Mifs WALSINGHAM and Lady RACHEL MIldew. Mifs Wal. My dear Mrs. Belville, I am extremely unhap, py to fee you fo distreffed.

Lady Rach. Now I am extremely glad to fee her fo; for if he were not greatly distressed, it would be monftrously unnatural.

Mrs. Bel. O Matilda! my husband! my children!

Mifs Wal. Don't weep, my dear, don't weep! pray be comforted, all may end happily. Lady Rachel beg of her not to cry fo.

ham.

Lady Rach. Why, you are crying yourself, Miss WallingAnd tho I think it out of character to encourage her tears, I cannot help keeping you company.

Mrs. Bel. O, why is not fome effectual method contrived to prevent this horrible practice of duelling!

Lady Rach. I'll expofe it on the stage, since the law now a-days kindly leaves the whole cognizance of it to the theater. Mifs Wal. And yet if the laws against it, were as well enforced, as the laws against deftroying the game, perhaps it would be equally for the benefit of the kingdom.

Mrs. Bel. No law will ever be effectual till the custom is rendered infamous. Wives muft fhriek! mothers must agonize orphans must be multiplied! unlefs fome bleffed hand trip the fafcinating glare from honorable murder, and bravely expofe the idol who is worshipped thus in blood. While it is difreputable to obey the laws, we cannot look for reformation. But if the duelift is once banished from the presence of his

fovereign; if he is for life excluded the confidence of his country; if a mark of indelible difgrace is ftamped upon him, the fword of public juftice will be the fole chaftifer of wrongs: trifles will not be punished with death, and offences really meriting fuch punishment, will be reserved for the only proper revenge the common executioner.

Lady Rach. I could not have expreffed myfelf better on this fubject, my dear; but till fuch a hand as you talk of, is found, the best will fall into the error of the times.

Mifs Wal. Yes, and butcher each other like madmen, for fear their courage should be fufpected by fools.

Colonel RIVERS and Sir HARRY.

Sir. Har. COLONEL, your most obedient: I am come upon the old bufinefs: for unless I am allowed to entertain hopes of Miss Rivers, I fhall be the most miferable of all human beings.

Riv. Sir Harry, I have already told you by letter, and I now tell you perfonally, I cannot liften to your propofals. Sir Har. No, Sir?

Riv. No, Sir; I have promifed my daughter to Mr. Sidhey: do you know that Sir?

Sir Har. I do but what then! Engagements of this kind you know

Riv. So then, you know I have promifed her to Mr. Sindey ? Sir Har. I do, but I alfo know that matters are not finally fettled between Mr. Sidney and you; and I moreover know, that his fortune is by no means equal to mine, thereforeRiv. Sir Harry, let me afk you one queftion before you make your confequence.

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Sir Har. A thousand if you please, Sir.

Riv. Why then, Sir, let me afk you, what you have ever obferved in me, or my conduct, that you defire me fo familiarly to break my word? I thought, Sir, you confidered me as a man of honor.

Sir Har. And fo I do Sir, a man of the nicest honor.

Riv. And yet, Sir, you afk me to violate the fanctity of my word; and tell me directly, that it is my interest to be a rascal. Sir Har. I really don't understand you, Colonel: I tho't I was talking to a man who knew the world; and as you have not figned

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