Enter Mifs WALSINGHAM and Lady RACHEL MILDEW. Miss Wal. My dear Mrs. Belville, I am extremely unhappy to fee you fo diftreffed. Lady Rach. Now I am extremely glad to fee her fo; for if the were not greatly diftreffed, it would be monftrously unnat. Mrs. Bel. O Matilda.! my husband! my children! [ural. Mifs Wal. Don't weep, my dear, don't weep! pray be com forted, all may end happily. Lady Rachel beg of her not to cry fo. Lady Rach, Why, you are crying yourfelf, Mifs Wallingham. And 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 expose it on the stage, fince the law now. a-days kindly leaves the whole cognizance of it to the theatre. Mifs Wal. And yet, if the laws against it were as well en forced 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 ago. nize orphans must be multiplied! unlefs fome bleffed hand firip 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 duellift is once banished from the presence of his fov ereign; if he is for life excluded the confidence of his country; if a mark of indeliable difgrace is flamped upon him, the fword of public juftice will be the fole chaftifer of wrongs; trifies will not be punished with death, and offences really meriting fuch a punifiment will be referved for the only proper revenger, the common executioner, Lay Rach. I could not have expreffed myfelf better on this fubject, y dear; but till fuch a hand, as you talk of, is found, the belt will fall into the error of the times. Mifs Wah Yes, and butcher each other like madmes, for fear their courage fhould be fufpected by foois. Colonel RIVERS and Sir HARRY, Sir Har. COLONEL, your molt obedient: I am come apon the old bufinefs; for unless I am allowed to entertain hopes of Mifs 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 propofale? Sir Har, No Sir? Riv. No Sir; I have promifed my daughter to Mr. Sid ney; 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 promised her to Mr. Sidney? Sir Har, I do; but I also 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, therefore— Riv. Sir Harry, let me afk you one queftion before you make your confequence. 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 de, Sir, a man of the niceft honor. Riv. And yet, Sir, you ask me to violate the fanctity of my word: and tell me directly that it is my intereft to be a rafcal. Sir Har. I really don't understand you, colonel: I thot 1 was talking to a man who knew the world; and as you have not figned fo Riv. Why this is mending matters with a witnefs: And you think because I am not legally bound, I am under no neceffity of keeping my word! Sir Harry laws were never made for men of honor; they want no bond but the rectitude of their own fentiments; and laws are of no use but to bind the villains of fociety. Sir Har. Wells, but my dear Colonel, if you have no regard for me, fhew fome little regard for your daughter. Rip. Ifhew the greatest regard for my daughter, by giv ing her to a man of honor, and I muft not be infulted with any further repetition of your proposals. Sir Har. Infult you, Colonel ! is the offer of my alliance an infult is my readiness to make what fettlements you think proper Riv. Sir Harry, I should confider the offer of a kingdom an -infult, if it were to be purchased by the violation of my word, Befides, tho my daughter fhall never go a beggar to the arms of her husband, I would rather fee her happy than rich; and if the has enough to provide handfomely for a young family, and fomething to fpare for the exigencies of a worthy friend, I fhall think her as affluent as if, fhe was miftrefs of Mexico. Sir Har. Well Colonel, I have done ; but I believe— Riv. Well, Sir Harry, and as our conference is done, we will, if you pleafe, retire to the ladies; I fhall be always glad of your acquaintance, tho I cannot receive you as a fun.in.law: for a union of intereft I look upon us a union of dishonor, and confider marriage for money, at beft but a legal prostitution. Scene between SHYLOCK and TUBAL.* OW now Tubal ! what news from Genoa? Have Shy. HOW you heard any thing of my backfliding daughter! Tub. I often came where 1 heard of her, but could not And her. Shy. Why there, there, there, a diamond gone that coft me two thousand ducats at Frankfort! The curfe never fell upon a nation till now! I never felt it before! Two thousand ducats, in that and other precious jewels! I with the lay dead at my feet I No news of them! and I know not what spent in the fearch. Lofs upon lofs. The thief gone with fo much, and fo much to find the thief; and no fatisfaction, no revenge ; no ill luck ftirring but what lights on my shoulders. Tub, O yes, other men have ill luch too-Antonio, as-I heard in Genoa Shy. (Interrupting him) What, has he had ill luck? Tub. I fpoke with some of the failors that efcaped from the wreck. Shy. I thank you good Tubal. Good news! Good news! What, in Genoa, you fpoke with them. Tub. Your daughter, as I heard, fpent twenty ducats in one night. Shy. You ftick a dagger in me, Tubal. I never shall fee my gold again. Twenty ducats in one night Twenty du cats! O father Abraham!' Tub. There came feveral of Antonio's creditors in my company to Venice, who fay he cannot but break. Shy. I am glad on't ;. I'll plague him; 1'll torture him ; I am glad on't. * Shylock had fent Tubal after his daughter, who had eloped from his house. Antonio was a merchant, hated by Shylock❤ Tub. One of them fhewed me a ring he had of your daugh ter for a monkey. Shy. Out upon her! You torture me, Tubal. It was my ruby, I would not have given it for as many monkeys as could ftand together upon Realto. Tub. Antonio is certainly undone. Shy. Ay, ay, there is fome comfort in that. Go, Tubal, engage an officer. Tell him to be ready; I'll be revenged on An. I'll wash my hands to the elbows in his heart's blood. tonio. JUBA and SYPHAX. Jub. Slave obferv'd of late thy looks are fall'n, When difcontent fits heavy at my heart; I have not fo much of the Roman in me. Jub. Why doft thou caft out fuch ungenerous terms, Is their a nation in the wilds of Afric Amift our barren rocks and burning fands, That does not tremble at the Roman name? Syph. Gods! Where's the worth that fets this people up Above your own Numidia's tawny fons ? Do they with tougher finews bend the bow? To lay it under the restraint of laws; Syph. Patience, juft Heavens! Excufe an old man's warmth! Renouncing fleep, and reft, and food, and eafe, The pomp and pleasure which his foul could with, Syph. Believe me, prince, there's not an African to Cato t Jub. Thy prejudices, Syphax, won't difcern |