Miss Wal. Yes, she became almost frantic, in reality, when she found herself treated like a mad woman. Capt. Belville's affected surprise too, was admirable. Miss Wal. Yes, the hypocritical composure of his countenance, and his counterfeit pity for the poor woman, were intolerable. Capt. While that amiable creature, his wife, implicitly believed every syllable he said Miss Wal. And felt nothing but pity for the accuser, instead of paying the least regard to the accusation. But pray, is it really under a pretence of getting the girl upon the stage, that Belville has taken away Mrs. Tempest's niece from the people she boarded with? Capt. It is. Belville, ever on the look-out for fresh objects, met her in those primitive regions of purity, the Green-Boxes; where, discovering that she was passionately desirous of becoming an actress, he improved his acquaintance with her, in the fictitious character of an Irish manager, and she eloped last night, to be, as she imagines, the heroine of a Dublin theatre. Miss Wal. So, then, as he has kept his real name artfully concealed, Mrs. Tempest can at most but suspect him of Miss Leeson's seduction. Capt. Of no more; and this, only, from the description of the people who saw him in company with her at the play; but I wish the affair may not have a serious conclusion; for she has a brother, a very spirited young fellow, who is a counsel in the Temple, and who will certainly call Belville to an account the moment he hears of it. Miss Wal. And what will become of the poor creature after he has deserted her? Capt. You know that Belville is generous to profusion, and has a thousand good qualities to counterbalance this single fault of gallantry, which contaminates his character. Miss Wal. You ment you men - You are such wretches, that there's no having a moment's satisfaction with you ! and what's still more provoking, there's no having a moment's satisfaction without you! Capt. Nay, don't think us all alike. Miss Wal. I'll endeavour to deceive myself; for it is but a poor argument of your sincerity, to be the confidant of another's falsehood. Capt. Nay, no more of this, my love; no people live happier than Belville and his wife; nor is there a man in England, notwithstanding all his levity, who considers his wife with a warmer degree of affection : if you have a friendship, therefore, for her, let her continue in an error, so necessary to her repose, and give no hint whatever of his gallantries to any body. Miss Wal. If I had no pleasure in obliging you, I have too much regard for Mrs. Belville not to follow your advice; but you need not enjoin me so strongly on the subject, when you know I can keep a secret. Capt. You are all goodness; and the prudence with which you have concealed our private engagements, 1 has eternally obliged me; had you trusted the secret Miss Wal. The peculiarity of your father's temper, Capt. Bewitching softness 1-But your goodness, I flatter myself, will be speedily rewarded; you are now such a favourite with him, that he is eternally talking of you; and I really fancy he means to propose you to me himself; for last night, in a few minutes after he had declared you would make the best wife in the world, he seriously asked me if I had any aversion to matrimony ! Miss Wal. Why, that was a very great concession indeed, as he seldom stoops to consult any body's in clinations. Capt. So it was, I assure you, for, in the army, being used to nothing but command and obedience, he removes the discipline of the parade into his family, and no more expects his orders should be diş 1 puted, in matters of a domestic nature, than if they were delivered at the head of his regiment. Miss Wal. And yet Mrs. Tempest, who, you say, is as much a storm in her nature as her name, is disputing them eternally. Enter Mr. and Mrs. BELVILLE. Bel. Well, Miss Walsingham, have not we had a pretty morning's visitor ? Miss Wal. Really, I think so; and I have been asking Captain Savage how long the lady has been disordered in her senses ? Bel. Why will they let the poor woman abroad, without some body to take care of her ? Capt. O, she has her lucid intervals. Miss Wal. I declare I shall be as angry with you as I am with Belville. [Aside to the Captain. Mrs. Bel. You cann't think how sensibly she spoke at first. Bel. I should have had no conception of her mad. ness, if she had not brought so preposterous a charge against me. Enter a Servant. Serv. Lady Rachel Mildew, madam, sends her compliments, and if you are not particularly engaged, will do herself the pleasure of waiting upon you. Mrs. Bel. Our compliments, and we shall be glad [Exit Servant. to see her ladyship. Bel. I wonder if Lady Rachel knows that Torrington came to town last night from Bath! Mrs. Bel. I hope he has found benefit by the waters, for he is one of the best creatures existing; he's a downright Parson Adams, in good-nature and simplicity. Miss Wal. Lady Rachel will be quite happy at his return; and it would be a laughable affair if a match could be brought about between the old maid and the old batchelor. Capt. Mr. Torrington is too much taken up at Westminster-Hall, to think of paying his devoirs to the ladies, and too plain a speaker, I fancy, to be agreeable to Lady Rachel. Bel. You mistake the matter widely; she is deeply smitten with him; but honest Torrington is utterly unconscious of his conquest, and modestly thinks that he has not a single attraction for any woman in the universe. Mrs. Bel. Yet my poor aunt speaks sufficiently plain, in all conscience, to give him a different opinion of himself. Miss Wal. Yes, and puts her charms into such repair, whenever she expects to meet him, that her cheeks look for all the world like a rasberry ice upon a ground of custard. Capt. I thought Apollo was the only god of Lady Rachel's idolatry, and that in her passion for poetry, she had taken leave of all the less elevated affections. Bel. O, you mistake again; the poets are eternally |