SCENE II.

ANGELICA, SIR SAMPSON.
SIR SAMP. I have not been honoured with the commands of a fair lady

a great while,--odd, madam, you have revived me,--not since I was
five-and-thirty.

ANG. Why, you have no great reason to complain, Sir Sampson, that
is not long ago.

SIR SAMP. Zooks, but it is, madam, a very great while: to a man
that admires a fine woman as much as I do.

ANG. You're an absolutecourtier, Sir Sampson.
SIR SAMP. Not at all, madam,--odsbud, you wrong me,--I am not so

old neither, to be a bare courtier, only a man of words. Odd, I
have warm blood about me yet, and can serve a lady any way. Come,

come, let me tell you, you women think a man old too soon, faith and
troth you do. Come, don't despise fifty; odd, fifty, in a hale

constitution, is no such contemptible age.
ANG. Fifty a contemptible age! Not at all; a very fashionable age,

I think. I assure you, I know very considerable beaus that set a
good face upon fifty. Fifty! I have seen fifty in a side box by

candle-light out-blossom five-and-twenty.
SIR SAMP. Outsides, outsides; a pize take 'em, mere outsides. Hang

your side-box beaus; no, I'm none of those, none of your forced
trees, that pretend to blossom in the fall, and bud when they should

bring forth fruit: I am of a long-lived race, and inheritvigour;
none of my ancestors married till fifty, yet they begot sons and

daughters till fourscore: I am of your patriarchs, I, a branch of
one of your antedeluvian families, fellows that the flood could not

wash away. Well, madam, what are your commands? Has any young
rogue affronted you, and shall I cut his throat? Or -

ANG. No, Sir Sampson, I have no quarrel upon my hands. I have more
occasion for your conduct than your courage at this time. To tell

you the truth, I'm weary of living single and want a husband.
SIR SAMP. Odsbud, and 'tis pity you should. Odd, would she would

like me, then I should hamper my young rogues. Odd, would she
would; faith and troth she's devilish handsome. [Aside.] Madam,

you deserve a good husband, and 'twere pity you should be thrown
away upon any of these young idle rogues about the town. Odd,

there's ne'er a young fellow worth hanging--that is a very young
fellow. Pize on 'em, they never think beforehand of anything; and

if they commit matrimony, 'tis as they commit murder, out of a
frolic, and are ready to hang themselves, or to be hanged by the

law, the next morning. Odso, have a care, madam.
ANG. Therefore I ask your advice, Sir Sampson. I have fortune

enough to make any man easy that I can like: if there were such a
thing as a young agreeable man, with a reasonable stock of good

nature and sense--for I would neither have an absolute wit nor a
fool.

SIR SAMP. Odd, you are hard to please, madam: to find a young
fellow that is neither a wit in his own eye, nor a fool in the eye

of the world, is a very hard task. But, faith and troth, you speak
very discreetly; for I hate both a wit and a fool.

ANG. She that marries a fool, Sir Sampson, forfeits the reputation
of her honesty or understanding; and she that marries a very witty

man is a slave to the severity and insolent conduct of her husband.
I should like a man of wit for a lover, because I would have such an

one in my power; but I would no more be his wife than his enemy.
For his malice is not a more terrible consequence of his aversion

than his jealousy is of his love.
SIR SAMP. None of old Foresight's sibyls ever uttered such a truth.

Odsbud, you have won my heart; I hate a wit: I had a son that was
spoiled among 'em, a good hopeful lad, till he learned to be a wit;

and might have risen in the state. But, a pox on't, his wit run him
out of his money, and now his poverty has run him out of his wits.

ANG. Sir Sampson, as your friend, I must tell you you are very much
abused in that matter: he's no more mad than you are.

SIR SAMP. How, madam! Would I could prove it.
ANG. I can tell you how that may be done. But it is a thing that

would make me appear to be too much concerned in your affairs.
SIR SAMP. Odsbud, I believe she likes me. [Aside.] Ah, madam, all

my affairs are scarceworthy to be laid at your feet; and I wish,
madam, they were in a better posture, that I might make a more

becoming offer to a lady of your incomparable beauty and merit. If
I had Peru in one hand, and Mexico in t'other, and the Eastern

Empire under my feet, it would make me only a more glorious victim
to be offered at the shrine of your beauty.

ANG. Bless me, Sir Sampson, what's the matter?
SIR SAMP. Odd, madam, I love you. And if you would take my advice

in a husband -
ANG. Hold, hold, Sir Sampson. I asked your advice for a husband,

and you are giving me your consent. I was indeed thinking to
propose something like it in jest, to satisfy you about Valentine:

for if a match were seemingly carried on between you and me, it
would oblige him to throw off his disguise of madness, in

apprehension of losing me: for you know he has long pretended a
passion for me.

SIR SAMP. Gadzooks, a most ingenious contrivance--if we were to go
through with it. But why must the match only be seemingly carried

on? Odd, let it be a real contract.
ANG. Oh, fie, Sir Sampson, what would the world say?

SIR SAMP. Say? They would say you were a wise woman and I a happy
man. Odd, madam, I'll love you as long as I live, and leave you a

good jointure when I die.
ANG. Ay; but that is not in your power, Sir Sampson: for when

Valentine confesses himself in his senses, he must make over his
inheritance to his younger brother.

SIR SAMP. Odd, you're cunning, a wary baggage! Faith and troth, I
like you the better. But, I warrant you, I have a proviso in the

obligation in favour of myself. Body o' me, I have a trick to turn
the settlement upon the issue male of our two bodies begotten.

Odsbud, let us find children and I'll find an estate!
ANG. Will you? Well, do you find the estate and leave t'other to

me.
SIR SAMP. O rogue! But I'll trust you. And will you consent? Is

it a match then?
ANG. Let me consult my lawyerconcerning this obligation, and if I

find what you propose practicable, I'll give you my answer.
SIR SAMP. With all my heart: come in with me, and I'll lend you

the bond. You shall consult your lawyer, and I'll consult a parson.
Odzooks, I'm a young man--odzooks, I'm a young man, and I'll make it

appear,--odd, you're devilish handsome. Faith and troth, you're
very handsome, and I'm very young and very lusty. Odsbud, hussy,

you know how to choose, and so do I. Odd, I think we are very well
met. Give me your hand, odd, let me kiss it; 'tis as warm and as

soft--as what? Odd, as t'other hand--give me t'other hand, and I'll
mumble 'em and kiss 'em till they melt in my mouth.

ANG. Hold, Sir Sampson. You're profuse of your vigour before your
time. You'll spend your estate before you come to it.

SIR SAMP. No, no, only give you a rent-roll of my possessions. Ah,
baggage, I warrant you for little Sampson. Odd, Sampson's a very

good name for an able fellow: your Sampsons were strong dogs from
the beginning.

ANG. Have a care and don't over-act your part. If you remember,
Sampson, the strongest of the name, pulled an old house over his

head at last.
SIR SAMP. Say you so, hussy? Come, let's go then; odd, I long to

be pulling too; come away. Odso, here's somebody coming.
SCENE III.