MIRA. Oh, in good time. Your leave for the other offender and

penitent to appear, madam.
SCENE XII.

[To them] WAITWELL with a box of writings.
LADY. O Sir Rowland! Well, rascal?

WAIT. What your ladyship pleases. I have brought the black box at
last, madam.

MIRA. Give it me. Madam, you remember your promise.
LADY. Ay, dear sir.

MIRA. Where are the gentlemen?
WAIT. At hand, sir, rubbing their eyes,--just risen from sleep.

FAIN. 'Sdeath, what's this to me? I'll not wait your private
concerns.

SCENE XIII.
[To them] PETULANT, WITWOUD.

PET. How now? What's the matter? Whose hand's out?
WIT. Hey day! What, are you all got together, like players at the

end of the last act?
MIRA. You may remember, gentlemen, I once requested your hands as

witnesses to a certain parchment.
WIT. Ay, I do, my hand I remember--Petulant set his mark.

MIRA. You wrong him; his name is fairly written, as shall appear.
You do not remember, gentlemen, anything of what that parchment

contained? [Undoing the box.]
WIT. No.

PET. Not I. I writ; I read nothing.
MIRA. Very well, now you shall know. Madam, your promise.

LADY. Ay, ay, sir, upon my honour.
MIRA. Mr. Fainall, it is now time that you should know that your

lady, while she was at her own disposal, and before you had by your
insinuations wheedled her out of a pretended settlement of the

greatest part of her fortune -
FAIN. Sir! Pretended?

MIRA. Yes, sir. I say that this lady, while a widow, having, it
seems, received some cautions respecting your inconstancy and

tyranny of temper, which from her own partial opinion and fondness
of you she could never have suspected--she did, I say, by the

wholesome advice of friends and of sages learned in the laws of this
land, deliver this same as her act and deed to me in trust, and to

the uses within mentioned. You may read if you please [holding out
the parchment], though perhaps what is written on the back may serve

your occasions.
FAIN. Very likely, sir. What's here? Damnation! [Reads] A DEED

OF CONVEYANCE OF THE WHOLE ESTATE REAL OF ARABELLA LANGUISH, WIDOW,
IN TRUST TO EDWARD MIRABELL. Confusion!

MIRA. Even so, sir: 'tis the way of the world, sir; of the widows
of the world. I suppose this deed may bear an elder date than what

you have obtained from your lady.
FAIN. Perfidious fiend! Then thus I'll be revenged. [Offers to

run at MRS. FAINALL.]
SIR WIL. Hold, sir; now you may make your bear-garden flourish

somewhere else, sir.
FAIN. Mirabell, you shall hear of this, sir; be sure you shall.

Let me pass, oaf.
MRS. FAIN. Madam, you seem to stifle your resentment. You had

better give it vent.
MRS. MAR. Yes, it shall have vent, and to your confusion, or I'll

perish in the attempt.
SCENE the Last.

LADY WISHFORT, MRS. MILLAMANT, MIRABELL, MRS. FAINALL, SIR WILFULL,
PETULANT, WITWOUD, FOIBLE, MINCING, WAITWELL.

LADY. O daughter, daughter, 'tis plain thou hast inherited thy
mother's prudence.

MRS. FAIN. Thank Mr. Mirabell, a cautious friend, to whose advice
all is owing.

LADY. Well, Mr. Mirabell, you have kept your promise, and I must
perform mine. First, I pardon for your sake Sir Rowland there and

Foible. The next thing is to break the matter to my nephew, and how
to do that -

MIRA. For that, madam, give yourself no trouble; let me have your
consent. Sir Wilfull is my friend: he has had compassion upon

lovers, and generously engaged a volunteer in this action, for our
service, and now designs to prosecute his travels.

SIR WIL. 'Sheart, aunt, I have no mind to marry. My cousin's a
fine lady, and the gentleman loves her and she loves him, and they

deserve one another; my resolution is to see foreign parts. I have
set on't, and when I'm set on't I must do't. And if these two

gentlemen would travel too, I think they may be spared.
PET. For my part, I say little. I think things are best off or on.

WIT. I'gad, I understand nothing of the matter: I'm in a maze yet,
like a dog in a dancing school.

LADY. Well, sir, take her, and with her all the joy I can give you.
MILLA. Why does not the man take me? Would you have me give myself

to you over again?
MIRA. Ay, and over and over again. [Kisses her hand.] I would

have you as often as possibly I can. Well, heav'n grant I love you
not too well; that's all my fear.

SIR WIL. 'Sheart, you'll have time enough to toy after you're
married, or, if you will toy now, let us have a dance in the

meantime; that we who are not lovers may have some other employment
besides looking on.

MIRA. With all my heart, dear Sir Wilfull. What shall we do for
music?

FOIB. Oh, sir, some that were provided for Sir Rowland's
entertainment are yet within call. [A dance.]

LADY. As I am a person, I can hold out no longer: I have wasted my
spirits so to-day already that I am ready to sink under the fatigue;

and I cannot but have some fears upon me yet, that my son Fainall
will pursue some desperate course.

MIRA. Madam, disquiet not yourself on that account: to my
knowledge his circumstances are such he must of force comply. For

my part I will contribute all that in me lies to a reunion. In the
meantime, madam [to MRS. FAINALL], let me before these witnesses

restore to you this deed of trust: it may be a means, well managed,
to make you live easily together.

From hence let those be warned, who mean to wed,
Lest mutualfalsehood stain the bridal-bed:

For each deceiver to his cost may find
That marriage frauds too oft are paid in kind.

[Exeunt Omnes.]
EPILOGUE--Spoken by Mrs. Bracegirdle.

After our Epilogue this crowd dismisses,
I'm thinking how this play'll be pulled to pieces.

But pray consider, e'er you doom its fall,
How hard a thing 'twould be to please you all.

There are some critics so with spleen diseased,
They scarcely come inclining to be pleased:

And sure he must have more than mortal skill
Who pleases anyone against his will.

Then, all bad poets we are sure are foes,
And how their number's swelled the town well knows

In shoals, I've marked 'em judging in the pit;
Though they're on no pretence for judgment fit,

But that they have been damned for want of wit.
Since when, they, by their own offences taught,

Set up for spies on plays, and finding fault.
Others there are whose malice we'd prevent:

Such, who watch plays, with scurrilous intent
To mark out who by characters are meant:

And though no perfect likeness they can trace,
Yet each pretends to know the copied face.

These, with false glosses, feed their own ill-nature,
And turn to libel what was meant a satire.

May such malicious fops this fortune find,
To think themselves alone the fools designed:

If any are so arrogantly vain,
To think they singly can support a scene,

And furnish fool enough to entertain.
For well the learned and the judicious know,

That satire scorns to stoop so meanly low,
As any one abstracted fop to show.

For, as when painters form a matchless face,
They from each fair one catch some diff'rent grace,

And shining features in one portrait blend,
To which no single beauty must pretend:

So poets oft do in one piece expose
Whole BELLES ASSEMBLEES of coquettes and beaux.

End

• temper [´tempə] n.韧度 v.锻炼；调和 (初中英语单词)
• estate [i´steit] n.财产；庄园；等级 (初中英语单词)
• confusion [kən´fju:ʒən] n.混乱(状态)；骚乱 (初中英语单词)
• pardon [´pɑ:dən] n.&vt.原谅；饶恕；赦免 (初中英语单词)
• nephew [´nevju:, ´nɛfju] n.侄子；外甥 (初中英语单词)
• resolution [,rezə´lu:ʃən] n.决心；坚决；果断 (初中英语单词)
• pursue [pə´sju:] v.追赶；追踪；从事 (初中英语单词)
• desperate [´despərit] a.拼死的；绝望的 (初中英语单词)
• account [ə´kaunt] vi.说明 vt.认为 n.帐目 (初中英语单词)
• contribute [kən´tribju:t] v.贡献出；投稿；捐献 (初中英语单词)
• disposal [di´spəuzəl] n.处理；支配 (高中英语单词)
• learned [´lə:nid] a.有学问的，博学的 (高中英语单词)
• stifle [´staifəl] vt.(使)窒息，闷死 (高中英语单词)
• resentment [ri´zentmənt] n.不满；怨恨；忿恨 (高中英语单词)
• volunteer [,vɔlən´tiə] n.志愿者 v.自愿做 (高中英语单词)
• mutual [´mju:tʃuəl] a.相互的；共同的 (高中英语单词)
• falsehood [´fɔ:lshud] n.错误；撒谎 (高中英语单词)
• mortal [´mɔ:tl] a.致命的 n.凡人 (高中英语单词)
• pretence [pri´tens] n.假装；托词；无理要求 (高中英语单词)
• damned [dæmd] a.该死的 ad.非常，极 (高中英语单词)
• finding [´faindiŋ] n.发现物；判断；结果 (高中英语单词)
• malice [´mælis] n.恶意；怨恨；预谋 (高中英语单词)
• likeness [´laiknis] n.相似；肖像；外表 (高中英语单词)
• portrait [´pɔ:trit] n.肖像；相片；雕像 (高中英语单词)
• offender [ə´fendə] n.冒犯者；罪犯 (英语四级单词)
• partial [´pɑ:ʃəl] a.部分的；偏袒的 (英语四级单词)
• conveyance [kən´veiəns] n.运送；传达；传播 (英语四级单词)
• languish [´læŋgwiʃ] vi.变得衰弱无力 (英语四级单词)
• cautious [´kɔ:ʃəs] a.小心的；谨慎的 (英语四级单词)
• compassion [kəm´pæʃən] n.同情；怜悯 (英语四级单词)
• generously [´dʒenərəsli] ad.慷慨地 (英语四级单词)
• prosecute [´prɔsikju:t] v.彻底进行(调查) (英语四级单词)
• comply [kəm´plai] vi.照做 (英语四级单词)
• satire [´sætaiə] n.讽刺；讽刺作品 (英语四级单词)
• matchless [´mætʃləs] a.无敌的，无比的 (英语四级单词)
• respecting [ri´spektiŋ] prep.由于；鉴于 (英语六级单词)
• reunion [ri:´ju:njən] n.再结合；再联合；团聚 (英语六级单词)
• malicious [mə´liʃəs] a.恶意的；预谋的 (英语六级单词)
• judicious [dʒu:´diʃəs] a.明智的；贤明的 (英语六级单词)