Re-enter Mrs. Lovejoy.

Mrs. Lov.  I hope, Madam, your Ladiship’s not displeas’d with me; ’tis my int’rest to oblige in ev’ry thing, where daily I receive such numerous Favours. [Aside].  She has the Money, and I must submit, tho’ ’tis well known, I’m of a much better Family.

L. Rod.  Excuse me, dear Cozen, and don’t imagine the most finish’d Cavalier cou’d shake my firm Resolves; but when a Fellow’s arrogance shall dare to proffer his unwelcome worthless Love, then villainously act the same Part elsewhere; Honour won’t let me tamely acquiesce.

Mrs. Lov. Madam, Mr. Nicknack desires the favour of kissing your Hands.

L. Rod. Pray admit him, Cozen, he’s rich and personable, very good humour’d, and no Fool:  His aspiring at me does indeed show a prodigious stock of Vanity; but ’tis a failing, People o’the best Sense are liable to, and I had rather prove a Man too ambitious than to have no spirit at all.

    Enter Nicknack.

Mr. Nicknack, I’m so us’d to you of late, methinks your absence gives me some Chagrin; where have you been this tedious long half Hour?

Nick.  When we flung up the Cards, Madam, I went to see the two Children that grow together; I wish ’twere your Ladiship’s case and mine.

L. Rod. We shou’d rejoice to be parted agen.

Nick. But has your Ladiship contemplated prodigiously o’the Matter?  For really, Madam, I begin to find my self in more hast than I thought I was.

L. Rod. Already, Mr. Nicknack, you’re too hasty; tho’ I have this opinion of you, a Match with you requires less pro and con than with some others; but I fancy People look so silly when they’re going to be marry’d, to see ’em walk demurely up the Church, so sheepishly consenting and asham’d; with shoals of gaping Fools, that crowd about ’em, as if a Marriage were a Miracle; prithee, Mr. Nicknack, that I may guess a little at the Matter for a Frollick, let my Footman marry you, and my Cozen together.

Mrs. Lov. Mr. Nicknack, and I, Madam.

Nick. Mrs. Lovejoy, and I, Madam, a very good Jest i’faith.

L. Rod. But you must believe, you’re really marry’d, or how shall I discover the true Air of it?

Nick. But, Madam, is not believing what one knows to be false, somewhat like a Tradegy Actress; who while she’s playing a Queen or Empress, is full as haughty, and thinks her self as great.

L. Rod. Oh! a strong faith often deprives People of their Senses.

Nick. Nay, Madam, I have frequently told monstrous Stories, ‘till I ha’ believ’d ’em my self.

L. Rod. We’ll step into the next Room, I have a Fellow too that has the best Puritanical Face you ever saw; but the Society o’the Livery has secur’d him from ever being a Saint. [Exeunt