position. Those with whom he has or may have any transactions in this affair, are not used to practice fraud.

Gent. I am far from meaning any offense, Madam; my commission from Mr. Eggleston is simply this; to beg you will satisfy him upon what ground you now evade the will of your late uncle; which till explained, appears to bẹ a point much to his prejudice.

Cec. Tell him then, Sir, that whatever he wishes to know shall be explained in about a week. At present I can give no other answer.

Gent. Very well, Madam, he will wait till that time, I am sure; for he does not wish to put you to any inconvenience. But when he heard the gentleman was gone abroad without owning his marriage, he thought it high time to take some notice of the matter.

Cec. Pray, Sir, let me ask, how you came to any knowledge of this affair?

Gent. I heard it, Madam, from Mr. Eggleston himself, who has long known it.

Cec. Long, Sir?-impossible! It is not yet a fortnightnot ten days, or not more, that—

Gent. That, Madam, may perhaps be disputed; for when this business comes to be settled, it will be very essential to be exact as to the time, even to the very hour; for the income of the estate is large, Madam; and if your husband keeps his own name, you must not only give up your uncle's inheritance, from the time of changing your name; but refund the profits from the very day of your marriage.

Cec. There is, not the least doubt of that, nor will the least difficulty be made.'

Gent. Please then to recollect, Madam, that the sum to be refunded is every hour increasing, and has been ever since last September, which made a half year to be accounted for last March. Since then there is now added

Cec. For mercy's sake, Sir, what calculations are you making out? Do you call last week last September?

Gent. No, Madam; but I call last September the month in which you was married.

Cec. You will then find yourself extremely mistaken; and Mr. Eggleston is preparing himself for much disapointment if he supposes me so long in arrears with him. Sent. Mr. Eggleston, madam, happens to be well in

formed of this transaction, as you will find, if any dispute should arise in the case. He was the next occupier of the house you hired last September; the woman who kept it, informed him that the last person who hired it was a lady, who stayed one day only, and came to town, she found, merely to be married. On enquiry, he discovered that the lady was Miss Beverly.

Cec. You will find all this, Sir, end in nothing.

Gent. That, Madam, remains to be proved. If a young lady is seen-and she was seen, going into church at eight o'clock in the morning, with a young gentleman and one female friend; and is afterwards seen coming out of it followed by a clergyman and one other person-and is seen to get into a coach with the same young gentleman and same female friend, why the circumstances are pretty strong!

Cec. They may seem so, Sir, but all conclusions drawn from them will be erroneous: I was not married then, upon my honor.

Gent. We have little to do, Madam, with professions; the circumstances are strong enough to bear trial, and— Cec. A trial!

Gent. We have found many witnesses to prove a number of particulars; and eight months share of such an estate as this, is worth a little trouble.

Cec. I am amazed, Sir; surely Mr. Eggleston never authorised you to make use of this language to me.

Gent. Mr. Eggleston, Madam, has behaved very honorably, though he knew the whole affair, he supposed Mr. Delvill had good reasons for a short concealment, and expected every day when the matter would become public. He therefore did not interfere. But on hearing that Mr. Delvill had set out for the continent, he was advised to claim his rights.

Cec. His claims, Sir, will doubtless be satisfied without threatening or law suits.

Gent. The truth is, Madam, Mr. Eggleston is a little embarrassed for want of some money. This makes it a point with him to have the affair settled speedily, unless you choose to compromise, by advancing a particular sum, till it suits you to refund the whole that is due to him, and quit the premises.

Cec. Nothing, Sir, is due to him; at least nothing

worth mentioning. I will enter into no terms

I have no compromise to make. As to the premises, I will quit them as soon as possible.

Gent. You will do well, Madam, for the truth is, it will not be convenient for him to wait any longer. [Goes out.]

Cec. How weak and blind have I been, to form a secret plan of defrauding the heir of my uncle's estate! I am betrayed-and I deserve it. Never, never more will I disgrace myself by such an act.

Scene between CECILIA and HENRIETTA.

Cec. WHA
Who is it that has already afflicted that kind

HAT is the matter with my dear Henrietta?

heart, which I am now compelled to afflict for myself? Hen. No, Madam, not afflicted for you! It would be strange, if I was, while I think as I now do.

Cec. I am glad you are not, for was it possible, I would give you nothing but pleasure and joy.

Hen. Ah, Madam, why will you say so, when you don't care what becomes of me? When you are going to cast me off, and when you will soon be too happy to think of me

more.

Cec. If I am never happy till then, sad indeed will be my life! No, my gentlest friend, you will always have your share in my heart and to me would always have been the welcomest guest in my house, but for those unhappy circum stances which make our separating inevitable.

Hen. Yet you suffered me, Madam, to hear from any body that you was married and going away; and all the common servants in the house knew it before me.

Cec. I am amazed! How and which way can they have heard it?

Hen. The man that went to Mr. Eggleston brought the first news of it, for he said all the servants there talked of nothing else, and that their master was to come and take possession here next Thursday.

Cec. Yet you envy me, though I am forced to leave my house-though I am not provided with any other! and tho' he for whom I relinquish it is far off, without the means of protecting me, or the power of returning home.

Hen. But are you married to him, nadam?

Cec. True, my love, but I am also parted from him.

Hen. O how differently do the great think from the little. Was I married-and so married, I should want neither house nor fine clothes, nor riches, nor any thing-I should not care where I lived-every place would be a paradise to

me.

Cec. O Henrietta! Should I ever repine at my situation, I will call to mind this heroic declaration of yours, and blush for my own weakness.

Scene between Dr. Lrster, Mr. DELVILL, Mr. Mortimer DELVILL, and CECILIA, his wife, and LADY HONORIA.

Y

Dr. Lys. My good friends, in the course of my long

practice, I have found it impossible to study the human frame, without looking a little into the mind; and from all that I have yet been able to make out, either by observation, reflection or comparison, it appears to me at this moment that Mr. Mortimer Delvill has got the best wife, and you, Sir, (to Mr. Delvill) the most faultless daughter-in-law, that any husband or any father-in-law in the kingdom can have or desire.

Lady Hon. When you say the best and most faultless, Dr. Lyster, you should always add, the rest of the company excepted.

Dr. Lys. Upon my word, I beg your Ladyship's pardon; but sometimes an unguarded warmth comes across a man, that drives ceremony from his head, and makes him speak truth before he well knows where he is.

er;

Lady Hon. Oh terrible! this is sinking deeper and deepI had hopes the town air had taught you better things; but I find you have visited Delvill castle, till you are fit for no other place.

Del. [offended] Whoever, Lady Honoria, is fit for Delvill Castle, must be fit for every other place; though every other place may by no means be fit for him.

Lady Hon. O yes, Sir, every possible place will be fit for him, if he can once bear with that. Don't you think so, Dr. Lyster?

Dr. Lys. Why, when a man has the honor to see your Ladyship, he is apt to think too much of the person to care about the place.

Lady Hon. Come, I begin to have some hopes of you, for I see, for a doctor, you really have a pretty notion

of a compliment. Only you have one great fault still, you look the whole time as if you said it for a joke.

Dr. Lys. Why in fact, Madam, when a man has been a plain dealer both in word and look for fifty years, 'tis expecting too quick a reformation to demand ductility of voice and eye from him at a blow. However, give me a little time and a little encouragement, and with such a tutoress, 'twill be hard, if I do not in a few lessons, learn the right method of seasoning a simper, and the newest fashion of twisting words from their meaning.

Lady Hon. But pray, Sir, always remember, on these occasions to look serious. Nothing sets off a compliment so much as a long face. If you are tempted to an unseasonable laugh, think of Delvill Castle; 'tis an expedient I commonly make use of myself, when I am afraid of being too frolicsome; and it always succeeds, for the very thought of it gives me the head-ache in a moment. I wonder, Mr. Delvill, you keep your health so good; after living in that horrible place so long. I have expected to hear of your death at the end of every summer, and I assure you, I was once very near buying mourning.

Del. The estate which descends to a man from his ancestors, Lady Honoria, will seldom be apt to injure his health, if he is conscious of committing no misdemeanor which has degraded their memory.

Lady Hon. [In a low voice to Cecilia.] How vastly odious is this new father of yours! What could ever induce you to give up your charming estate for the sake of coming into his fusty old family? I would really advise you to have your marriage annulled. You know you have only to take an oath that you were forcibly run away with; and as you are an heiress, and the Delvill's are all so violent, it will easily be believed. And then, as soon as you are at liberty, I would advise you to marry my little Lord Derford.

Cec. Would you only then have me regain my freedom in order to part with it?

Lady Hon. Certainly, for you can do nothing at all without being married. A single woman is a thousand times more shackled than a wife; for she is accountable to every body; and a wife, you know, has nothing to do but just to manage her husband.

Cec. [smiling] And that you consider as a trifle ¦