Carel. Your sister? Cons. 'Tis even so. Carel. Are you in earnest ? Cons. 'Tis she, by heaven! Carel. Why, then, your sister is a charming girl, and what think you of me for a brother-in-law? Const. If my sister thinks but half as well of you, I shall be most proud of the relationship. Carel. And if she does not think well of me, the relationship may go to the devil; for my fortune shall never purchase the hand, which my own merits are not able to obtain. AIR 16th. I. Curs'd be the wretch whose wealth succeeds To buy the heart he cannot move, And to the altar rais'd for love, His trembling captive leads. II. Long may her cold reluctant charms, With lifeless beauty fill his arms, And leave his heart a void. [Exeunt. Scene, the Elm Grove. Enter SOPHIA. AIR 17th. Sweet minstrel of the midnight hour, Who, from thy solitary bower, Pourest thy plaintive trill, For nought but love forlorn can be Breathing so musically forth thy woes, Night borrows silence from each dying close. Soph. This second letter of Constant's puzzles me still more than his former one. Indeed he appears to have forgotten that he had written the first. shews, however, that his reason is less disturbed. Enter CONSTANT. It Constant! Cons. Sophia! arms, but stops short.) possible. (He endeavours to rush into her Sdeath! I cannot-'tis im Soph. Is it thus we are to meet ? Do you not know me, Constant ? Cons. Oh, yes, I know you well; you are the woman whose misfortune would have grieved, had not her falsehood undone me. Soph. Misfortune! Falsehood! he has relapsed again. Come, come, you are not well: lean on my arm, and recollect yourself. Cons. Recollect myself? Was I not an eye witness to the whole? Did I not just now overhear you confess to that scoundrel attorney that you had resigned me for ever. Soph. So, so, so! Cons. To your utter confusion, I was concealed in the closet, and privy to it all. Soph. Ha, ha, ha! Ha, ha, ha! Cons. 'Sdeath! to be laugh'd at, too! Soph. Laugh'd at! Why, could you really suppose I should invent such a fable, but to avoid his odious addresses: though, had the story been true, your misfortune would have been as great as mine. Cons. My misfortune? Soph. Come, come, the fellow you sent with the letter blabb'd the secret. Cons. Did he? Soph. Yes, he told me the whole affair. Cons. And what did he tell you? Soph. Nay, nay - the masqued battery. Soph. Why hav'nt you Cons. What? Soph. Lost your right arm? Cons. My right arm! Soph. Then I have been imposed on too. The fellow you sent with the letter told me you had lost your right arm from the opening of a masqued battery. Cons. Did he? The first time I catch him, I'll convince him to the contrary. Thus our perplexities vanish; and thus I open both my arms to press you once more to this faithful bosom. Soph. And thus, with both my legs, I fly to meet you. (They embrace.) Yet our interview must be short your friend the lawyer has been robb'd: the whole village is abroad: I shall be presently missed, and Cons. True; our being found together might lead to discoveries which, at present, must not be made. Soph. And yet, after so long an absence — Cons. My dear girl, we must submit to necessity. We part but till to-morrow, when I shall openly avow myself, and claim you at your father's hands. AIR 18th. (Duet.) I. As men who long at sea have been, With rapture greet. II. As maids with midnight vigils pale, up some sweet love-woven tale; Where all their warmest wishes dwell; So lovers part, With breaking heart. Scene, near Justice FIDGET's. Enter TODDY. [Exeunt. Tod. Ecod! this old port gets into a man's head pre |