HILLARIO.

What a Plague shou'd Lord Marcellus want here now?—I'll be hang'd if there be'nt some Mischief o'Foot—Oh this is the Place Lady Julia was to meet him in.—Well, I did not think he wou'd ha' come I must confess.—Poor Devil! how she'll use him now! But mum, let's hear what he has to say for himself?

MARCELLUS.

Whither am I going?—What do I here?—Is not this the Place, I expect to see a Woman in, and consequently one, I ought to avoid, as I would a false Friend, or an Adder's Nest?—Well recollected;—I'll once more be Master of my Reason, and leave it before I see her:— Yet, why shou'd I?—What Danger is there in seeing her? I am out of the Power of any Mischief, she can design me:—I have trusted her with no Secrets;—deny'd her no Favours, and am secure from her Revenge.—Surely, I'm free from any Temptations, any Love-traps she can lay in my Way.—Let me see, I think I may venture: Yet she's a Woman;—what then?—Why under that damn'd Word is comprehended every Thing to be avoided. Yet sure she must be something more than the rest of her detested Sex.—Some Being perhaps of a superior Order: That gay Innocence, that noble Simplicity that appears in all her Actions confirm it:—Yet hold; am not I prejudiced

to her?—But what shou'd prejudice me? I am no Love-sick, wishing Boy, to be insnared by the alluring Form of the deceiving Tempters.—It must be so.—What in the rest of her Sex is no more than Impertinence and Affectation, in her is but a becoming Gaiety, the natural Result of Innocence, Virtue, and good Nature.— Shou'd Antonio and his Companions hear me reasoning thus, what wou'd they think?—But what they will, I care not; it cannot be a Crime to plead the Cause of Virtue:—Yet, let me think a little:—Confusion! more Objections!—I'll think no longer; but on, and lose the Thoughts of Danger in the Midst of it.