Love for Love [27]
madman to-day.
SCAN. Would he have Angelica acquainted with the reason of his design?
JERE. No, sir, not yet. He has a mind to try whether his playing the madman won't make her play the fool, and fall in love with him; or at least own that she has loved him all this while and concealed it.
SCAN. I saw her take coach just now with her maid, and think I heard her bid the coachman drive hither.
JERE. Like enough, sir, for I told her maid this morning, my master was run stark mad only for love of her mistress.--I hear a coach stop; if it should be she, sir, I believe he would not see her, till he hears how she takes it.
SCAN. Well, I'll try her: --'tis she--here she comes.
SCENE II.
[To them] ANGELICA with JENNY.
ANG. Mr Scandal, I suppose you don't think it a novelty to see a woman visit a man at his own lodgings in a morning?
SCAN. Not upon a kind occasion, madam. But when a lady comes tyrannically to insult a ruined lover, and make manifest the cruel triumphs of her beauty, the barbarity of it something surprises me.
ANG. I don't like raillery from a serious face. Pray tell me what is the matter?
JERE. No strange matter, madam; my master's mad, that's all. I suppose your ladyship has thought him so a great while.
ANG. How d'ye mean, mad?
JERE. Why, faith, madam, he's mad for want of his wits, just as he was poor for want of money; his head is e'en as light as his pockets, and anybody that has a mind to a bad bargain can't do better than to beg him for his estate.
ANG. If you speak truth, your endeavouring at wit is very unseasonable.
SCAN. She's concerned, and loves him. [Aside.]
ANG. Mr Scandal, you can't think me guilty of so much inhumanity as not to be concerned for a man I must own myself obliged to? Pray tell me truth.
SCAN. Faith, madam, I wish telling a lie would mend the matter. But this is no new effect of an unsuccessful passion.
ANG. [Aside.] I know not what to think. Yet I should be vexed to have a trick put upon me. May I not see him?
SCAN. I'm afraid the physician is not willing you should see him yet. Jeremy, go in and enquire.
SCENE III.
SCANDAL, ANGELICA, JENNY.
ANG. Ha! I saw him wink and smile. I fancy 'tis a trick--I'll try.--I would disguise to all the world a failing which I must own to you: I fear my happiness depends upon the recovery of Valentine. Therefore I conjure you, as you are his friend, and as you have compassion upon one fearful of affliction, to tell me what I am to hope for--I cannot speak--but you may tell me, tell me, for you know what I would ask?
SCAN. So, this is pretty plain. Be not too much concerned, madam; I hope his condition is not desperate. An acknowledgment of love from you, perhaps, may work a cure, as the fear of your aversion occasioned his distemper.
ANG. [Aside.] Say you so; nay, then, I'm convinced. And if I don't play trick for trick, may I never taste the pleasure of revenge.--Acknowledgment of love! I find you have mistaken my compassion, and think me guilty of a weakness I am a stranger to. But I have too much sincerity to deceive you, and too much charity to suffer him to be deluded with vain hopes. Good nature and humanity oblige me to be concerned for him; but to love is neither in my power nor inclination, and if he can't be cured without I suck the poison from his wounds, I'm afraid he won't recover his senses till I lose mine.
SCAN. Hey, brave woman, i'faith--won't you see him, then, if he desire it?
ANG. What signify a madman's desires? Besides, 'twould make me uneasy: --if I don't see him, perhaps my concern for him may lessen. If I forget him, 'tis no more than he has done by himself; and now the surprise is over, methinks I am not half so sorry as I was.
SCAN. So, faith, good nature works apace; you were confessing just now an obligation to his love.
ANG. But I have considered that passions are unreasonable and involuntary; if he loves, he can't help it; and if I don't love, I can't help it; no more than he can help his
SCAN. Would he have Angelica acquainted with the reason of his design?
JERE. No, sir, not yet. He has a mind to try whether his playing the madman won't make her play the fool, and fall in love with him; or at least own that she has loved him all this while and concealed it.
SCAN. I saw her take coach just now with her maid, and think I heard her bid the coachman drive hither.
JERE. Like enough, sir, for I told her maid this morning, my master was run stark mad only for love of her mistress.--I hear a coach stop; if it should be she, sir, I believe he would not see her, till he hears how she takes it.
SCAN. Well, I'll try her: --'tis she--here she comes.
SCENE II.
[To them] ANGELICA with JENNY.
ANG. Mr Scandal, I suppose you don't think it a novelty to see a woman visit a man at his own lodgings in a morning?
SCAN. Not upon a kind occasion, madam. But when a lady comes tyrannically to insult a ruined lover, and make manifest the cruel triumphs of her beauty, the barbarity of it something surprises me.
ANG. I don't like raillery from a serious face. Pray tell me what is the matter?
JERE. No strange matter, madam; my master's mad, that's all. I suppose your ladyship has thought him so a great while.
ANG. How d'ye mean, mad?
JERE. Why, faith, madam, he's mad for want of his wits, just as he was poor for want of money; his head is e'en as light as his pockets, and anybody that has a mind to a bad bargain can't do better than to beg him for his estate.
ANG. If you speak truth, your endeavouring at wit is very unseasonable.
SCAN. She's concerned, and loves him. [Aside.]
ANG. Mr Scandal, you can't think me guilty of so much inhumanity as not to be concerned for a man I must own myself obliged to? Pray tell me truth.
SCAN. Faith, madam, I wish telling a lie would mend the matter. But this is no new effect of an unsuccessful passion.
ANG. [Aside.] I know not what to think. Yet I should be vexed to have a trick put upon me. May I not see him?
SCAN. I'm afraid the physician is not willing you should see him yet. Jeremy, go in and enquire.
SCENE III.
SCANDAL, ANGELICA, JENNY.
ANG. Ha! I saw him wink and smile. I fancy 'tis a trick--I'll try.--I would disguise to all the world a failing which I must own to you: I fear my happiness depends upon the recovery of Valentine. Therefore I conjure you, as you are his friend, and as you have compassion upon one fearful of affliction, to tell me what I am to hope for--I cannot speak--but you may tell me, tell me, for you know what I would ask?
SCAN. So, this is pretty plain. Be not too much concerned, madam; I hope his condition is not desperate. An acknowledgment of love from you, perhaps, may work a cure, as the fear of your aversion occasioned his distemper.
ANG. [Aside.] Say you so; nay, then, I'm convinced. And if I don't play trick for trick, may I never taste the pleasure of revenge.--Acknowledgment of love! I find you have mistaken my compassion, and think me guilty of a weakness I am a stranger to. But I have too much sincerity to deceive you, and too much charity to suffer him to be deluded with vain hopes. Good nature and humanity oblige me to be concerned for him; but to love is neither in my power nor inclination, and if he can't be cured without I suck the poison from his wounds, I'm afraid he won't recover his senses till I lose mine.
SCAN. Hey, brave woman, i'faith--won't you see him, then, if he desire it?
ANG. What signify a madman's desires? Besides, 'twould make me uneasy: --if I don't see him, perhaps my concern for him may lessen. If I forget him, 'tis no more than he has done by himself; and now the surprise is over, methinks I am not half so sorry as I was.
SCAN. So, faith, good nature works apace; you were confessing just now an obligation to his love.
ANG. But I have considered that passions are unreasonable and involuntary; if he loves, he can't help it; and if I don't love, I can't help it; no more than he can help his