The Beaux-Stratagem | Page 7

company?
Bon. So well, as the saying is, that I could wish we had as many more of'em; they're full of money, and pay double for everything they have. They know, sir, that we paid good round taxes for the taking of 'em, and so they are willing to reimburse us a little. One of 'em lodges in my house. {123}
Re-enter Archer.
Arch. Landlord, there are some French gentlemen below that ask for you.
Bon. I'll wait on 'em.--[Aside to Archer.] Does your master stay long in town, as the saying is?
Arch. I can't tell, as the saying is.
Bon. Come from London?
Arch. No. {130}
Bon. Going to London, mayhap?
Arch. No.
Bon. [Aside.] An odd fellow this.--[To Aimwell.] I beg your worship's pardon, I 'll wait on you in half a minute. [Exit.
Aim. The coast's clear, I see.--Now, my dear Archer, welcome to Lichfield!
Arch. I thank thee, my dear brother in iniquity.
Aim. Iniquity! prithee, leave canting; you need not change your style with your dress. {140}
Arch. Don't mistake me, Aimwell, for 'tis still my maxim, that there is no scandal like rags, nor any crime so shameful as poverty.
Aim. The world confesses it every day in its practice though men won't own it for their opinion. Who did that worthy lord my brother, single out of the side-box to sup with him t' other night?
Arch. Jack Handicraft, a handsome, well-dressed, mannerly, sharping rogue, who keeps the best company in town. {150}
Aim. Right!' And, pray, who married my lady Manslaughter t'other day, the great fortune?
Arch. Why, Nick Marrabone, a professed pickpocket, and a good bowler; but he makes a handsome figure, and rides in his coach, that he formerly used to ride behind.
Aim. But did you observe poor Jack Generous in the Park last week.
Arch. Yes, with his autumnal periwig, shading his melancholy face, his coat older than anything but its fashion, with one hand idle in his pocket, and with the other picking his useless teeth; and, though the Mall was crowded with company, yet was poor Jack as single and solitary as a lion in a desert.
Aim. And as much avoided for no crime upon earth but the want of money. {166}
Arch. And that's enough. Men must not be poor; idleness is the root of all evil; the world's wide enough, let 'em bustle. Fortune has taken the weak under her protection, but men of sense are left to their industry. {171}
Aim. Upon which topic we proceed, and, I think, luckily hitherto. Would not any man swear now, that I am a man of quality, and you my servant, when if our intrinsic value were known--
Arch. Come, come, we are the men of intrinsic value who can strike our fortunes out of ourselves, whose worth is independent of accidents in life, or revolutions in government: we have heads to get money and hearts to spend it. {180}
Aim. As to pur hearts, I grant ye, they are as willing tits as any within twenty degrees: but I can have no great opinion of our heads from the service they have done us hitherto, unless it be that they have brought us from London hither to Lichfield, made me a lord and you my servant.
Arch. That 's more than you could expect already. But what money have we left?
Aim. But two hundred pound. {189}
Arch. And our horses, clothes, rings, etc.--Why, we have very good fortunes now for moderate people; and, let me tell you, that this two hundred pound, with the experience that we are now masters of, is a better estate than the ten we have spent--Our friends, indeed, began to suspect that our pockets were low, but we came off with flying colours, showed no signs of want either in word or deed.
Aim. Ay, and our going to Brussels was a good pretence enough for our sudden disappearing; and, I warrant you, our friends imagine that we are gone a-volunteering. {201}
Arch. Why, faith, if this prospect fails, it must e'en come to that I am for venturing one of the hundreds, if you will, upon this knight-errantry; but, in case it should fail, we 'll reserve t' other to carry us to some counterscarp, where we may die, as we lived, in a blaze.
Aim. With all my heart; and we have lived justly, Archer: we can't say that we have spent our fortunes, but that we have enjoyed 'em. {210}
Arch. Right! so much pleasure for so much money. We have had our pennyworths; and, had I millions, I would go to the same market again.--O London! London!--Well, we have had our share, and let us be thankful: past pleasures, for aught I know, are best, such as we are sure of; those to come may disappoint us. {217}
Aim. It has often grieved the heart of me to see how some inhuman wretches murder their kind