The Beaux-Stratagem | Page 7

can do
to me; I pay him his rent at quarter-day; I have a good running-trade; I
have but one daughter, and I can give her--but no matter for that. {111}
Aim. You're very happy, Mr. Boniface. Pray, what other company have
you in town?
Bon. A power of fine ladies; and then we have the French officers.
Aim. Oh, that's right, you have a good many of those gentlemen: pray,
how do you like their 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