going to church *), and fairly quarrelled before the bells were done ringing **). I was more than once nearly choaked with gall during the honey-moon, and had lost every satisfaction in life, before my friends had done wishing me joy. And yet, I chose with caution a girl bred wholly in the country, who had never known luxury, beyond one silk gown, or dissipation beyond the annual gala of a race-ball ***). Yet now, she plays her part in all the extravagant fopperies of the town; with as good a grace as if she had never seen a bush, or a grass plot out of Grosvenor - Square ****). I am sneered at by all my acquaintance - paragraphed in the news-papers she dissipates ny fortune, and contradicts all my humours. And yet, the worst of it is, I doubt I love her, or I should never bear all this but I am determined never to be weak enough to let her know it No! no! no! - - Enter Rowley. - Rowl. Sir Peter, your servant; how do you find yourself to day? Sir Pet. Very bad, Mr. Rowley; very bad indeed. Rowl. I'm sorry to hear that what has happened to make you uneasy since yesterday? Sir Peter. A pretty question truly to a married man. nen Erläuterungen der Townleyschen Farce high Life below stairs) hat aus der Encyclopædia of Wit p. 86 viele dergleichen angeführt, als: a saucy dog, proud dog, - pimping dog, gallows dog, saivelling dog, careless dog, - odd dog, hungry dog, honest dog, forgetful dog, - dirty - shabby dog, - pitiful dog, dog, whoring dog, - lazy dog, - cheating dog, - drunken dog, - sneering dog, etc. etc. etc. *) Die Trauungen werden in England in der Regel in der Kirche vollzogen; um aufserhalb derselben diese religiöse Handlung vollziehen zu lassen, ist eine special licence erforderlich. **) Bei vielen Veranlassungen, unter andern bei Trauungen, werden die Glocken, indefs auf eine harmonischere und kunstvollere Art, als bei uns gezogen. ***) Bei Gelegenheit der in pielen Englischen Provinzialstädten Statt findenden Pferderennen, zu welcher Feierlichkeit auch viele Bewohner des platten Landes strömen, werden, so wie bei Gelegenheit der assizes, auch Bälle gegeben; diese sind hier unter race-ball gemeint. ****) Grosvenor-Square, einer der schönsten Squares in London, in dessen Mitte sich ein, mit Gebüsch verzierter, grüner Platz befindet. Das Ganze umgiebt ein Gitter, zu dessen Eröffnung die Anwohner die Schlüssel haben. Sir Pet. Why! has any one told you she was dead? Rowl. Come, come, Sir Peter, notwithstanding you sometimes dispute and disagree, I am sure you love her. Sir Pet. Ay, master Rowley; but the worst of it is, that in all our disputes and quarrels, she is ever in the wrong, and continues to thwart and vex me; I am myself the sweetest tempered mau in the world, and so I tell her an hundred ti mes a-day, Rowl. Indeed, Sir Peter! Sir Pet. Yes and then there's lady Sneerwell, and the set) she meets at her house, encourage her to disobedience; and Maria, my ward, she too presumes to have a will of her own, and refuses the man I propose for her; designing, I suppose, to bestow herself and fortune upon that profligate, his brother. Rowl. You know, Sir Peter, I have often taken the liberty to differ in opinion with you, in regard to these two young men; for Charles, my life on't, will retrieve all one day or other. Their worthy father, my once honoured master, at his years, was full as wild and extravagant as Charles now is; but at his death he did not leave a more benevolent heart to lament his loss. Sir. Pet. You are wrong, master Rowley, you are very wrong; by their father's will, you know, I became guardian to these young men, which gave me an opportunity of knowing their different dispositions; but their uncle's Eastern liberality soon took them out of my power, by giving them an early independence. But for Charles, whatever good qualities he might have inherited, they are long since squandered away with the rest of his fortune. Joseph, indeed, is a pattern for the young men of the age a youth of the noblest sentiments, and acts up to the sentiments he professes. Rowl. Well, well, Sir Peter, I shan't oppose your opinion at present, though I am sorry you are prejudiced against Charles, as this may probably be the most critical period of his life, for his uncle, Sir Oliver, is arrived, and now in town. Sir. Pet. What! my old friend, Sir Oliver, is he ar rived? I thought you had not 'expected him this month. *) Set, im verächtlichen Sinne: Brut, Race. So sagt man aus Verachtung von Leuten: they are a very bad set Rowl. No more we did, Sir, but his passage has been remarkably quick. "Tis six But does he still Sir Pet. I shall be heartily glad to see him teen years since old Nol *) and I met enjoin us to keep his arrival a secret from his nephews? Rowl. He does, Sir; and is determined, under a feigned character, to make trial of their different dispositions. Sir Pet. Ah! there is no need of it, for Joseph, I am sure, is the man But hark'ye, Rowley, does Sir Oliver know that I am married? Rowl. He does, Sir, and intends shortly to wish you joy. Sir. Pet. What, as we wish health to a friend in a consumption. But I must have him at my house do you conduct him, Rowley, and I'll go and give orders for his reception. [going] We used to rail at matrimony together he has stood firm to his text. But Rowley, don't give him the least hint that my wife and I disagree, for I would have him think (Heaven forgive me) that we are a happy couple. Rowl. Then you must be careful not to quarrel whilst he is here. Sir Pet. And so we must — but that will be impossi ble! Zounds, Rowley, when an old Batchelor marries at young wife, he deserves ay, he deserves nc the cri me carries the punishment along with it. A CT I I. SCENE 1. Sir Peter Teazle's House. Enter Sir Peter and Lady Teazle. Sir Pet. Lady Teazle, Lady Teazle, I won't bear it. L. Teaz. Very well, Sir Peter, you may bear it or not, just as you please; but I know I ought to have my own way in every thing, and what's more, I will. Sir Pet. What, madam! is there no respect due to the authority of a husband? L. Teaz. Why, don't I know that no woman of fashion *) Nol, abgekürzt für Oliver, does as she is bid after her marriage. - Though I was bred in the country, I'm no stranger to that: if you wanted me to be obedient, you should have adopted me, and not married I'm sure you were old enough. me Sir Pet. Ay, there it is. Oons! madam, what right have you to run into all this extravagance? L. Teaz. I'm sure I am not more extravagant than a woman of quality ought to be. Sir Pet. 'Slife! madam, I'll have no more sums squandered away upon such unmeaning luxuries; you have as many flowers in your dressing - rooms, as would turn the Pantheon into a green-house; or make a Fête Champètre at a mas L. Tenz. Lord, Sir Peter, am I to blame that flowers don't blow in cold weather; you must blame the climate, and not me → I'm sure, for my part, I wish it was spring all the year round, and that roses grew under our feet. Sir Pet. Zounds, madam, I should not wonder at your extravagance if you had been bred to it Had you any of these things before you married me? L. Teaz. Lord, Sir Peter, how can you be angry at those little elegant expences? Sir Pet. Had you, any of those little elegant expences when you married me? L. Teaz. For my part, I think you ought to be pleased your wife should be thought a woman of taste. Sir. Pet. Zounds, madam, you had no taste when you married me, L. Teaz. Very true, indeed, and after having married you, I should never pretend to taste again. Sir Pet. Very well, very well, madam, you have entirely forgot what your situation was when first I saw you. L. Teaz. No, no, I have not; a very disagreeable situation it was, or I'm sure I never should have married you. Sir Pet. You forget the humble state I took you from the daughter of a poor country 'Squire When I came to your father's, I found you sitting at your tambour, in a linen gown, a bunch of keys to your side, and your hair combed smoothly over a roll. L. Teaz. Yes, I remember very well; my daily occupations were to overlook the dairy, superintend the poultry, make extracts from the family receipt book, and comb my aunt Deborali's lap-dog. Sir Pet. Oh! I am glad to find you have so good a recollection. L. Teaz. My evening employments were to draw the patterns for ruffles, which I had not materials to make up *), play at Pope Joan **) with the curate; read a sermon to my aunt Deborah, or perhaps be stuck up at an old spinnet to thrum my father to sleep after a fox - chase. Sir Pet. Then you was glad to take a ride out behind the butler, upon the bold dock'd coach-horse. L. Teaz. No, no, I deny the butler and the coachhorse. Sir Pet. I say you did. This was situation your Now, madam, you must have your coach, vis à vis ***), and three powdered footmen to walk before your chair; and in summer, two white cats to draw you to Kensington gardens ****): and instead of your living in that hole in the country, I have brought you home here, made a woman of fortune of you, a woman of quality In short, madam, I have made you my wife. L. Teaz. Well, and there is but one thing more you can now do to add to the obligation, and that is Sir Pet. To make you my widow, I suppose. L. Teaz. Hem! Sir Pet. Very well, madam, very well; I am much obliged to you for the hint. L. Teaz. Why then will you force me to say shocking things to you. But now we have finished our morning conversation, I presume I may go to my engagements at Lady Sneerwell's. Sir Pet. Lady Sneerwell! a precious acquaintance you have made with her too, and the set that frequent her house Such a set, mercy on us! Many a wretch who has been drawn upon a hurdle †), has done less mischief than those *) Sie schnitt blofs die Muster zu den Manschetten; es fehlte ihr an Zeug, dieselben wirklich zu verfertigen. **) Pope Joan (Päbstin Johanna), ein Kartenspiel. ***) Eine Kutsche zu zwei Personen, die einander gegenüber sitzen. ****) Kensington, bekannter Flecken an der Themse, unweit London, mit einem schönen Königlichen Garten. †) Einige Arten von Verbrechern, unter andern falsche Münzer, die des Hochverraths Schuldigen, werden auf einer Art Hürde die mit einer Schleife Ahnlichkeit hat zum Gerichtplatz geschleppt. |
