University of Virginia Library

SCENE I.

Lord Transit alone.
LORD TRANSIT.
So heavily my sleepless hours have pass'd,
That though 'tis morning to the world, to me
It comes in darkness like another night.

Dogherty enters.
DOGHERTY.
My lord, my lord! I hope you'll not be angry,
If poor old Dogherty peeps in upon you
Just to say—What's your pleasure?—Can I serve you?

LORD TRANSIT.
Come in, come in! I'm glad to see you, Tim.

DOGHERTY.
That's mighty good and gracious in your lordship.
Forty long years of service in your family
Have made your house, as 'twere, my nat'ral home:
And though I serve a sweet and kindly lady,
(Ah, Heav'n be with her!) still, I know not why,
I feel myself a stranger at her father's;
And my old heart will cherish a fond hope
That we are not cut off, but I may live
To stand behind your lordship's chair once more,
And see your lovely lady grace your table.

LORD TRANSIT.
Is she in health? Does she support her spirits?

DOGHERTY.
In truth, my lord, her spirits want support;
But still an easy conscience can do much:
And now, but that I fear to give offence,
I should have ask'd your lordship the same question:
I'm cruelly afraid you are not well.

LORD TRANSIT.
I've had a restless night.

DOGHERTY.
Ah, there's the case.
I thought as much—Your looks betoken it;—
No rest at night!—This Town air does not suit you.

LORD TRANSIT.
I'm sick at heart, old man. Nothing can suit me;
Nor air, nor hours, nor any thing that throws
One gleam of comfort on the human heart,
Is now in store to cheer me.

DOGHERTY.
Ah! my lord,
Your castle stands exactly where it did.
The road is open.

LORD TRANSIT.
Yes, the road is open
That I must travel. It takes in creation:
All that have life must tread it.

Servant enters.
SERVANT.
Please your lordship,
An officer, who says his name is Trevor,
Desires to see your lordship.

LORD TRANSIT.
Show him up.
I shall be glad to see him.

[Exit Servant.
DOGHERTY.
And you'll see
As brave and bright a boy as walks the earth;
Ay, and a pretty swordsman, a neat hand.—
I took a thrust or two with him at foils,
In faith, I had it in my stomach quickly:
I was but as a child with him.

LORD TRANSIT.
He comes—
Leave us together.

[Exit Dogherty.
Trevor is introduced.
TREVOR.
As I've not the honour
To be known to your lordship, I must hope
My near alliance to the Lady Transit
Will plead in my excuse.

LORD TRANSIT.
I understand
You are her near relation, and am happy
To show you all respect on her account.

TREVOR.
It is on her account I wait upon you;
At her request, whose generous heart yet feels
An interest in your safety, I consent,
Ev'n at my honour's risk, to warn your lordship
What peril you are in.

LORD TRANSIT.
Do you allude
To any thing about Sir Charles Le Brun?

TREVOR.
I've no connection with Sir Charles Le Brun.

LORD TRANSIT.
Has Lady Transit seen him?

TREVOR.
Never, never.
But as I see to what your question leads,
I beg, my lord, you'll put none such to me,
As in the slightest manner tends t'impeach
The spotless purity of my relation.

LORD TRANSIT.
You're very quick, and I am not aware
That any thing I've said can give offence.

TREVOR.
If I am over zealous in this cause,
Your lordship hardly will complain of me,
Seeing I now by right of kindred fill
That honourable post which you have quitted.

LORD TRANSIT.
Sir, do you recollect to whom you're speaking?

TREVOR.
Yes, to Lord Transit, who, by happy choice,
When he had worthily bestow'd his hand
Upon a creature form'd to crown his days
With envied blessings, haughtily withdrew it,
And threw the slighted virtue from his arms
To beg protection at her father's door.

LORD TRANSIT.
Am I so lost to virtue? No; you wrong me.
Awe-struck, I mark how strong her pulses beat,
Ev'n in the arteries of a beardless boy;
How high in energy sublime she lifts
Your swelling spirit up, and tramples down
My coward conscience grov'ling in the dust.

Servant enters.
SERVANT.
My lord, Sir Charles Le Brun, and Mr. Pliant.
[Exit Servant.

Sir Charles Le Brun and Pliant enter.
SIR CHARLES.
Lord Transit, may we speak to our affair
Before this gentleman?

LORD TRANSIT.
He'll answer that.

TREVOR.
If there is no objection—

SIR CHARLES.
None whatever.
Your lordship has been pleas'd to treat my name
With undue liberty before my friends
Sir Harry Sumner and this gentleman,
Who has reported to me what you said,
And what no man of honour can put up with,
Unless by revocation most express,
And unequivocal, you shall recall it.

LORD TRANSIT.
Sir Charles Le Brun, our conference will be short;
For if that gentleman sits at my table,
And chooses, in defiance of the rights
Of hospitality, to recollect
Words utter'd in the heedlessness of talk,
I am not careful to correct my speech
Under the terror of his information,
Nor shall recall one syllable I spoke.

PLIANT.
Recall it! No, my lord, sooner than that
I'm ready to recall my recollection.

SIR CHARLES.
How, sir! do you equivocate? Take care.

PLIANT.
Yes; I am very careful to avoid
A quarrel any how, with any body.
When I am tipsy, 'tis another thing:
But soberly I think the words of man
Should not be weigh'd against the life of man.
Egad, for my part I would sooner eat them.

SIR CHARLES.
Then you must eat them.

PLIANT.
Well, and so I will,
Give me but wine enough to wash 'em down.
Lord love you both! two of my dearest friends!
What harm could I intend to either of you?
The wine was in my head; I met Sir Charles;
Went home with him, and told him our discourse,
As a good joke:—But he, brim-full of honour,
Took it in dudgeon, brew'd it in his mind,
Bottled it up in secrecy, and stor'd it
Where it fermented,—whilst I fell asleep,
Unconscious of the folly I committed.
Now, my good lord, and sir, shake hands, I pray you;
And don't let a poor devil hang himself,
For doing mischief which he never meant.

LORD TRANSIT.
Sir Charles, how say you? For my part, I think
Friend Pliant's plea is irresistible.

SIR CHARLES.
I think so too, my lord; but as I see
A gentleman of the army has been present
At the discussion of this point of honour,
Let us refer it to his arbitration.

LORD TRANSIT.
With all my heart.

PLIANT.
Now, dear good sir, for once,
Though I don't know your name, take to your heart
A little harmless wholesome recollection;
And as you are a fine young hopeful cub
Of the old British lion, copy him,
Whose honest gallant heart abounds in mercy:
I'm at your feet. He always spares the fallen.
Odslife! how eloquent it makes a man,
When he is pleading to the heart of man!

SIR CHARLES.
Now, sir, we wait your judgment.

TREVOR.
'Twou'd be rash,
And ill becoming me, to interpose
My feeble judgment, were it not a case
Too plain for a mere novice to mistake.
I think Lord Transit shou'd assure sir Charles
There was no malice in the words he spoke;
And I am very certain there is due
A full apology from Mr. Pliant
To the Lord Transit, for a breach of trust.—
This being done, I see no cause for quarrel.

SIR CHARLES.
Fairly decided! All is past, and over:
All words that have been said, are done away;
All that should still be said, I will suppose
Are said; and so, good morning to your lordship.

[Exit.
PLIANT.
Now, that's too brief for me—I rather like
To make my exit with a handsome speech.
My good Lord Transit, I've a shallow head,
And a fool's tongue; but I've an honest heart!
And honestly I ask your lordship's pardon.
[Lord Transit gives his hand.]
Sir, I pray Heav'n no bullet may annoy you,
But that your enemies will let you live
To be a blessing to your friends, and sit
Content with glory, and replete with years,
A fine old prosing grave gray-headed General,
And fight your battles in your easy-chair.

[Exit.
Heartright enters.
TREVOR.
Your lordship will allow me now to leave you.

[Exit.
HEARTRIGHT.
The merchant will accommodate your lordship
About the interest due upon the mortgage.

LORD TRANSIT.
I scarce expected it.

HEARTRIGHT.
You'd no great right
To expect it, give me leave to say,
Seeing that merchant is your lady's father.
The rich old Russian Gallishoff is dead,
And has bequeath'd his wealth, a boundless mass,
To a plain, honest, well-deserving man,
The father of your lady, who is now
One of the richest heiresses in England.

LORD TRANSIT.
Then Providence has made its work complete.
Nature had giv'n her charms, Heav'n had endow'd
Her heart with charity; and Fortune now,
Who had withheld her boon, at length relents,
And largely recompenses past unkindness.

HEARTRIGHT.
If you've occasion for a sum of money
In making up your balance with the world;
And a few thousands can accommodate,
I have them for you. I have found a person
That lends on easy interest—nothing more
Than a demand upon your heart at sight.

LORD TRANSIT.
She has my heart, she has my full contrition
Unpurchas'd and sincere.—So tell your sender;
So tell my injur'd wife; and say withal,
This self-accusing scroll, in which she'll read
The anguish of my heart, and trace my tears,
Was dictated by conscience, by remorse,
By zeal to vindicate her spotless fame:
In this, when ign'rant of what now has chanc'd,
To raise the humble state in which I found her,
I give her all that I have power to give.

HEARTRIGHT.
Well, I will take your olive-branch in charge;
And may it prove the emblem of a peace
At length concluded 'twixt your heart and Heaven!

LORD TRANSIT.
I have receiv'd much good instruction from you,
And paid you hitherto with little else
But disappointment, sorrow, and vexation.
Now, from this moment you shall blush no more
For pains mispent, and kindness ill-applied.

[Exeunt.