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Gorgon, alias Bluff Bob, alias Carbuncle, alias Bob Booty

Enter Mrs. PEACHUM.

94

Mrs. Peach. What of Bob Booty, husband? I hope nothing bad hath betided him. You know, my dear! he's a favourite customer of mine; 'twas he made me a present of this ring.

Peach. I have set his name down in the black-list, that's all, my dear! he spends his life among women, and, as soon as his money is gone, one or other of the ladies will hang him for the reward, and there's forty pounds lost to us for ever.

103

Mrs. Peach. You know, my dear! I never meddle in matters of death; I always leave those affairs to you. Women indeed are bitter bad judges in these cases, for they are so partial to the brave, that they think every man handsome, who is going to the camp or the gallows.

AIR.

Cold and raw, &c.

If any wench Venus's girdle wear
Tho' she be never so ugly,

Lilies and roses will quickly appear,
And her face look wondrous smugly.
Beneath the left ear so fit but a cord
(A rope so charming a zone is !)

The youth in his cart hath the air of a lord,
And we cry, there dies an Adonis.

110

But really, husband, you should not be too hard. hearted, for you never had a finer, braver set of men than at present. We have not had a murder among them all these seven months; and truly, my dear! that is a great blessing.

122

Peach. What a dickens is the woman always à whimpering about murder for? No gentleman is ever looked upon the worse for killing a man in his own defence; and, if business cannot be carried on without it, what would you have a gentleman do?

Mrs. Peach. If I am in the wrong, my dear, you must excuse me, for nobody can help the frailty of an over-scrupulous conscience.

130

Peach. Murder is as fashionable a crime as a man can be guilty of. How many fine gentlemen have we in Newgate every year purely upon that article? If they have wherewithal to persuade the jury to bring it in Manslaughter, what are they the worse for it? so, my dear! have done upon this subject. Was Captain Macheath here this morning for the banknotes he left with you last week? 138

Mrs. Peach. Yes, my dear, and, though the bank hath stopt payment, he was so cheerful and so agreeable! Sure there is not a finer gentleman upon the road than the Captain! if he comes from Bagshot at any reasonable hour he hath promised to make one this evening with Polly, me, and Bob Booty, at a party at quadrille. Pray, my dear, is the Captain rich ?

70

Peach. The Captain keeps too good company ever to grow rich. Mary bone and the chocolate-houses are his undoing. The man that proposes to get money by play should have the education of a fine gentleman, and be trained up to it from his youth. 151

Mrs. Peach. Really I am sorry, upon Polly's account, the Captain hath not more discretion. What business hath he to keep company with lords and gentlemen he should leave them to prey upon one another.

Peach. Upon Polly's account! what a plague does the woman mean?-Upon Polly's account!

Mrs. Peach. Captain Macheath is very fond of the girl. 160

Peach. And what then?

of wo

Mrs. Peach. If I have any skill in the ways men, I am sure Polly thinks him a very pretty man.

Peach. And what then? you would not be so mad to have the wench marry him! Gamesters and highwaymen are generally very good to their whores, but they are very devils to their wives.

Mrs. Peach. But if Polly should be in love, how should we help her, or how can she help herself? Poor girl! I'm in the utmost concern about her.

AIR.

Why is your faithful slave disdain'd?

If love the virgin's heart invade,
How like a moth the simple maid
Still plays about the flame!

171

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Peach. Look ye, wife, a handsome wench, in our way of business, is as profitable as at the bar of a Temple coffee house, who looks upon it as her livelihood to grant every liberty but one. You see I would indulge the girl as far as prudently we can in any thing but marriage: after that, my dear, how shall we be safe? are we not then in her husband's power? for the husband hath the absolute power over all a wife's secrets but her own. If the girl had the discretion of a court-lady, who can have a dozen of young fellows at her ear without complying with one, I should not matter it; but Polly is tinder, and a spark will at once set her in a flame. Married! if the wench does not know her own profit, sure she knows her own pleasure better than to make herself a property! My daughter to me should be like a courtlady to a minister of state, a key to the whole gang. Married! if the affair is not already done, I'll terrify her from it by the example of our neighbours.

Mrs. Peach. Mayhap, my de dear! you may injure the girl she loves to imitate the fine ladies, and she may only allow the Captain liberties in the view of inAmman van fodt en blufɔ eu

terest.

199

Peach. But 'tis your duty, my dear, to warn the girl against her ruin, and to instruct her how to make the most of her beauty. “I'll go to her this moment

and sift her. In the mean-time, wife, rip out the coronets and marks of these dozen of cambric handkerchiefs, for I can dispose of them this afternoon to a chap in the city. [Exit.

Mrs. Peach. Never was a man more out of the way in an argument than my husband! Why must our Polly forsooth differ from her sex, and love only her husband and why must Polly's marriage, contrary to all observation, make her the less followed by other men? All men are thieves in love, and like a woman the better for being another's property.

AIR.

Of all the simple things we do, &c.

A maid is like the golden ore
Which hath guineas intrinsical in ‘I,
Whose worth is never known before
It is try'd and imprest in the mint.
A wife's like a guinea in gold
Stampt with the name of her spouse,

Now here, now there, is bought or is sold,
And is current in ev'ry house.

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220

Mrs Peach. Come hither, Filch. "I am as fond of this child as tho' my mind misgave me he were my own, He hath as fine a han a hand at picking a pocket as a woman, and is as nimble-fingered as a juggler.” If an unlucky session does not cut the rope of thy life,

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