Mac. My honour and truth to the gang?
Mat. I'll be answerable for it.

Mac. In the division of our booty have I ever shewn the least marks of avarice or injustice? 61

Mat. By these questions something seems to have ruffled you. Are any of us suspected ?

Mac. I have a fixed confidence, gentlemen, in you all as men of honour, and as such I value and respect you, Peachum is a man that is useful to us.

Mat. Is he about to shew us any foul play? I'll shoot him through the head.

Mac. I beg you, gentlemen, act with conduct and discretion. A pistol is your last resort.

Mat. He knows nothing of this meeting.

7༠

Mac. Business cannot go on without him: he is a man who knows the world, and is a necessary agent to us. We have had a slight difference, and till it is accommodated, I shall be obliged to keep out of his way. Any private dispute of mine shall be of no ill consequence to my friends. You must continue to act under his direction, for the moment we break loose from him our gang is ruined.

Mat. As a bawd to a whore, I grant you, he is to us of great convenience.

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At our private

Mac. Make him believe I have quitted the gang, which I can never do but with life. quarters I will continue to meet you.

will probably reconcile us.

A week or so

Mat. Your instructions shall be observed. 'Tis now high time for us to repair to our several duties;

so till the evening, at our quarters in Moorfields, we bid you farewell.

Mac. I shall wish myself with you. Success attend

[The gang, ranged in the front of the stage, load their pistols, and stick them under their girdles, then go off singing the first part in chorus.]

Mac. What a fool is a fond wench! Polly is most confoundedly bit. I love the sex, and a man who loves money might as well be

contented with one guinea, as I with one woman. The town, perhaps, hath been as much obliged to me for recruiting it with free-hearted ladies, as to any recruiting officer in the army. If it were not for us and the other gentlemen of the sword, Drury-lane would be uninhabited.

AIR.

Would you have a young virgin, &c.

If the heart of a man is depress'd with cares,
The mist is dispell'd when a woman appears,
Like the notes of a fiddle she sweetly, sweetly
Raises the spirits and charms our ears.
Roses and lilies her cheeks disclose,

But her ripe lips are more sweet than those ;
Press her,

Caress her:
With blisses

Her kisses

Dissolve us in pleasure and soft repose.

I must have women! there is nothing unbends the mind like them: money is not so strong a cordial for the time-Drawer,

Enter DRAWER.

is the porter gone for all the ladies, according to my directions?

Draw. I expect him back every minute; but you know, Sir, you sent him as far as Hockley-in-theHole for three of the ladies, for one in Vinegar-yard, and for the rest of them somewhere about Lewkner's lane. Sure, some of them are below, for I hear the bar bell. As they come I will shew them up. Coming, coming! [Exit.

Enter Mrs. COAXER, DOLLY TRULL, Mrs. VIXEN, BETTY DOXY, JENNY DIVER, Mrs. SLAMMEKIN, SUKY TAWDRY, and MOLLY BRAZEN.

Mac. Dear Mrs. Coaxer! you are welcome; you look charmingly to-day: I hope you don't want the repairs of quality, and lay on paint.Dolly Trull! kiss me, you slut! are you as amorous as ever, hussy? you are always so taken up with stealing hearts, that you don't allow yourself time to steal any thing else: ah, Dolly! thou wilt ever be a coquette.-Mrs. Vixen! I'm your's; I always loved a woman of wit and spirit; they make charming mistresses, but plaguy wives.

Betty Doxy! come hither, hussy; do you drink as hard as ever? you had better stick to good wholesome beer, for in troth, Betty, strong waters will in time ruin your constitution: you should leave those to your betters.What, and my pretty Jenny Diver too! as prim and demure as ever! there is not any prude, though ever so high bred, hath a more sanctified look with a more mischievous heart; ah, thou art a dear artful hypocrite!. Mrs. Slammekin! as careless and genteel as ever: all you fine ladies who know your own beauty affect an undress.-But see! here's Suky Tawdry come to contradict what I was saying; every thing she gets one way she lays out upon her back: why, Suky, you must keep at least a dozen tallymen.Molly Brazen! [She kisses him.] "that's well done; I love a free-hearted wench: thou

E

"hast a most agreeable assurance, girl, and art as "willing as a turtle."-But hark! I hear music: "the harper is at the door. If music be the food of "love, play on." Ere you seat yourselves, ladies, what think you of a dance? Come in.

Enter HARPER.

161

Play the French tune that Mrs. Slammekin was so fond of."[A dance à la ronde in the French manner, near the end of it this song and chorus.]"