n in town.

_Mary._ Will you be so humane, sir?

_Shuff._ Should you like Marybone parish, my love?

_Mary._ All parishes are the same to me, now I must quit my own,
sir.

_Shuff._ I'll write a line for you, to a lady in that quarter,
and--Oh, here's pen and ink. [_Writes, and talks as he is writing._]
I shall be in London myself, in about ten days, and then I'll visit
you, to see how you go on.

_Mary._ O sir! you are, indeed a friend!

_Shuff._ I mean to be your friend, my love. There, [_Giving her the
Letter._] Mrs. Brown, Howland-Street; an old acquaintance of mine; a
very goodnatured, discreet, elderly lady, I assure you.

_Mary._ You are very good, sir, but I shall be ashamed to look such
a discreet person in the face, if she hears my story.

_Shuff._ No, you needn't;--she has a large stock of charity for the
indiscretions of others, believe me.

_Mary._ I don't know how to thank you, sir. The unfortunate must
look up to such a lady, sure, as a mother.

_Shuff._ She has acquired that appellation.----You'll be very
comfortable;--and, when I arrive in town, I'll--

_Enter PEREGRINE._

Who have we here?--Oh!--ha!--ha!--This must be the gentleman she
mentioned to Frank in her letter.--rather an ancient ami. [_Aside._

_Pereg._ So! I suspected this might be the case. [_Aside._] You are
Mr. Rochdale, I presume sir?

_Shuff._ Yes, sir, you do presume;--but I am not Mr. Rochdale.

_Pereg._ I beg your pardon, sir, for mistaking you for so bad a
person.

_Shuff._ Mr. Rochdale, sir, is my intimate friend. If you mean to
recommend yourself in this quarter, [_Pointing to Mary._] good
breeding will suggest to you, that it mustn't be done by abusing
him, before me.

_Pereg._ I have not acquired that sort of good breeding, sir, which
isn't founded on good sense;--and when I call the betrayer of female
innocence a bad character, the term, I think, is too true to be
abusive.

_Shuff._ 'Tis a pity, then, you hav'n't been taught a little better,
what is due to polished society.

_Pereg._ I am always willing to improve.

_Shuff._ I hope, sir, you won't urge me to become your instructor.

_Pereg._ You are unequal to the task: if you quarrel with me in the
cause of a seducer, you are unfit to teach me the duties of a
citizen.

_Shuff._ You may make, sir, a very good citizen; but, curse me, if
you'll do for the west end of the town.

_Pereg._ I make no distinctions in the ends of towns, sir:--the end