u in possession.
[_Exeunt._

ACT III.--SCENE I.

_Enter_ SAINTLY _and_ PLEASANCE.

_Pleas._ Never fear it, I'll be a spy upon his actions; he shall
neither whisper nor gloat on either of them, but I'll ring him such a
peal!

_Saint._ Above all things, have a care of him yourself; for surely
there is witchcraft betwixt his lips: He is a wolf within the
sheepfold; and therefore I will be earnest, that you may not fall.
[_Exit._

_Pleas._ Why should my mother be so inquisitive about this lodger? I
half suspect old Eve herself has a mind to be nibbling at the pippin.
He makes love to one of them, I am confident; it may be to both; for,
methinks, I should have done so, if I had been a man; but the damned
petticoats have perverted me to honesty, and therefore I have a grudge
to him for the privilege of his sex. He shuns me, too, and that vexes
me; for, though I would deny him, I scorn he should not think me worth
a civil question.

_Re-enter_ WOODALL, _with_ TRICKSY, MRS BRAINSICK,
JUDITH, _and Music._

_Mrs Brain._ Come, your works, your works; they shall have the
approbation of Mrs Pleasance.

_Trick._ No more apologies; give Judith the words, she sings at sight.

_Jud._ I'll try my skill.

A SONG FROM THE ITALIAN.

_By a dismal cypress lying,
Damon cried, all pale and dying,--
Kind is death, that ends my pain,
But cruel she I loved in vain.
The mossy fountains
Murmur my trouble,
And hollow mountains
My groans redouble:
Every nymph mourns me,
Thus while I languish;
She only scorns me,
Who caused my anguish.
No love returning me, but all hope denying;
By a dismal cypress lying,
Like a swan, so sung he dying,--
Kind is death, that ends my pain,
But cruel she I loved in vain._

_Pleas._ By these languishing eyes, and those _simagres_ of yours, we
are given to understand, sir, you have a mistress in this company;
come, make a free discovery which of them your poetry is to charm, and
put the other out of pain.

_Trick._ No doubt 'twas meant to Mrs Brainsick.

_Mrs Brain._ We wives are despicable creatures; we know it, madam,
when a mistress is in presence.

_Pleas._ Why this ceremony betwixt you? 'Tis a likely proper fellow,
and looks as he could people a new isle of Pines[7].

_Mrs Brain._ 'Twere a work of charity to convert a f