Do you think your Mother and I
should have liv'd comfortably so long together, if ever we had been
married? Baggage!
MRS. PEACHUM. I knew she was always a proud Slut; and now the Wench hath
play'd the Fool and Married, because forsooth she would do like the Gentry.
Can you support the Expence of a Husband, Hussy, in Gaming, Drinking and
Whoring? Have you Money enough to carry on the daily Quarrels of Man and
Wife about who shall squander most? There are not many Husbands and Wives,
who can bear the Charges of plaguing one another in a handsome way. If you
must be married, could you introduce no body into our Family but a
Highwayman? Why, thou foolish Jade, thou wilt be as ill-used, and as much
neglected, as if thou hadst married a Lord!
PEACHUM. Let not your Anger, my Dear, break through the Rules of Decency,
for the Captain looks upon himself in the Military Capacity, as a Gentleman
by his Profession. Besides what he hath already, I know he is in a fair way
of getting, or of dying; and both these ways, let me tell you, are most
excellent Chances for a Wife. Tell me, Hussy, are you ruin'd or no?
MRS. PEACHUM. With Polly's Fortune, she might very well have gone off to
a Person of Distinction. Yes, that you might, you pouting Slut!
PEACHUM. What is the Wench dumb? Speak, or I'll make you plead by
squeezing out an Answer from you. Are really bound Wife to him, or are you
only upon liking? [Pinches her.
POLLY.
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