The Gamester (1753)

_Enter JARVIS._

_Char._ How now, good Jarvis?

_Jar._ I have heard ill news, madam.

_Mrs. Bev._ What news? Speak quickly.

_Jar._ Men are not what they seem. I fear me, Mr. Stukely is dishonest.

_Char._ We know it, Jarvis. But what's your news?

_Jar._ That there's an action against my master, at his friend's suit.

_Mrs. Bev._ O, villain! villain! 'twas this he threatened then. Run to that den of robbers, Wilson's--Your master may be there. Entreat him home, good Jarvis. Say I have business with him--But tell him not of Stukely--It may provoke him to revenge--Haste! haste! good Jarvis. [_Exit Jarvis._

_Char._ This minister of hell! O, I could tear him piece-meal!

_Mrs. Bev._ I am sick of such a world. Yet heaven is just; and in its own good time, will hurl destruction on such monsters. [_Exeunt._

Scene Iii. _changes to _STUKELY'S_ lodgings._

_Enter STUKELY, and BATES, meeting_.

_Bates._ Where have you been?

_Stu._ Fooling my time away: playing my tricks, like a tame monkey, to entertain a woman--No matter where-- I have been vext and disappointed. Tell me of Beverley. How bore he his last shock?

_Bates._ Like one (so Dawson says) whose senses had been numbed by misery. When all was lost, he fixed his eyes upon the ground, and stood some time, with folded arms, stupid and motionless. Then snatching his sword, that hung against the wainscot, he sat him down; and with a look of fixt attention, drew figures on the floor. At last he started up, looked wild, and trembled; and like a woman, seized with her sex's fits, laughed out aloud, while the tears trickled down his face--so left the room.

_Stu._ Why, this was madness.

_Bates._ The madness of despair.

_Stu._ We must confine him then. A prison would do well. (_A knocking at the door._) Hark! that knocking may be his. Go that way down. (_Exit Bates._) Who's there?