ple. Part of this vestal vow, I remember, was contained in the
following verse:--

"Study to live the character I play."

But alas! how weak are the strongest works of art when Nature besieges
it.--CIBBER.]

As for the "Careless Husband," the more one reads from it the more
cause is there to regret the utter hopelessness of reviving a play so
honeycombed by inuendo. How delightfully, for instance, would some of
the badinage between Morelove and the spirited Lady Betty have been
treated in the earlier days of the Daly Company, with John Drew and
Miss Rehan as the lovers. We can picture the two, as they would have
given the following lines, the one gentlemanly and effective, the
other imperious, liquid-voiced, and radiant of humour:

* * * * *

"MORELOVE. Do you know, madame, I have just found out, that upon your
account I have made myself one of the most ridiculous puppies upon the
face of the earth--I have upon my faith! Nay, and so extravagantly
such--ha! ha! ha!--that it's at last become a jest even to myself; and
I can't help laughing at it for the soul of me; ha! ha! ha!

"LADY BETTY. [_Aside_.] I want to cure him of that laugh now. My lord,
since you are so generous, I'll tell you another secret. Do you
know, too, that I still find (spite of all your great wisdom, and my
contemptible qualities, as you are pleased now and then to call them),
do you know, I say, that I see under all this, you still love me with
the same helpless passion; and can your vast foresight imagine I won't
use you accordingly, for these extraordinary airs you are pleased to
give yourself.' [Talk of the independence of the 'New Woman.' Who
could have been more self-assertive than this eighteenth century
belle?]

"MORE. O by all means, madame, 'tis as you should, and I expect it
whenever it is in your power. [_Aside_] Confusion!

"LADY BETTY. My lord, you have talked to me this half-hour without
confessing pain. [_Pauses and affects to gape_.] Only remember it.

"MORE. Hell and tortures!

"LADY BETTY. What did you say, my lord?

"MORE. Fire and furies!

"LADY BETTY. Ha! ha! he's disorder'd. Now I am easy. My Lord
Foppington, have you a mind to your revenge at piquet?

"FOP. I have always a mind to an opportunity of entertaining your
ladyship, madame.

[LADY BETTY _coquets with_ LORD FOPPINGTON.

"MORE. O Charles, the insolence of this woman might furnish out a
thousand devils.

"SIR CHARLES