or conceal would ill become
That friendship you have said you so esteem.
My heart is open then, and can't acquit you.
You've lost that fortitude you once possess'd.

ANDREWS. O Wilson! I confess your charge is just.
The truth is, I'm no longer master here,
Nor of my family, nor of myself;
And yet you may remember, no man liv'd
More happily than I with my first wife.

WILSON. She had all the virtues that adorn her sex.

ANDREWS. And was withal of such a gentle nature,
That I could ne'er conceive that ev'n in thought,
She would impede or contradict my wish.

WILSON. The loss was great. 'Tis now about ten years?

ANDREWS. Not more: you also know, that shortly after,
(Full short indeed!) I wedded with the present.

WILSON. Not with the approbation of your friends.
Our women even then were greatly alter'd,
Their manners as their education different.
Their beauties too, are as their hearts deceitful,
While art supplies the spoil of their excesses.
I'm happy in the thoughts of being single.

ANDREWS. Condemn not all for some; and prize their worth.
By them we are refin'd; by them inspir'd;
For them, we ev'ry toil and danger court,
That lead to glory and make fame immortal.
Trust me, my friend, there's no terrestrial blessing
Equals the union of two souls in virtue.

WILSON. Your wife was then but Young?

ANDREWS. About sixteen,
And I in years superiour to her father.
Yet she appear'd of such congenial manners
With my first wife, whose intimate she was,
It led me to this early second marriage.
And ev'n long after, such was her behaviour,
That I insensibly forgot my loss;
For tho' by birth and family allied,
To several of the first in rank and fortune,
Yet did not that the least affect her conduct,
Which she still suited to our humbler station;
A tender parent and a loving wife.

WILSON. And such might have remain'd, had she not quit
The innocent society of those,
Who best were suited to her state in life.

ANDREWS. O! 'tis most true; and I have often thought
My happiness too great for long continuance.
The toil, fatigue and numerous disappointments,
(The sure attendants on a life of business)
Were sooth'd and sweeten'd by the fond endearments,
With