SCENE II.--SIR PETER'S House

Enter SIR PETER

SIR PETER. When an old Bachelor takes a young Wife--what is He
to expect--'Tis now six months since Lady Teazle made me the happiest
of men--and I have been the most miserable Dog ever since that ever
committed wedlock. We tift a little going to church--and came to
a Quarrel before the Bells had done ringing--I was more than once
nearly chok'd with gall during the Honeymoon--and had lost all comfort
in Life before my Friends had done wishing me Joy--yet I chose with
caution--a girl bred wholly in the country--who never knew luxury
beyond one silk gown--nor dissipation above the annual Gala of a
Race-Ball--Yet she now plays her Part in all the extravagant Fopperies
of the Fashion and the Town, with as ready a Grace as if she had never
seen a Bush nor a grass Plot out of Grosvenor-Square! I am sneered at
by my old acquaintance--paragraphed--in the news Papers--
She dissipates my Fortune, and contradicts all my Humours--
yet the worst of it is I doubt I love her or I should never bear
all this. However I'll never be weak enough to own it.

Enter ROWLEY

ROWLEY. Sir Peter, your servant:--how is 't with you Sir--

SIR PETER. Very bad--Master Rowley--very bad[.] I meet with nothing
but crosses and vexations--

ROWLEY. What can have happened to trouble you since yesterday?