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238 WILLIAM CONGREVE [ACT III<br />
Ben. So, so, enough, father.—Mess, 11 I'd rather kiss these<br />
gentlewomen.<br />
Sir Samp. And so thou shalt.—Mrs. Angelica, my son<br />
Ben.<br />
Ben. Forsooth, if you please.— [Salutes her.] Nay,<br />
mistress, I'm not for dropping anchor here; about ship<br />
i'faith.—[Kisses Mrs. FRAIL.] Nay, and you, too, my little<br />
cock-boat—so. [Kisses Miss PRUE.<br />
Tat. Sir, you're welcome ashore.<br />
Ben. Thank you, thank you, friend.<br />
Sir Samp. Thou hast been many a weary league, Ben,<br />
since I saw thee.<br />
Ben. Ey, ey, been! been far enough, an that be all.—<br />
Well, father, and how do all at home? how does brother<br />
Dirk, and brother Val?<br />
Sir Samp. Dick! body o' me, Dick has been dead these<br />
two years! I writ you word when you were at Leghorn.<br />
Ben. Mess, that's true; marry, I had forgot. Dick's dead,<br />
as you say.—Well, and how? I have many questions to ask<br />
you. Well, you ben't married again, father, be you?<br />
Sir Samp. No, I intend you shall marry, Ben; I would<br />
not marry for thy sake,<br />
Ben. Nay, what does that signify?—An you marry again<br />
—why, then, I'll go to sea again, so there's one for t'other,<br />
an that be all.—Pray don't let me be your hindrance; e'en<br />
marrv a' God's name, and the wind sit that way. As for<br />
my part, mayhap I have no mind to marry.<br />
Mrs. Frail. That would be a pity, such a handsome young<br />
gentleman.<br />
Ben. Handsome! he! he! he! nay, forsooth, an you be for<br />
joking, I'll joke with you; for I love mv jest, an the ship<br />
were sinking, as we say'n at sea. But I'll tell you why I<br />
don't much stand toward matrimony. I love to roam about<br />
from port to port, and from land to land: I could never<br />
abide to be port-bound, as we call it; now, a man that is<br />
married has, as it were, d'ye see, his feet in the bilboes, and<br />
mayhap mayn't get 'em out again when he would.<br />
Sir Samp. Ben's a wag.<br />
Ben. A man that is married, d'ye see, is no more like<br />
another man than a galley-slave is like one of us free sailors;<br />
he is chained to an oar all his life; and mayhap forced to<br />
tug a leaky vessel into the bargain.<br />
11 A survival of the old oath, By the mass !
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