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240 WILLIAM CONGREVE [ACT III<br />
Ben. Come, mistress, will you please to sit down? for an<br />
you stand astern a that'n, WE shall never grapple together.—<br />
Come, I'll haul a chair; there, an you please to sit I'll sit<br />
by you.<br />
Prue. You need not sit so near one; if you have anything<br />
to say I can hear you farther off, I an't deaf.<br />
Ben. Why, that's true, as you say; nor I an't dumb; I<br />
can be heard as far as another;—I'll heave off to please you.<br />
—[Sits farther off.] An we were a league asunder, I'd<br />
undertake to hold discourse with' you, an 'twere not a main<br />
high wind indeed, and full in my teeth. Look you, forsooth,<br />
I am, as it were, bound for the land of matrimony; 'tis a<br />
voyage, d'ye see, that was none of my seeking, I was commanded<br />
by father, and if you like of it mayhap I may steer<br />
into your harbour. How say you, mistress? The short of<br />
the thing is, that if you like me, and I like you, we may<br />
chance to swing in a hammock together.<br />
Prue. I don't know what to say to you, nor I don't care<br />
to speak with you at all.<br />
Ben. No? I'm sorry for that.—But pray, why are you<br />
so scornful?<br />
Prue. As long as one must not speak one's mind, one had<br />
better not speak at all, I think, and truly I won't tell a<br />
lie for the matter.<br />
Ben. Nay, you say true in that, 'tis but a folly to lie: for<br />
to speak one thing, and to think just the contrary way, is,<br />
as it were, to look one way and row another. Now, for my<br />
part, d'ye see, I'm for carrying things above board, I'm<br />
not for keeping anything under hatches,—so that if you<br />
ben't as willing as I, say so a* God's name, there's no harm<br />
done. Mayhap you may be shamefaced? some maidens, tho'f<br />
they love a man well enough, yet they don't care to tcll'n<br />
so to's face: if that's the case, why silence gives consent.<br />
Prue. But I'm sure it is not so, for I'll speak sooner than<br />
you should believe that; and I'll speak truth, though one<br />
should always tell a lie to a man; and I don't care, let my<br />
father do what he will; I'm too big to be whipped so I'll<br />
tell you plainly I don't like you, nor love you at all, nor<br />
never will, that's more: so, there's your answer for you; and<br />
don't trouble me no more, you ugly thing!<br />
Ben. Look you, young woman, you may learn to give<br />
good words however. I spoke you fair, d'ye see, and civil.—<br />
As for your love or your liking, I don't value it of a rope's
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