Chapter XXV: Act II: Scene I

_Enter_ SPEND-ALL _in a fine suit of clothes, meeting_ CONVERSANT.

_Conversant._ Jupiter bless us! how fine and brave you are in a rich suit of clothes: is this your wedding-day?

_Spend._ No, this day is not my wedding-day: but the suit is my wooing-suit, for I am going to woo an old lady, who is very rich.

_Conv._ Is she wise?

_Spend._ I hope not, for if she were, she would never grant my suit, but if she be a fool, as I hope she is, then youth and bravery will win her.

_Conv._ And the more sprightly, lively and fantastical you appear, the better the old lady will like you.

_Spend._ I believe you, but I doubt that the sight of the old lady will put me into so dull and melancholy a humour, as I shall not please her.

_Conv._ Imagine her a young beauty.

_Spend._ I cannot imagine her a young beauty, when I see her: for imagination works only upon absent objects.

In the next extract, taken from her play, “The Bridals,” we have an example of her attempts to be comic.