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The Country Wife

Doctor, thou wilt never make a good chem...

Overview

Character
Gender
Male
Playing Age
Adult
Style
Comedic
Act/Scene
Act 1
Time & Place
The monologue takes place inside Mr. Horner's London lodgings as he outlines his deceptive strategy to Doctor Quack.
Length
Short
Time Period
Classical
Show Type
Play
Age Guidance
Youth (Y)/General Audiences (G)

Context

Text

Doctor, thou wilt never make a good chemist, thou art so incredulous and impatient. Ask but all the young fellows of the town if they do not lose more time, like huntsmen, in starting the game, than in running it down. One knows not where to find 'em; who will or will not. Women of quality are so civil, you can hardly distinguish love from good breeding, and a man is often mistaken: but now I can be sure she that shows an aversion to me loves the sport, as those women that are gone, whom I warrant to be right. And then the next thing is, your women of honour, as you call 'em, are only chary of their reputations, not their persons; and 'tis scandal they would avoid, not men. Now may I have, by the reputation of an eunuch, the privileges of one, and be seen in a lady's chamber in a morning as early as her husband; kiss virgins before their parents or lovers; and may be, in short, the passe-partout of the town. Now, doctor.

Wycherly, William, The Country Wife, Project Gutenberg, 2017, p. 254.

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