(Exeunt.)
ACT THE THIRD
SCENE.—An Apartment of State in Woodvil Hall—Cavaliers drinking.
JOHN WOODVIL, LOVEL, GRAY, and four more.
JOHN
More mirth, I beseech you, gentlemen—Mr. Gray, you are not merry.—
GRAY More wine, say I, and mirth shall ensue in course. What! we have not yet above three half-pints a man to answer for. Brevity is the soul of drinking, as of wit. Despatch, I say. More wine. (Fills.)
FIRST GENTLEMAN I entreat you, let there be some order, some method, in our drinkings. I love to lose my reason with my eyes open, to commit the deed of drunkenness with forethought and deliberation. I love to feel the fumes of the liquor gathering here, like clouds.
SECOND GENTLEMAN And I am for plunging into madness at once. Damn order, and method, and steps, and degrees, that he speaks of. Let confusion have her legitimate work.
LOVEL I marvel why the poets, who, of all men, methinks, should possess the hottest livers, and most empyreal fancies, should affect to see such virtues in cold water.
GRAY
Virtue in cold water! ha! ha! ha!—