Fos. It seemeth to me to be a child unlawfully begotten.
Pos. A bastard! who does he lay it to?
Fos. To our family.
Pos. Your family, quatenus a family, being a body collective, cannot get a bastard. Is this child a bastard, honest friend?
Sail. I was neither by when his mother was show'd, nor when she was unladen; whether he belong to a fair trader, or be run goods, I cannot tell: In short here I was sent, and here I will leave him.
Pos. Dost then know his mother, friend?
Sail. I am no midwife, master; I did not see him born.
Pos. You had best put up this matter, doctor. A man of your years, when he has been wanton, cannot be too cautious.
Fos. This is all from the purpose. I was married this morning at seven; let any man in the least acquainted with the powers of nature, judge whether that human creature could be conceiv'd and brought to maturity in one forenoon.
Pos. This is but talk, doctor Fossile. It is well for you, though I say it, that you have fallen into the hands of a person, who has study'd the civil and canon law in the point of bastardy. The child is either yours or not yours.