The Old Bachelor

My Lord,—It is with a great deal of pleasure that I lay hold on this first occasion which the accidents of my life have given me of writing to your lordship: for since at the same time I write to all the world, it will be a means of publishing (what I would have everybody know) the respect and duty which I owe and pay to you. I have so much inclination to be yours that I need no other engagement. But the particular ties by which I am bound to your lordship and family have put it out of my power to make you any compliment, since all offers of myself will amount to no more than an honest acknowledgment, and only shew a willingness in me to be grateful. I am very near wishing that it were not so much my interest to be your lordship’s servant, that it might be more my merit; not that I would avoid being obliged to you, but I would have my own choice to run me into the debt: that I might have it to boast, I had distinguished a man to whom I would be glad to be obliged, even without the hopes of having it in my power ever to make him a return.

Sir Joseph Wittol, a foolish young country knight, returns to the spot in London where he had been attacked by footpads the night before, a fracas from which the gallant Ned Bellmour had rescued him. Bellmour had told his friend Sharper of the incident, whereupon Sharper, encountering Wittol, pretends to be the man who had rescued him. Having ingratiated himself with his false story, Sharper declares that he lost one hundred pounds in the scuffle, and Wittol promises to make good the loss. Wittol and Sharper are joined by Captain Bluffe, a spurious veteran of campaigns in the Low Countries and Wittol's mentor in the ways of the city. Bluffe's boasting and swaggering ways deeply impress the foolish young Wittol. In her apartment, Araminta is reproved by her cousin Belinda for being devoted to love. A footman announces that Vainlove and Bellmour have arrived to pay their respects to Araminta. Belinda, who is charmed by Bellmour, declares that she will remain to keep Araminta company, even though she had been preparing to go out. The young men having been admitted, Bellmour and Belinda exchange amiable insults. Gavot, Araminta's singing-master, entertains the group with a song.

"A play about an old bachelor who finds love"--Provided by publisher.

he Old Bachelor is the first play written by British playwright William Congreve, produced in 1693. The 'Old Bachelor' is Heartwell, 'a surly old pretended woman-hater', who falls in love with Silvia, not knowing her to be the forsaken mistress of Vainlove, and is lured into marrying her, only discovering her true character afterwards, from the gibes of his acquaintances. The parson who has been brought in to marry them, however, is in fact Vainlove's friend Belmour, who has assumed the disguise for the purpose of an intrigue with Laetitia, the young wife of an uxorious old banker, Fondlewife; and Heartwell is relieved to discover that the marriage was a pretence. The comedy includes the amusing characters of Sir Joseph Wittol, a foolish knight, who allows himself to be really married to Silvia, under the impression that she is the wealthy Araminta; and his companion, the cowardly bully, Captain Bluffe, who under the same delusion is married to Silvia's maid. The success of this comedy was in part due to the acting of performers Thomas Betterton and Anne Bracegirdle

Reproduction of the original.