_Macheath_. A moment of Time may make us unhappy for ever.
AIR XXXIX. The Lass of _Patie’s_ Mill, &c.
Lucy. _I like the Fox shall grieve_, _Whose Mate hath left her Side_, _Whom Hounds from Morn to Eve_, _Chase o’er the Country wide_. _Where can my Lover hide_? _Where cheat the wary Pack_? _If Love be not his Guide_, _He never will come back_!
_Lockit_. To be sure, Wench, you must have been aiding and abetting to help him to this Escape.
_Lucy_. Sir, here hath been _Peachum_ and his Daughter _Polly_, and to be sure they know the Ways of _Newgate_ as well as if they had been born and bred in the Place all their Lives. Why must all your Suspicion light upon me?
_Lockit_. _Lucy_, _Lucy_, I will have none of these shuffling Answers.
_Lucy_. Well then—If I know any thing of him I wish I may be burnt!
_Lockit_. Keep your Temper, _Lucy_, or I shall pronounce you guilty.
_Lucy_. Keep yours, Sir,—I do wish I may be burnt. I do—And what can I say more to convince you?
_Lockit_. Did he tip handsomly?—How much did he come down with? Come, Hussy, don’t cheat your Father; and I shall not be angry with you—Perhaps, you have made a better Bargain with him than I could have done—How much, my good Girl?
_Lucy_. You know, Sir, I am fond of him, and would have given Money to have kept him with me.
_Lockit_. Ah _Lucy_! thy Education might have put thee more upon thy Guard; for a Girl in the Bar of an Ale-house is always besieg’d.
_Lucy_. Dear Sir, mention not my Education—for ’twas to that I owe my Ruin.
_When young at the Bar you first taught me to score_, _And bid me be free of my Lips_, _and no more_; _I was kiss’d by the Parson_, _the Squire_, _and the Sot_, _When the Guest was departed_, _the Kiss was forgot_. _But his Kiss was so sweet_, _and so closely he prest_, _That I languish’d and pin’d till I granted the rest_.
If you can forgive me, Sir, I will make a fair Confession, for to be sure he hath been a most barbarous Villain to me.
_Lockit_. And so you have let him escape, Hussy—Have you?
_Lucy_. When a Woman loves; a kind Look, a tender Word can persuade her to any thing—And I could ask no other Bribe.
_Lockit_. Thou wilt always be a vulgar Slut, _Lucy_.—If you would not be look’d upon as a Fool, you should never do any thing but upon the foot of Interest. Those that act otherwise are their own Bubbles.