_Sr._ Samps. Sampson'_s a very good Name for----your_ Sampsons _were strong Dogs from the Beginning_.[145]
Angel. _Have a care----If you remember the strongest_ Sampson _of your Name, pull'd an old House over his Head at last_. Here you have the Sacred History burlesqu'd, and _Sampson_ once more brought into the House of _Dagon_, to make sport for the _Philistines_! To draw towards an end of this _Play. Tattle_ would have carried off _Valentine_'s Mistress. This later, expresses his Resentment in a most Divine manner! Tattle _I thank you, you would have interposed between me and Heaven, but Providence has laid Purgatory in your way_.[146] Thus Heaven is debas'd into an Amour, and Providence brought in to direct the Paultry concerns of the _Stage! Angelica_ concludes much in the same strain: _Men are generally Hypocrites And Infidels, they pretend to Worship, but have neither Zeal, nor Faith; How few like_ Valentine _would persevere unto Martyrdom? &c._[147] Here you have the Language of the _Scriptures_, and the most solemn Instances of Religion, prostituted to Courtship and Romance! Here you have a Mistress made God Almighty, Ador'd with Zeal and Faith, and Worship'd up to Martyrdom! This if 'twere only for the Modesty, is strange stuff for a Lady to say of her self. And had it not been for the profane Allusion, would have been cold enough in all Conscience.
The _Provok'd Wife_ furnishes the Audience with a Drunken Atheistical Catch: 'Tis true this Song is afterwards said to be _Full of Sin and Impudence_.[148] But why then was it made? This Confession is a miserable _Salvo_; And the Antidote is much weaker than the Poyson: 'Tis just as if a Man should set a House in a Flame, and think to make amends by crying _Fire_ in the Streets. In the last _Act Rasor_ makes his Discovery of the Plot against _Belinda_ in _Scripture_ phrase. I'le give it the _Reader_ in the Authors Dialogue.
Belind. _I must know who put you upon all this Mischief._[149]
Rasor. _Sathan And his Equipage. Woman tempted me, Lust weaken'd,----And so the Devil overcame me: As fell_ Adam _so fell I_.
Belind. _Then pray Mr._ Adam _will you make us acquainted with your_ Eve?
_Rasor_ unmasks _Madamoselle_ and says, _This is the Woman that tempted me: But this is the Serpent_ (meaning Lady _Fanciful_) _that tempted the Woman; And if my Prayers might be heard, her punishment for so doing should be like the Serpents of old, &c._ This _Rasor_ in what we hear of him before, is all Roguery, and Debauch: But now he enters in _Sackcloth_; and talks like _Tribulation_ in the _Alchemist_. His Character is chang'd to make him the more profane; And his Habit, as well as Discourse, is a Jest upon Religion. I am forced to omit one Line of his Confession. The Design of it is to make the _Bible_ deliver an obscene Thought: And because the Text would not bend into a Lewd Application; He alters the words for his purpose, but passes it for Scripture still. This sort of Entertainment is frequent in the _Relapse_. Lord _Foplington_ laughs at the publick Solemnities of Religion, as if 'twas a ridiculous piece of Ignorance, to pretend to the Worship of a God. He discourses with _Berinthia_ and _Amanda_ in this manner[150]: _Why Faith Madam,----Sunday is a vile Day, I must confess. A man must have very little to do at Church that can give an account of the Sermon._ And a little after: _is to mind what one should not do. Lory_ tells young _Fashion, I have been in a lamentable Fright ever since that Conscience had the Impudence to intrude into your Company_. His Master makes him this Comfortable Answer. _Be at peace, it will come no more:----I have kick'd it down stairs._ A little before he breaks out into this Rapture. Now Conscience I defie thee![151] By the way we may observe, that this young _Fashion_ is the _Poets_ Favorite.[152] _Berinthia_ and _Worthy_, two _Characters_ of Figure, determine the point thus in defence of Pimping.