Page:The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets, Volume 2.djvu/402

 been talking of such matters in the street. However, to pleasure Sempronius, let us suppose, for once, that the deer, is lodged: The deer is lodg'd, I've track'd her to her covert. If he had seen her in the open field, what occasion had he to track her, when he had so many Numidian dogs at his heels, which, with one halloo, he might have set upon her haunches: If he did not see her in the open field, how could he possibly track her? If he had seen her in the street, why did he not set upon her in the street, since through the street she must be carried at last? Now here, instead of having his thoughts upon his business, and upon the present danger; instead of meditating and contriving how he shall pass with his mistress through the southern gate, where her brother Marcus is upon the guard, and where he would certainly prove an impediment to him, which is the Roman word for the baggage; instead of doing this, Sempronius is entertaining himself with whimsies:

Sempr.