THE WEST INDIAN
BY RICHARD CUMBERLAND
ACT I
SCENE I
A merchant's compting-house.
In an inner room, set off by glass doors, are discovered
several clerks, employed at their desks. A writing
table in the front room. STOCKWELLis discovered
reading a letter; STUKELYcomes gently out of the
back room, and observes him some time before
he speaks.
STUKELY. He seems disordered: something in
that letter; and I'm afraid of an unpleasant sort.
He has many ventures of great account at sea; a
ship richly freighted for Barcelona; another for
| Lisbon; and others expected from Cadiz of still | 5 |
greater value. Besides these, I know he has many
deep concerns in foreign bottoms, and underwritings
to a vast amount. I'll accost him. Sir! Mr. Stockwell!| STOCKWELL. Stukely! -- Well, have you | 10 |
shipped the cloths? STUKELY. I have, sir; here's the bill of lading, and
copy of the invoice: the assortments are all compared: Mr. Traffick will give you the policy upon
STOCK. 'Tis very well; lay these papers by; and
no more, of business for a while. Shut the door,
Stukely; I have had long proof of your friendship
and fidelity to me; a matter of most intimate concern
| lies on my mind, and 'twill be a sensible relief | 20 |
to unbosom myself to you; I have just now been
informed of the arrival of the young West Indian,
I have so long been expecting; you know who
I mean.| STUKELY. Yes, sir; Mr. Belcour, the young | 25 |
gentleman, who inherited old Belcour's great estates
in Jamaica. STOCK. Hush, not so loud; come a little nearer
this way. This Belcour is now in London; part of
| his baggage is already arrived; and I expect him | 30 |
every minute. Is it to be wondered at, if his coming
throws me into some agitation, when I tell you,
Stukely, he is my son? STUKELY. Your son!
| STOCK. Yes, sir, my only son; early in life I | 35 |
accompanied his grandfather to Jamaica as his clerk;
he had an only daughter, somewhat older than
myself; the mother of this gentleman: it was my
chance (call it good or ill) to engage her affections:| and, as the inferiority of my condition made it | 40 |
hopeless to expect her father's consent, her fondness
provided an expedient, and we were privately
married; the issue of that concealed engagement is,
as I have told you, this Belcour.| STUKELY. That event, surely, discovered | 45 |
your connection. STOCK. You shall hear. Not many days after
our marriage old Belcour set out for England; and,
during his abode here, my wife was, with great
| secrecy, delivered of this son. Fruitful in expe | 50 |
dients to disguise her situation, without parting
from her infant, she contrived to have it laid and
received at her door as a foundling. After some
time her father returned, having left me here; in| one of those favorable moments that decide | 55 |
the fortunes of prosperous men, this child was
introduced; from that instant, he treated him as
his own, gave him his name, and brought him up
in his family.| STUKELY. And did you never reveal this | 60 |
secret, either to old Belcour, or your son? STOCK. Never.
STUKELY. Therein you surprise me; a merchant
of your eminence, and a member of the British
| parliament, might surely aspire, without offence, | 65 |
to the daughter of a planter. In this case too,
natural affection would prompt to a discovery. STOCK. Your remark is obvious; nor could I have
persisted in this painful silence, but in obedience
| to the dying injunctions of a beloved wife. The | 70 |
letter you found me reading conveyed those injunctions to me; it was dictated in her last illness, and
almost in the article of death (you'll spare me the
recital of it); she there conjures me, in terms as| solemn as they are affecting, never to reveal | 75 |
the secret of our marriage, or withdraw my son,
while her father survived. STUKELY. But on what motives did your unhappy
lady found these injunctions?
| STOCK. Principally, I believe, from appre | 80 |
hension on my account, lest old Belcour, on whom
at her decease I wholly depended, should withdraw
his protection: in part from consideration of his
repose, as well knowing the discovery would deeply| affect his spirit, which was haughty, vehement, | 85 |
and unforgiving: and lastly, in regard to the interest____________________-723-
Questia, a part of Gale, Cengage Learning. www.questia.com
Publication information:
Book title: British Dramatists from Dryden to Sheridan.
Contributors: George Henry Nettleton - Editor, Arthur Eillicot Case - Editor.
Publisher: Boston ; Houghton Mifflin company,..
Place of publication: Boston; New York.
Publication year: 1939.
Page number: 723.
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