SCENE I.--1ST PHYSICIAN, SBRIGANI.
1ST PHY. He has forced through every obstacle I had placed to hinder him, and has fled
from the remedies I was beginning to prepare for him.
SBRI. To avoid remedies so salutary as yours is to be a great enemy to oneself.
1ST PHY. It is the mark of a disturbed brain and of a depraved reason to be unwilling to
be cured.
SBRI. You would have cured him, for certain, in no time.
1ST PHY. Certainly; though there had been the complication of a dozen diseases.
SBRI. With all that he makes you lose those fifty well-earned pistoles.
1ST PHY. I have no intention of losing them; and I am determined to cure him in spite of
himself. He is bound and engaged to take my remedies; and I will have him seized,
wherever I can find him, as a deserter from physic and an infringer of my prescriptions.
SBRI. You are right. Your medicines were sure of their effect; and it is so much money
he takes from you.
1ST PHY. Where could I find him?
SBRI. No doubt, at the house of that goodman Oronte, whose daughter he comes to
marry; and who, knowing nothing of the infirmity of his future son-in-law, will perhaps
be in a hurry to conclude the marriage.
1ST PHY. I will go and speak to him at once.
SBRI. You should, in justice to yourself.
1ST PHY. He is in need of my consultations; and a patient must not make a fool of his
doctor.
SBRI. That is well said; and, if I were you, I would not suffer him to marry till you have
physicked him to your heart's content.
1ST PHY. Leave that to me.
SBRI. (aside, and going). For my part, I will bring another battery into play; for the
father-in-law is as much of a dupe as the son-in-law.
