So. Leave off Jesting, and consider the Matter seriously, as it really is.  Believe me, my Lucretia, she who has so many Friends, has never a one, for they that follow thee do it not as a Friend, but as a House of Office rather.  Do but consider, poor Thing, into what a Condition thou hast brought thyself. Christ lov’d thee so dearly as to redeem thee with his own Blood, and would have thee be a Partaker with him in an heavenly Inheritance, and thou makest thyself a common Sewer, into which all the base, nasty, pocky Fellows resort, and empty their Filthiness.  And if that leprous Infection they call the French Pox han’t yet seiz’d thee, thou wilt not escape it long.  And if once thou gettest it, how miserable wilt thou be, though all things should go favourably on thy Side?  I mean thy Substance and Reputation.  Thou wouldest be nothing but a living Carcase.  Thou thoughtest much to obey thy Mother, and now thou art a mere Slave to a filthy Bawd.  You could not endure to hear your Parents Instructions; and here you are often beaten by drunken Fellows and mad Whoremasters.  It was irksome to thee to do any Work at Home, to get a Living; but here, how many Quarrels art thou forc’d to endure, and how late a Nights art thou oblig’d to sit up?

Lu. How came you to be a Preacher?

So. And do but seriously consider, this Flower of thy Beauty that now brings thee so many Gallants, will soon fade:  And then, poor Creature, what wilt thou do?  Thou wilt be piss’d upon by every Body.  It may be, thou thinkest, instead of a Mistress, I’ll then be a Bawd.  All Whores can’t attain to that, and if thou shouldst, what Employment is more impious, and more like the Devil himself?

Lu. Why, indeed, my Sophronius, almost all you say is very true.  But how came you to be so religious all of a sudden?  Thou usedst to be the greatest Rake in the World, one of ’em.  No Body used to come hither more frequently, nor at more unseasonable Hours than you did.  I hear you have been at Rome.

So. I have so.

Lu. Well, but other People use to come from thence worse than they went:  How comes it about, it is otherwise with you?

So. I’ll tell you, because I did not go to Rome with the same Intent, and after the same Manner that others do.  Others commonly go to Rome, on purpose to come Home worse, and there they meet with a great many Opportunities of becoming so.  I went along with an honest Man, by whose Advice, I took along with me a Book instead of a Bottle:  The New Testament with Erasmus’s Paraphrase.

Lu. Erasmus’s?  They say that he’s Half a Heretick.

So. Has his Name reached to this Place too?

Lu. There’s no Name more noted among us.

So. Did you ever see him?

Lu. No, I never saw him; but I should be glad to see him; I have heard so many bad Reports of him.