IKA 46 AIR. Colonel OLDBOY, Lady MARY, DIANA, HARMAN]sf] 20W Lady M. Mr. Oldboy, won't you give me your hand to lead me up stairs, my dear?-Sir, I am prodigiously obliged to you; protest I have not been so well, I don't know when: I have had no return of my bitious o complaint after dinner to day; and eat so voraciously o Did you observe Miss? Doctor Afshie will be quie astonished when he hears it; surely his new invented medicine has done me a prodigious deal of service. Col. Ah! you'll always be taking one slop or other, till you poison yourself. 174 Lady M. It brought Sir Barnaby Drugg from death's door, after having tried the Spaw and Bristol waters without effect: it is good for several things, in many sovereign; as in colds and consumptions, and lowness of spirits: it corrects the humours, rectifies the juices, regulates the nervous system, creates an appetite, prevents flushings and sickness after meals, as also vain fears and head-achs; it is the finest thing in the world for an asthma; and no body that takes it, is ever troubled with hystericks. 184 Col. Give me a pinch of your Ladyship's snuff. Lady M. This is a mighty pretty sort of a man, Colonel, who is he! Col. A young fellow, my Lady, recommended to me. Lady M. I protest he has the sweetest taste for poetry! He has repeated to me two or three of his own things; and I have been telling him of the poem my late brother Lord Jessamy made on the mouse that was drowned.AC 194 Col. Ay, a fine subject, for a poem; a mouse that was drowned in ai ?— Lady M. Hush, my dear Colonel, don't mention it; to be sure the circumstance was vastly indelicate; but for the number of lines, the poem was as charming a morsel—I heard the earl of Punley say, who under stood Latin, that it was equal to any thing in Catullus. 202 Col. Well, how did you like your son's behaviour at dinner, Madam? I thought the girl looked a little askew at him-Why, he found fault with every thing and contradicted every body. Lady M. Softly, Miss Flowerdale, I understand, has desired a private conference with him. Col. What, Harman, have you got entertaining my daughter there? Come hither, Dy; has he been giving you a history of the accident that brought him down here? he 212 Dian. No, Papa, the gentleman has been telling Lady M. No matter what, Miss-'tis not polite to repeat what has been said. Col. Well, well, my Lady, you know the compact we made; the boy is yours, the girl mine-Give me your hand, Dy. £19 Lady M. Colonel, I have done-Pray, Sir, was there any news when you left London; any thing about the East-Indies, the ministry, or politics of any kind? I am strangely fond of politics; but I hear nothing since my Lord Jessamy's death; he used to write to me all the affairs of the nation, for he was a very great politician himself. I have a manuscript speech of his in my cabinet-He never spoke it, but it is as fine a thing as ever came from man? Col. What is that crawling on your Ladyship's petticoat? 230 Lady M. Where! Where! Col. Zounds! a spider with legs as long as my arm. Lady M. Oh Heavens! Ah don't let me look at it! I shall faint, I shall faint! A spider! a spider! a spider ! SCENE IV. Colonel OLDBOY, DIANA, HARMAN. Col. Hold; zounds let her go; I knew the spider would set her a galloping, with her damned fuss about her brother, my Lord Jessamy.-Harman, come here. How do you like my daughter? Is the girl you are in love with as handsome as this? Har. In my opinion, Sir. 240 Col. What, as handsome as Dy!-I'll lay you twenty pounds she has not such a pair of eyes.- -He tells me he's in love, Dy; raging mad for love, and, by his talk, I begin to believe him. Dian. Now, for my part, Papa, Idoubt it very much; though, by what I heard the gentleman say just now within, Í find he imagines the lady has a violent partiality for him; and yet he may be mistaken there too. Col. For shame, Dy, what the mischief do you mean? How can you talk so tartly to a poor young fellow under misfortunes! Give him your hand, and ask his pardon.-Don't mind her, Harman.For all this, she is as good-natured a little devil, as ever was born. Har. You may remember, Sir, I told you before E dinner, that I had for some time carried on a private correspondence with my lovely girl; and that her father, whose consent we despair of obtaining, is the great obstacle to our happiness. (ed.nosQ59 Col. Why don't you carry her off in spight of him, then I ran away with my wife ask my Lady Mary, she'll tell you the thing herself. Her old conceited Lord of a father thought I was not good enough; but I mounted a garden-wall, notwithstanding their che veux-de-frize of broken glass bottles, took her out of a three pair of stairs window, and brought her down a ladder in my arms By the way, she would have squeezed through a cat-hole to get at me.4And I would have taken her out of the Towers of London, damme, if it had been surrounded with the three regiments of guards. 313 57A mi271 Dian. But, surely, Papa, you would not persuade the gentleman to such a proceeding as this list; consi der the noise it will make in the country; and if you are known to be the adviser and abettor 7,920of Col. Why, what do I care? I say, if he takes my advice he'll run away with her, and I'll give him all the assistance I can. (9) Vm juditsW .roid Har. I am sure, Sir, you are very kind3⁄4vandy co tell you the truth, I have more than once had the very scheme in my head, if I thought it was feasible, and knew how to go about it. 2001 wway bloH ..No3 Col. Feasible, and knew how to go about it! The thing's feasible enough, if the girl's willing to go |