Page:Miscellaneous Plays 1.pdf/225

Rh

am not very busy at present; I will indulge you with pleasure.

You are extremely obliging.—For a man pretty well received by women of the first circles, as I believe without vanity I may say of myself, it would be a silly trick to marry at all, did not my circumstances compel me to it; but I shall make such a choice of a wife as shall make me pass as much as possible for a single man still.

Very well!—I have a poem here which I think you will be pleased with.

You are very good indeed.—But you see how I am circumstanced: I must have fortune.—How foolish it was in the Marchioness of Edgemore to think I was going to elope with Lady Susan! I never paid more than common attention to her in my life. It is impossible for me to marry without fortune.

Well that is all very true.—But here is a pastoral which you will not, I hope, find unworthy your attention, if you will have the goodness to give it me.