Page:The Works of the Rev. Jonathan Swift, Volume 8.djvu/338



Lord Smart. 'M sorry I was not at home this morning, when you all did us the honour to call here: but I went to the levee to day.

''Ld. Sparkish''. O! my lord; I'm sure the loss was ours.

Lady Smart. Gentlemen and ladies, you are come to a sad dirty house; I am sorry for it, but we have had our hands in mortar.

''Ld. Sparkish''. O! madam; your ladyship is pleas'd to say so; but I never saw any thing so clean and so fine; I profess, it is a perfect paradise.

Lady Smart. My lord, your lordship is always very obliging.

''Ld. Sparkish''. Pray, madam, whose picture is that?

Lady Smart. Why, my lord, it was drawn for me.

''Ld. Sparkish''. I'll swear the painter did not flatter your ladyship.

Col. My lord, the day is finely clear'd up.

''Ld. Smart''. Ay, colonel; 'tis a pity that fair weather should ever do any harm. [To Neverout.] Why, Tom, you are high in the mode.

Neverout. My lord, it is better to be out of the world than out of the fashion. Ld. Smart.