CLAVIGO : A TRAGEDY. 441 



Clav. You mock me. 



Car. As if I had not already had proposals put into my hands, scrawled 

 by some soft scribbling little paws, as unorthographically as a girl's ori- 

 ginal love letter only can be. How many a pretty duenna has come to 

 me with an opportunity under her thumb! 



Clav. And you never told me anything of all this ? 



Car. Because I would not fill your head with useless freaks. I never 

 should have guessed you had been in earnest with any particular one. 

 Oh, Clavigo, I have had your fate at heart even as my own ! I have no 

 friend but you ; men are all insufferable to me, and you begin to be insuffer- 

 able also. 



Clav. Be calm, pray. 



Car. Burn a man's house down, which he has been ten years in building, 

 and send a confessor to him who will recommend Christian patience. One 

 should interest one's-self for none but one's-self ; men are not worth 



Clav. Are your malevolent humours returning? 



Car. If I do again fall into them, who is to blame but yourself? I said 

 in my own mind, " what service would the most advantageous match do 

 him at present ? It might do well enough for an ordinary man, but with his 

 mind, with his parts, it is unjustifiable it is impossible he should remain 

 what he is." These were my speculations. " There are so few men who 

 are at once so enterprising and insinuating, so spirited and persevering. 

 He is skilled in every department of his office ; as keeper of the archives 

 lie can readily acquire the most important information ; he will make him- 

 self indispensable ; and let but a change take place, he is minister at once." 



Clav. I confess these were often my dreams too. 



Car. Dreams! As surely as I could reach the steeple, were I to set 

 about it with a firm determination not to desist until I had ascended, so 

 surely would you have surmounted every difficulty. And thenceforth I 

 should not have been apprehensive. You have no fortune, so much the 

 better ; that should make you more zealous in acquiring it more cautious 

 in taking care of it. Whoever keeps the treasury without becoming rich 

 is a simpleton, for I do not see why the country should not pay taxes 

 to the minister as well as to the king. The one gives his name, the other 

 his abilities. When I had done with these matters, and not till then, should 

 I look out for a match. I have seen many a proud house who would wink 

 at your origin, many of the richest who would willingly supply the 

 expenditure necessary to your rank, only to participate in the honour of 

 being second to the king and now 



Clav. You are unjust, you under-rate my present condition too much ; 

 and do you think then I shall cease to persevere, or that I cannot make 

 more masterly strides yet? 



Car. Dear friend, pluck out the heart of a plant, it may still shoot forth 

 numberless sprouts ; it may possibly become a strong bush, but the proud 

 stately growth of the first bud is destroyed. And do not think this mar- 

 riage will be looked upon with indifference at court. Have you forgot- 

 ten who dissuaded your union with Maria? Have you forgotten who sug- 

 gested the prudent thought of giving her up ? Shall I count them over to 

 you? 



Clav. It has tormented me to think how few will approve of thi| step. 



Car. Not one! And your aristocratic friends should not be irritated 

 by your giving yourself away at once without informing them, without 

 their advice, Tike a thoughtless boy at a fair throws away his money in 

 maggotty nuts ? 



Clav. That is ill bred, Carlos, and exaggerated 



Car. Not a jot. If a person commits a blunder in a love fit, such as 

 marrying a chambermaid because she is beautiful as an angel, it may be 

 overlooked; the man is censured, and yet the people envy him. 



