1829.] ^£airs in General. 326 



DIALOGUE ON MATRIMONY. 



Dramatis Personce — The Countess and her Cousin. 



Cousin. 

 Heavens ! how could you marry that frightful old peer ? 



Countess. 

 Can a man be a fright with ten thousand a-year ? 



Cousin. 

 I'm sure you must wish the old fool in the Styx. 



Countess. 

 Pray, my dear, have you looked at my chariot and six ? 



Cousin. 

 But he's gouty. In fact, he but wanted a nurse. 



Countess. 

 Pray, my dear, do you think you could carry this purse ? 



Cousin. 

 But he'll never stir out of his flannel and chair. 



Countess. 

 Pray, my dear, have you looked at my house in the square ? 



Cousin. 

 But he's eighty. The world will all laugh in your fj^ce. 



Countess. 

 Pray, my dear, have you looked at my new Brussels' lace ? 



Cousin. 

 But at eighty a man has his toe in the tomb. 



Countess. 

 My dear, I'm prepared for the worst that can come. 



Cousin. 

 But all dies with himself. You don't dream of an heir ? 



Countess. 

 My, dear, 'tis but virtue to bear and forbear. 



Cousin. 

 Well, six months, or weeks, and he'll leave you behind. 



Countess. 

 "Well, my dear, I must try not to weep myself blind. 



Cousin. 

 You'll linger till then a most nursery-maid life. 



Countess. 

 A widow well jointured can soon be a wife. 

 Chance dropt in my fingers four thousand a-year. 



Cousin. 

 There's not one of our sex but would take the old peer. 



We hear a vast deal of the delicate honour of military and naval 

 officers, of their scorn of menial employments, and of their very une- 

 quivocally, however very absurdly, thinking that all other professions 

 are but contemptible affairs compared with that of the sword and epau- 

 lette. Until lately, it was even considered a decided indignity in an 

 officer to be surmised to have written any thing beyond a return, or to 

 be ca])abli' of higher exploits than a signature in the Orderly-book. But 

 a good deal was to be pardoned to the sense of professional honour, when 



