Page:Modern Literature Volume 3 (1804).djvu/221

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a votary of St. Leon, talk of marriage! Marriage is a shameful aristocratical monopoly. Why should so charming a man be engrossed?"—"Pray do not talk so loud, Madam," said the other. "There again," said the first, "you forget the precepts of the adorable Jemima, and the divine St. Leon, that in converse between the sexes nothing is more unbecoming than secrecy. "You yourself," said a third, "forget the precepts of our great instructors; you used the term divine, a sound without meaning."—"I stand corrected; but the language of old prejudice and darkness will intrude insensibly into new philosophy and light." The second lady, observing a cloak with a very broad border of fine lace, said, in a half jest, she wished she had an opportunity of getting hold of that cloak. "What," said the third, "would you steal?"—"Steal," said she; "is this your progress; are not we taught that pro-