Amelia.
He ſaid—he would not marry me without your conſent for the world.
Baron [ſtarting from his chair].
And pray, how came this the ſubject of your converſation?
Amelia. [riſing].
I brought it up.
Baron.
And what did you ſay?
Amelia.
I ſaid that birth and fortune were ſuch old-faſhioned things to me, I cared nothing about either: and that I had once heard my father declare, he ſhould conſult my happineſs in marrying me, beyond any other conſideration.
Baron.
I will once more repeat to you my ſentiments. It is the cuſtom in this country for the children of nobility to marry only with their equals; but as my daughter’s content is more dear to me than an ancient cuſtom, I would beſtow you on the firſt man I thought calculated to make you happy: by this I do not mean to ſay that I ſhould not be ſeverely nice in the character of the man to whom I gave you; and Mr. Anhalt, from his obligations to me, and his high ſenſe of honour, thinks too nobly—
Amelia.
Would it not be noble to make the daughter of his benefactor happy?
Baron.
But when that daughter is a child, and thinks like a child——
