But we two will be wise.
Ink.Pray, then, let us retire.
Tra. I would, but
Ink.There must be attraction much higher
Than Scamp, or the Jew's harp he nicknames his lyre,60
To call you to this hotbed.
Tra.I own it—'tis true—
A fair lady
Ink.A spinster?
Tra.Miss Lilac.
Ink.The Blue!
Tra. The heiress! The angel!
Ink.The devil! why, man,
Pray get out of this hobble as fast as you can.
You wed with Miss Lilac! 'twould be your perdition:
She's a poet, a chymist, a mathematician.[1]
Tra. I say she's an angel.
Ink.Say rather an angle.
If you and she marry, you'll certainly wrangle.
I say she's a Blue, man, as blue as the ether.
Tra. And is that any cause for not coming together?70
Ink. Humph! I can't say I know any happy alliance
Which has lately sprung up from a wedlock with science.
She's so learnéd in all things, and fond of concerning
Herself in all matters connected with learning,
That
Tra.What?
Ink.I perhaps may as well hold my tongue;
But there's five hundred people can tell you you're wrong.
Tra. You forget Lady Lilac's as rich as a Jew.
Ink. Is it miss or the cash of mamma you pursue?
Tra. Why, Jack, I'll be frank with you—something of both.
The girl's a fine girl.
Ink.And you feel nothing loth80
- ↑ ["Yesterday, a very pretty letter from Annabella.... She is ... very little spoiled, which is strange in an heiress.... She is a poetess—a mathematician—a metaphysician."—Journal, November 30, 1813, Letters, 1898, ii. 357.]
