BLEN. She was indeed accomplished. SIR W. I thought so. Spoke Italian, no doubt? BLEN. Fluently. SIR W. And French? BLEN. Better than a native. SIR W. What a woman! Understood music? BLEN. An enthusiast in the science. SIR W. And mineralogy and archæology? BLEN. Perfectly. SIR W. And the steam engine? BLEN. Yes. SIR W. And the vestiges of creation? BLEN. Yes, and chaos, and everything. SIR W. What a woman! I should have adored her. And you lost this professor in petticoats? BLEN. Irrevocably! She concealed the name and title of her husband, as she did not wish me to write in reply, as any reproach from me would but add to her wretchedness--and now you know the cause of my dejection. SIR W. I pity you from my heart. If you have _lost_ a treasure, you should see the one that I have _found_. BLEN. _You_ are married, I hear. SIR W. Yes, I also formed an attachment to a young girl that I idolised. You have known me some years--that is to say, I was leaving college shortly after you entered, and you know how I have ever prized education--that it has been my watchword, my constant theme when I had a seat in Parliament. I don't sit now, but that's not _my_ fault; but when I _did_ sit, my constant agitation was education. "Educate," said I, "educate! that is the panacea for every social evil!" BLEN. I've read your speeches. SIR W. You should have heard them--will you hear one now? BLEN. Don't trouble yourself. SIR W. Well, after dinner. One day, Sir, in riding through the country, my horse stumbled, and I was thrown violently. My head encountered the edge of a stone wall; the wall being the hardest I was the only sufferer. Stunned and bleeding I was carried into a farm-house. My injuries were so severe that I was compelled to remain there for some weeks. The farmer's daughter constantly waited on me, paid me so much attention, so amused me, so anticipated my every wish--in short, made herself so necessary to my comforts, that---- BLEN. You---- SIR W. Exactly! I used to watch her every action as I reclined on my sofa. She was rude and odd, but there was a heartiness in her nature and a comeliness in her person that pleased me, that really fascinated me, till at last I began rather to love her. BLEN. You love an uneducated country wench? SIR W. It was silly, wasn't it? but we are not our own masters in such matters. However, don't laugh at me yet. I anticipated the pleasure of rightly directing her mind, of the happiness in possessing a subject on which to practise my favorite theory--in short, I pictured a whole life of felicity in educating the object of my affection. BLEN. For which purpose you married her. SIR W. I did, to the great disgust of my connexions; indeed, my uncle, Lord Plato, has never visited me since my union--has never written, or noticed me in any way. BLEN. But you found happiness in combining the character of husband and tutor?