_Shuff._ Why, that's true:--but his case is so rare, that it isn't well understood, I believe. Curse me, my dear Frank, if the disease of lending is epidemic. _Frank._ But the disease of trying to borrow, my dear Tom, I am afraid, is. _Shuff._ Very prevalent, indeed, at the west end of the town. _Frank._ And as dangerous, Tom, as the small-pox. They should inoculate for it. _Shuff._ That wouldn't be a bad scheme; but I took it naturally. Psha! damn it, don't shake your head. Mine's but a mere _facon de parler_: just as we talk to one another about our coats:--we never say, "Who's your tailor?" We always ask, "Who suffers?" Your father tells me you are going to be married; I give you joy. _Frank._ Joy! I have known nothing but torment, and misery, since this cursed marriage has been in agitation. _Shuff._ Umph! Marriage was a weighty affair, formerly; so was a family coach;--but domestic duties, now, are like town chariots;--they must be made light, to be fashionable. _Frank._ Oh, do not trifle. By acceding to this match, in obedience to my father, I leave to all the pangs of remorse, and disappointed love, a helpless, humble girl, and rend the fibres of a generous, but too credulous heart, by cancelling like a villain, the oaths with which I won it. _Shuff._ I understand:--A snug thing in the country.--Your wife, they tell me, will have four thousand a year. _Frank._ What has that to do with sentiment? _Shuff._ I don't know what you may think; but, if a man said to me, plump, "Sir, I am very fond of four thousand a year;" I should say,--"Sir, I applaud your sentiment very highly." _Frank._ But how does he act, who offers his hand to one woman, at the very moment his heart is engaged to another? _Shuff._ He offers a great sacrifice. _Frank._ And where is the reparation to the unfortunate he has deserted? _Shuff._ An annuity.--A great many unfortunates sport a stylish carriage, up and down St. James's street, upon such a provision. _Frank._ An annuity, flowing from the fortune, I suppose, of the woman I marry! is that delicate? _Shuff._ 'Tis convenient. We liquidate debts of play, and usury, from the same resources. _Frank._ And call a crowd of jews and gentlemen gamesters together, to be settled with, during the debtor's honeymoon! _Shuff._ No, damn it, it wouldn't be fair to jumble the jews into the same room with our gaming acquaintance. _Frank._ Why so? _Shuff._ Because, twenty to one, the first half of the creditors would begin dunning the other. _Frank._ Nay, far once in your life be serious. Read this, which has wrung my heart, and repose it, as a secret, in your own. [_Giving the Letter._