Sir _Fran._ And let me alone to work it! mayhap I hav'n't told you all, neither---- _Man._ You astonish me! what! and is it full as practicable as what you have told me! Sir _Fran._ Ay! thof' I say it----every whit, Cousin? you'll find that I have more irons i'the fire than one! I doan't come of a fool's errand! _Man._ Very well. Sir _Fran._ In a word, my wife has got a friend at Court, as well as myself, and her daughter _Jenny_ is naw pretty well grown up---- _Man._ [_Aside._]--And what in the Devil's name would he do with the Dowdy? Sir _Fran._ Naw, if I doan't lay in for a husband for her, mayhap i'this Tawn, she may be looking out for herself---- _Man._ Not unlikely. Sir _Fran._ Therefore I have some thoughts of getting her to be Maid of Honour. _Man._ [_Aside._]--Oh! he has taken my breath away! but I must hear him out----Pray, Sir _Francis_, do you think her education has yet qualified her for a Court? Sir _Fran._ Why, the Girl is a little too mettlesome, it's true! but she has tongue enough: She woan't be dasht! Then she shall learn to daunce forthwith, and that will soon teach her how to stond still, you know. _Man._ Very well; but when she is thus accomplish'd, you must still wait for a vacancy. Sir _Fran._ Why I hope one has a good chance for that every day, Cousin! For if I take it right, that's a post, that folks are not more willing to get into, than they are to get out of--It's like an Orange-tree, upon that accawnt----it will bear blossoms, and fruit that's ready to drop, at the same time. _Man._ Well, Sir, you best know how to make good your pretensions! But pray where is my Lady, and my young Cousins? I should be glad to see them too. Sir _Fran._ She is but just taking a dish of tea with the Count, and my Landlady--I'll call her dawn. _Man._ No, no, if she's engag'd, I shall call again. Sir _Fran._ Ods-heart! but you mun see her naw, Cousin; what! the best Friend I have in the World!----Here! Sweet-heart! [_To a Servant without._] pr'ythee desire my Lady, and the Gentleman to come down a bit; tell her here's Cousin _Manly_ come to wait upon her. _Man._ Pray, Sir, who may the Gentleman be? Sir _Fran._ You mun know him to be sure; why it's Count _Basset_. _Man._ Oh! is it he?--Your Family will be infinitely happy in his acquaintance. Sir _Fran._ Troth! I think so too: He's the civilest Man that ever I knew in my life----why! here he would go out of his own lodging, at an hour's warning, purely to oblige my family. Wasn't that kind, naw? _Man._ Extremely civil--the Family is in admirable hands already. Sir _Fran._ Then my Lady likes him hugely--all the time of _York_ Races, she would never be without him. _Man._ That was happy, indeed! and a prudent Man, you know, should always take care that his Wife may have innocent company. Sir _Fran._ Why ay! that's it! and I think there could not be such another. _Man._ Why truly, for her purpose, I think not.