My master and I obtain our knowledge from the same source;--though, gad!
I think myself much the prettier fellow of the two. [_Surveying himself
in the glass._] That was a brilliant thought, to insinuate that I folded
my master's letters for him; the folding is so neat, that it does honour
to the operator. I once intended to have insinuated that I wrote his
letters too; but that was before I saw them; it won't do now: no honour
there, positively.--"Nothing looks more vulgar [_Reading affectedly._],
ordinary, and illiberal than ugly, uneven, and ragged nails; the ends of
which should be kept even and clean, not tipped with black, and cut in
small segments of circles."--Segments of circles! surely my lord did not
consider that he wrote for the beaux. Segments of circles! what a
crabbed term! Now I dare answer that my master, with all his learning,
does not know that this means, according to the present mode, to let the
nails grow long, and then cut them off even at top. [_Laughing
without._] Ha! that's Jenny's titter. I protest I despair of ever
teaching that girl to laugh; she has something so execrably natural in
her laugh, that I declare it absolutely discomposes my nerves. How came
she into our house! [_Calls._] Jenny!
_Enter JENNY._
JESSAMY. Prythee, Jenny, don't spoil your fine face with laughing.
JENNY. Why, mustn't I laugh, Mr. Jessamy?
JESSAMY. You may smile; but, as my lord says, nothing can authorize a
laugh.
JENNY. Well, but I can't help laughing.--Have you seen him, Mr. Jessamy?
ha, ha, ha!
JESSAMY. Seen whom?
JENNY. Why Jonathan, the New-England colonel's servant. Do you know he
was at the play last night, and the stupid creature don't know where he
has been. He would not go to a play for the world; he thinks it was a
show, as he calls it.
JESSAMY. As ignorant and unpolished as he is, do you know, Miss Jenny,
that I propose to introduce him to the honour of your acquaintance?
JENNY. Introduce him to me! for what?
JESSAMY. Why, my lovely girl, that you may take him under your
protection, as Madame Ramboulliet did young Stanhope; that you may, by
your plastic hand, mould this uncouth cub into a gentleman. He is to
make love to you.
JENNY. Make love to me!--
JESSAMY. Yes, Mistress Jenny, make love to you; and, I doubt not, when
he shall become _domesticated_ in your kitchen, that this boor, under
your auspices, will soon become _un amiable petit Jonathan_.
JENNY. I must say, Mr. Jessamy, if he copies after me, he will be
vastly, monstrously polite.
JESSAMY. Stay here one moment, and I will call him.--Jonathan!--Mr.
Jonathan! [_Calls._]
JONATHAN [_Within._]. Holla! there.--[_Enters._] You promise to stand by
me--six bows you say. [_Bows._]
JESSAMY. Mrs. Jenny, I have the honour of presenting Mr. Jonathan,
Colonel Manly's waiter, to you. I am extremely happy that I have it in
my power to make two worthy people acquainted with each other's merits.
JENNY. So, Mr. Jonathan, I hear you were at the play last night.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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