MR. DIA. Keep it for another time. ARG. I wish, my dear, that you had been here just now. TOI. Ah! Madam, how much you have lost by not being at the second father, the statue of Memnon, and the flower styled heliotrope. ARG. Come, my daughter, shake hands with this gentleman, and pledge him your troth. ANG. Father! ARG. Well? What do you mean by “Father”? ANG. I beseech you not to be in such a hurry; give us time to become acquainted with each other, and to see grow in us that sympathy so necessary to a perfect union. T. DIA. As far as I am concerned, Madam, it is already full-grown within me, and there is no occasion for me to wait. ANG. I am not so quick as you are, Sir, and I must confess that your merit has not yet made enough impression on my heart. ARG. Oh! nonsense! There will be time enough for the impression to be made after you are married. ANG. Ah! my father, give me time, I beseech you! Marriage is a chain which should never be imposed by force. And if this gentleman is a man of honour, he ought not to accept a person who would be his only by force. T. DIA. _Nego consequentiam._ I can be a man of honour, Madam, and at the same time accept you from the hands of your father. ANG. To do violence to any one is a strange way of setting about inspiring love. T. DIA. We read in the ancients, Madam, that it was their custom to carry off by main force from their father’s house the maiden they wished to marry, so that the latter might not seem to fly of her own accord into the arms of a man. ANG. The ancients, Sir, are the ancients; but we are the moderns. Pretences are not necessary in our age; and when a marriage pleases us, we know very well how to go to it without being dragged by force. Have a little patience; if you love me, Sir, you ought to do what I wish. T. DIA. Certainly, Madam, but without prejudice to the interest of my love. ANG. But the greatest mark of love is to submit to the will of her who is loved. T. DIA. _Distinguo_, Madam. In what does not regard the possession of her, _concedo_; but in what regards it, _nego_. TOI. (to ANGÉLIQUE). It is in vain for you to argue. This gentleman is bran new from college, and will be more than a match for you. Why resist, and refuse the glory of belonging to the faculty? BEL. She may have some other inclination in her head. ANG. If I had, Madam, it would be such as reason and honour allow. ARG. Heyday! I am acting a pleasant part here! BEL. If I were you, my child, I would not force her to marry; I know very well what I should do. ANG. I know what you mean, Madam, and how kind you are to me; but it may be hoped that your advice may not be fortunate enough to be followed. BEL. That is because well-brought-up and good children, like you, scorn to be obedient to the will of their fathers. Obedience was all very well in former times. ANG. The duty of a daughter has its limits, Madam, and neither reason nor law extend it to all things.