I'll not interrupt you. SERJEANT. Far from it, lovee; I should be glad to have you a witness of Jacky's improvement. Mrs. CIRCUIT. Of that I am no judge; besides, I am full of business to day--There is to be a ballot at one for the _Ladies' Club_ lately established, and lady Bab Basto has proposed me for a member.--Pray, my dear, when will you let me have that money to pay my Lord Loo? SERJEANT. The three hundred you mean? Mrs. CIRCUIT. And besides, there is my debt to Kitty Cribbidge; I protest I almost blush whenever I meet them. SERJEANT. Why really, lovee, 'tis a large sum of money.--Now, were I worthy to throw in a little advice, we might make a pretty good hand of this business. Mrs. CIRCUIT. I don't understand you. SERJEANT. Bring an action against them on the statute, in the name of my clerk; and so not only rescue the _debt_ from their hands, but recover likewise considerable _damages_. Mrs. CIRCUIT. A pretty conceit, Mr. Serjeant! but does it not occur to your wisdom, that as I have (by the help of Captain Cog) been oftener a winner than loser, the tables may be turned upon _us_? SERJEANT. No, no, chuck, that did not escape me; I have provided for that.--Do you know, by the law, both parties are equally culpable; so that, lovee, we shall be able to fleece your friends not only of what they have _won_ of poor dearee, but likewise for what they have _lost_. Mrs. CIRCUIT. Why, what a paltry, pettifogging puppy art thou!--And could you suppose that I would submit to the scandalous office? SERJEANT. Scandalous! I don't understand this strange perversion of words. The scandal lies in _breaking_ the _laws_, not in bringing the offenders to _justice_. Mrs. CIRCUIT. Mean-spirited wretch!--What, do you suppose that those laws could be levell'd against people of their high rank and condition? Can it be thought that any set of men would submit to lay legal restraints on _themselves_?--Absurd and preposterous! SERJEANT. Why, by their public practice, my love, one would suspect that they thought themselves excepted by a particular clause. Mrs. CIRCUIT. Oh! to be sure; not the least doubt can be made. SERJEANT. True, chuck--But then your great friends should never complain of highwaymen stopping their coaches, or thieves breaking into their houses. Mrs. CIRCUIT. Why, what has that to do with the business? SERJEANT. Oh! the natural consequence, lovee; for whilst the superiors are throwing away their fortunes, and consequently their independence _above_--you can't think but their domestics are following their examples _below_. Mrs. CIRCUIT. Well, and what then? SERJEANT. Then! the same distress that throws the master and mistress into the power of any who are willing to purchase them, by a regular gradation, reduces the servants to actions, though more _criminal_, perhaps not more _atrocious_. Mrs. CIRCUIT.