_Lady Rod_. Which of aw charms is the most delightful that can accompany
wit, taste, love, or friendship;--for novelty I take to be the true _Je ne
scais quoi_ of all worldly bliss. Cousin Egerton, shou'd not you like to
have a wife with Vive la Bagatelle upon her wedding chariot?
_Eger_. O! certainly, madam.
_Lady Rod_. Yes, I think it would be quite out of the common, and
singularly ailegant.
_Eger_. Indisputably, madam:--for as a motto is a word to the wise, or
rather a broad hint to the whole world of a person's taste and
principles,--Vive la Bagatelle would be most expressive at first sight of
your ladyship's characteristic.
_Lady Rod_. [_Curtsies._] O! Maister Egerton, you touch my vary heart with
your approbation--ha, ha, ha! that is the vary spirit of my intention, the
instant I commence bride.--Weel! I am immensely proud that my fancy has
the approbation of so sound an understanding, and so polished a taste as
that of the all-accomplished [_Curtsies very low._] Mr. Egerton.
_Sir Per_. Weel,--but Lady Rodolpha--I wanted to ask your ladyship some
questions about the company at the Bath;--they say you had aw the world
there.
_Lady Rod_. O, yes!--there was a vary great mob there indeed;--but vary
little company.--Aw Canaille,--except our ain party.--The place was
crowded with your little purse-proud mechanics;--an odd kind of queer
looking animals that have started intill fortune fra lottery tickets, rich
prizes at sea, gambling in Change-Alley, and sic like caprices of
fortune;--and away they aw crowd to the Bath to learn genteelity, and the
names, titles, intrigues, and bon-mots of us people of fashion; ha, ha,
ha!
_Lord Lum_. Ha, ha, ha! I know them;--I know the things you mean, my dear,
extremely well.--I have observed them a thousand times, and wondered where
the devil they all came from; ha, ha, ha!
_Lady Mac_. Pray, Lady Rodolpha, what were your diversions at Bath?
_Lady Rod_. Guid traith, my lady, the company were my diversion,--and
better na human follies ever afforded; ha, ha, ha! sic an a mixture--and
sic oddities, ha, ha, ha!--a perfect Gallimaufry.--Lady Kunegunda M'Kenzie
and I used to gang about till every part of this human chaos, on purpose
to reconnoitre the monsters and pick up their frivolities; ha, ha, ha!
_Sir Per_. Ha, ha, ha! why that must have been a high entertainment till
your ladyship.
_Lady Rod_. Superlative and inexhaustible, Sir Pertinax; ha, ha, ha!--
Madam, we had in one group--a peer and a sharper,--a dutchess and a
pinmaker's wife,--a boarding school miss and her grandmother,--a fat
parson, a lean general, and a yellow admiral,--ha, ha, ha!--aw speaking
together--and bawling and wrangling in fierce contention, as if the fame
and fortune of aw the parties were to be the issue of the conflict.
_Sir Per_. Ha, ha, ha! pray, madam, what was the object of their
contention?
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