_Sir Per_. Come, let us till dinner.--Hah! by this time to-morrow, Maister Sidney, I hope we shall have every thing ready for you to put the last hand till the happiness of your friend and pupil;--and then, sir--my cares will be over for this life:--for as to my other son, I expect nai guid of him, nor shou'd I grieve, were I to see him in his coffin.--But this match,--O! it will make me the happiest of aw human beings. [_Exeunt._ END OF THE SECOND ACT. _ACT III. SCENE I._ _Enter Sir_ PERTINAX _and_ EGERTON. _Sir Per_. [_In warm resentment._] Zoons! sir, I wull not hear a word about it:--I insist upon it you are wrong:--you shou'd have paid your court till my lord, and not have scrupled swallowing a bumper or twa, or twenty, till oblige him. _Eger_. Sir, I did drink his toast in a bumper. _Sir Per_. Yes--you did;--but how? how?--just as a bairn takes physic-- with aversions and wry faces, which my lord observed: then, to mend the matter, the moment that he and the colonel got intill a drunken dispute about religion, you slily slunged away. _Eger_. I thought, sir, it was time to go, when my lord insisted upon half pint bumpers. _Sir Per_. Sir, that was not levelled at you, but at the colonel, in order to try his bottom; but they aw agreed that you and I should drink out of smaw glasses. _Eger_. But, sir, I beg pardon:--I did not choose to drink any more. _Sir Per_. But zoons! sir, I tell you there was a necessity for your drinking more. _Eger_. A necessity! in what respect, pray, sir? _Sir Per_. Why, sir, I have a certain point to carry, independent of the lawyers, with my lord, in this agreement of your marriage--about which I am afraid we shall have a warm squabble--and therefore I wanted your assistance in it. _Eger_. But how, sir, could my drinking contribute to assist you in your squabble? _Sir Per_. Yes, sir, it would have contributed--and greatly have contributed to assist me. _Eger_. How so, sir? _Sir Per_. Nay, sir, it might have prevented the squabble entirely; for as my lord is proud of you for a son-in-law, and is fond of your little French songs, your stories, and your bon-mots, when you are in the humour,--and guin you had but staid--and been a little jolly--and drank half a score bumpers with him, till he got a little tipsy--I am sure, when we had him in that mood, we might have settled the point as I could wish it, among ourselves, before the lawyers came: but now, sir, I do not ken what will be the consequence. _Eger_. But when a man is intoxicated, would that have been a seasonable time to settle business, sir? _Sir Per_. The most seasonable, sir:--for, sir, when my lord is in his cups--his suspicion is asleep--and his heart is aw jollity, fun, and guid fellowship; and sir, can there be a happier moment than that for a bargain, or to settle a dispute with a friend? What is it you shrug up your shoulders at, sir?