_Sir W._ That's the very thing I complain of. You _do_ degrade yourself. Your economy, my life, is downright parsimony: your vigilance is suspicion; your management is meanness; and you fidget your servants till you make them fretful, and then prudently discharge them because they will live with you no longer. Hey! ods life, I must sooth her: for if company comes, and finds her in this humour, my dear-bought reputation as a good husband is lost forever. _(Enter servant with breakfast.)_ Come, come, my dear lady Worret, let us go to breakfast, come _(sitting down to breakfast)_ let us talk of something else. Come, take your tea. _Lady W. (to servant)_ Send William to speak to me. [_Exit servant._ _Sir W._ Where's Helen? _Lady W._ I have desired her to copy a few articles into the family receipt book before breakfast; for as her marriage will so shortly take place, it is necessary she should complete her studies. _Sir W._ What, she's at work, I suppose, on the third folio volume. _Lady W._ The _fifth_, I believe. _Sir W._ Heaven defend us! I don't blame it; I don't censure it at all: but I believe the case is _rather_ unprecedented for an heiress of 12,000l. a year to leave to posterity, in her own hand writing, five folio volumes of recipes, for pickling, preserving, potting, and pastry, for stewing and larding, making ketchup and sour krout, oyster patties, barbacued pies, jellies, jams, soups, sour sauce, and sweetmeats. _Lady W._ Oh, sir Willoughby! if young ladies of the present day paid more attention to such substantial acquirements, we should have better wives and better husbands. _Sir W._ Why that is singularly just. _Lady W._ Yes, if women were taught to find amusement in domestic duties, instead of seeking it at a circulating library, assemblies, and balls, we should hear of fewer appeals to Doctor's Commons and the court of King's Bench. _Sir W._ Why that is undeniably true _(aside)_ and now, as we have a moment uninterrupted by family affairs-- _Enter_ William. _Lady W._ Is the carriage come? _Will._ No, my lady. _Lady W._ Have you carried the books? _Will._ No, my lady. _Lady W._ Then go and hasten the coachman. _Will._ No, my lady--_yes_, my lady. _Lady W._ And William, send up Tiffany to Miss Helen's room, and bid her say we expect her at breakfast. _Will._ Miss Helen has been in the park these two hours. _Sir W. (Laughs aside.)_ _Lady W._ How! in the park these two hours? Impossible. Send Tiffany to seek her. _Will._ Yes, my lady. [_Exit._ _Sir W._ So, as usual, risen with the lark, I suppose. _Lady W._ Her disobedience will break my heart. _Sir W._ Zounds! I shall go mad. Here's a mother-in-law going to break her heart, because my daughter prefers a walk in the morning to writing culinary secrets in a fat folio family receipt book! _Lady W._ Sir Willoughby, sir Willoughby, it is you who encourage her in disregarding my orders.