MR. JOUR. Yes, a marchioness. MRS. JOUR. alas! God forbid. MR. JOUR. It's a thing that I'm determined upon. MRS. JOUR. I will never consent to it. Marriages between people who are not of the same rank are always subject to the most serious inconveniences. I do not wish to have a son-in-law who would have it in his power to reproach my daughter with her parentage; nor that she should have children who would be ashamed to call me their grandmother. If she came to see me with the equipage of a grand lady, and failed through inadvertency to salute some of the neighbours, people would not fail to say a thousand ill-natured things. "Just see," they would say, "our lady the marchioness, who is so puffed up now, she is Mr. Jourdain's daughter; she was only too pleased, when a child, to play at my lady with us. She has not always been so exalted as now, and her two grandfathers sold cloth near St. Innocents' Gate. They have laid a great deal of money by for their children, for which, may be, they are now paying dearly in the other world, for one does not generally become so rich by honest means." I do not wish to give occasion for such gossip, and I desire to meet with a man who, to cut it short, will be grateful to me for my daughter, and to whom I can say, "Sit down there, son-in-law, and dine with me." MR. JOUR. How all these feelings show a narrow mind, satisfied to live for ever in a low condition of life. Let me have no more replies; my daughter shall be a marchioness in spite of everybody, and if you provoke me too much, I will make her a duchess. SCENE XIII.--MRS. JOURDAIN, LUCILE, CLEONTE, NICOLE, COVIELLE. MRS. JOUR. Do not give up all hope, Cleonte. Follow me, Lucile; come and tell your father with firmness and decision that, unless you have Cleonte for a husband, you will never marry. SCENE XIV.--CLEONTE, COVIELLE. COV. Well! you have done a fine piece of work, with your lofty sentiments. CLE. What could I do? I have scruples on that subject which no precedent could overcome. COV. What nonsense to be serious with a man like that! Do you not see that he is infatuated with one idea, and would it have cost you much to fall in with his gentility? CLE. I am afraid you are right; but the fact is I had not thought before that it was necessary to show proofs of gentility in order to become Mr. Jourdain's son-in-law. COV. (_laughing_). Ha! ha! ha! CLE. What are you laughing at? COV. At the thought of something that has just come into my head; it will play off our man, and help you to succeed in what you want. CLE. How so? COV. It is most amusing even to think of it. CLE. What is it?