Trav. Pray, Mr Serjeant, are you concerned in Jones

and Thomas at Lincoln ?

Flow. I am for the plantiff.

Trav. And what do you think on't?

Flow. A nonsuit. *

Trav. I thought so.

Flow. Oh, no manner of doubt on't-luce clarius-we

have no right in us-we have but one chance.

Trav. What's that?

飯

Flow. Why, my lord-chief does not go the circuit this time, and my brother Puzzle being in the commission, the cause will come on before him.

True. Ay, that may do, indeed, if you can but throw dust in the eyes of the defendant's counsel.

Flow. True.-Mr Trueman, I think you are concerned for lord Ogleby in this affair?

[10 Trueman. True. I am, Sir;-I have the honour to be related to his lordship, and hold some courts for him in Summersetshire, go to the Western circuit-and attend the sessions at Exeter, merely because his lordships interest and property lie in that part of the kingdom.

Flow. Ha!-and pray, Mr Trueman, how long have you been called to the bar?

True. About nine years and three quarters.

Flow. Ha!-I dont know that I ever had the pleasure of seeing you before.I wish you success, young gentleman!

Enter STERLING.

Ster. Oh, Mr Serjeant Flower, I am glad to see youYour servant, Mr Serjeant! gentlemen, your servant -Well, are all matters concluded? Has the 'snail-paced conveyancer, old Ferret of Gray's Inn, settled the articies at last? Do you approve of what he has done: Will his tackle hold? tight and strong -Eh, master Serjeant ?

Flow. My friend Ferret's slow and sure, Sir-but then serius aut citius, as we say,Sooner or later, Mr sterling, he is sure to put his business out of hand as he should do My clerk has brought the writings, and all other instruments along with him, and the settlement is, I believe, as good a settlement as any settlement on the face of the earth!

Ster. But that damn'd mortgage of £60,000.-There don't appear to be any other incumbrances, I hope?

Trav. I can answer for that, Sir-and that will be cleared off immediately on the payment of the first part of Miss Sterling's portion-You agree, on your part, to come down with £80,000.

Ster. Down on the nail.-Ay, ay, my money is ready to-morrow, if he pleases he shall have it in India-bonds, or notes, or how he chuses.-Your lords, and your dukes, and your people at the court-end of the town stick at payments sometimes-debts unpaid, no credit lost with them -but no fear of us substantial fellows-eh, Mr Serjeant!

Flow. Sir John having last term, according to agreement, levied a fine, and suffered a recovery, has thereby cut off the entail of the Ogleby estate for the better effecting the purposes of the present intended marriage; on which above-mentioned Ogleby estate, a jointure of £2000. per ann, is secured to your eldest daughter, now Elizabeth Serling, spinster; and the whole estate, after the death of the aforesaid Earl, descends to the heirs male of Sir John Melvil on the body of the aforesaid Elizabeth Sterling laws fully to be begotten.

Trav. Very true-and Sir John is to be put in immediate possesion of as much of his lordship's Somersetshire estate, as lies in the manors of Hogmore and Cranford, amounting to between two and three thousands per ann. and at the death of Mr Sterling, a further sum of seventy thousand

Enter Sir JOHN MELVIL.

Ster. Ah, Sir John!- -Here we are-hard at it-paving the road to matrimony-We'll have no jolts; all upon the nail, as easy as the new pavement.-First the lawyers, then comes the doctor Let us but dispatch the longrobe, we shall soon set Pudding-sleeves to work, I warrant you.

Sir John. I am sorry to interrupt you, Sir, but I hope that both you and these gentlemen will excuse me having something very particular for your private ear, I took the liberty of following you, and beg you will oblige me with an audience immediately..

Ster.

Ster. Ay, with all my heart Gentlemen, Mr Serjeant, you'll excuse it-Business must be done, you know. The writings will keep cold til to-morrow morning. Flow. I must be at Warwick, Mr Sterling, the day after.

Ster. Nay, nay, I shan't part with you to-night, gentlemen, I promise you My house is very full, but I have beds for you all, beds for your servants, and stabling for all your horses-Will you take a turn in the garden, and view some of my improvements before dinner? Or will you amuse yourself in the green, with a game of bowls and a cool tankard?-My servants shall attend you-Do you chuse any other refreshment? Call for what you please; do as you please;make yourselves quite at home, I beg of you. Here, Thomas, Harry, William, wait on these gentlemen!-follows the lawyers out, bawling, and talking, and then returns to Sir John.] And now, Sir, I am entirely at your servise.. What are your commands with me, Sir John?

Sir John. After having carried the negotiation between our families to so great a length, after having assented so readily to all your proposals, as well as received so many instan. ces of your chearful compliance with the demands made on our part, I am extremely concerned, Mr Sterling, to be the involuntary cause of an uneasiness.

Sterl. Uneasiness! what uneasiness?-Where business is transacted as it ought to be, and the parties understand one another, there can be no uneasiness. You agree, on such and such conditions, to receive my daughter for a wife; on the same conditions I agree to receive you as a son-inlaw; and as to all the rest, it follows of course, you know, as regularly as the payment of a bill after acceptance.

Sir John. Pardon me, Sir; more uneasiness has arisen than you are aware of. I am myself, at this instant, in a state of inexpressible embarrassment; Miss Sterling, 1 know, is extremely disconcerted too; and unless you will oblige me with the assistance of your friendship, I foresee the speedy progress of discontent and animosity through the whole family.

Sterl. What the deuce is all this? I don't understand a single syllable.

Sir John, In one word then-it will be absolutely impossible

impossible for me to fulfil my engagements in regard to Miss Sterling.

Sterl. How, Sir John? do you mean to put an affront upon my family? What! refuse to-.

Sir John. Be assured, Sir, that I neither mean to affront nor forsake your family.-My only fear is, that you should desert me; for the whole happiness of my life depends on my being connected with your family by the nearest and tenderest ties in the world.

Sterl. Why, did not you tell me, but a moment ago, that it was absolutely impossible for you to marry my daughter?

Sir John. True.-But you have another daughter, Sir

Sterl. Well?

Sir John. Who has obtained the most absolute dominion over my heart. I have already declared my passion to her; nay, Miss Sterling herself is also apprized of it, and if you will but give a sauction to my present addresses, the uncommon merit of Miss Sterling will no doubt recommend her to a person of equal, if not superior rank to myself, and our families may still be allied by my union with miss Fanny.

Sterl. Mighty fine, truly! Why, what the plague do you make of us, Sir John? Do you come to market for my daughters, like servants at a statute-fair? Do you think that I will suffer you, or any man in the world, to come into my house, like the Grand Signior, and throw the handkerchief first to one, and then t'other, just as he pleases? Do you think I drive a kind of African slave-trade with them? and

Sir John. A moment's patience, Sir! Nothing but the excess of my passion for Miss Fanny shou'd have induced me to take any step that had the least appearance of disrespect to any part of your family; and even now I am desirous to atone for my transgression, by making the most adequate compensation that lies in my power.

Sterl. Compensation! what compensation can you possibly make in such a case as this, Sir John?

Sir John. Come, come, Mr Sterling; I know you to be a man of sense, a man of business, a man of the world. I'll deal frankly with you: and you shall see that I do not

desire a change of measures for my own gratification, without endeavouring to make it advantageous to you.

Sterl. What advantage can your inconstancy be to me, Sir John?

Sir John. I'll tell you, Sir,-You know, that by the articles at present subsisting between us, on the day of my marriage with Miss Sterling, you agree to pay down the gross sum of eighty thousand pounds..

Sterl. Well!

Sir John. Now, if you will but consent to my waving that marriage

Sterl. I agree to your waving that marriage? Impossible, Sir John!

Sir John. I hope not, Sir; as on my part, I will agree to wave my right to thirty thousand pounds of the fortune I was to receive with her.

Sterl. Thirty thousand, d'ye say?

Sir John. Yes, Sir; and except of Miss Fanny with fifty thousand, instead of fourscore.

Sterl. Fifty thousand

Sir John. Instead of fourscore.

[pausing.

Sterl. Why-why-there may be something in that. -Let me see; Fanny with fifty thousand instead of Betsey with fourscore-But how can this be, Sir John? For you know I am to pay this money into the hands of my lord Ogleby; who, I believe between you and me, Sir John, -is not overstocked with ready money at present; and threescore thousand of it, you know, is to go to pay off the present incumbrances on the estate, Sir John.

Sir John. That objection is easily obviated.-Ten of the twenty thousand, which would remain as a surplus of the fourscore, after paying off the mortgage, was intended by his lordship for my use, that we might set off with some little eclat on our marriage; and the other ten for my own. Ten thousand pounds therefore I shall be able to pay you immediately, and for the remaining twenty thousand, you shall have a mortgage on that part of the estate which is to be made over to me, with whatever security you shall require for the regular payment of the interest, till the principal is duly discharged.

Sterl. Why-to do you justice, Sir John, there is something fair and open in your proposal; and since I find you do not mean to put an affrontupon my family.

S