_Eger_. O! madam, they are mere temporary baubles, especially in courtship; and no more to be depended upon than the weather, or a lottery ticket.
_Lady Rod_, Ha, ha, ha! twa excellent similes, I vow, Mr. Egerton.-- Excellent! for they illustrate the vagaries and inconstancy of my dissipated heart as exactly as if you had meant to describe it. [_Exit with_ Eger.
_Sir Per_. Ha, ha, ha! what a vast fund of spirits and guid humour she has, Maister Sidney.
_Sid_. A great fund indeed, Sir Pertinax.
_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._
_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?