Lord M. D——­d fellow! [Again saddling, and reading.] ’But I have been most egregiously mistaken in Mr. Lovelace!’ [Then they all clamoured again.]—­’The only man, I persuade myself’——­

Lovel.  Ladies may persuade themselves to any thing:  but how can she answer for what other men would or would not have done in the same circumstances?

I was forced to say any thing to stifle their outcries.  Pox take ye altogether, thought I; as if I had not vexation enough in losing her!

Lord M. [Reading.] ’The only man, I persuade myself, pretending to be a gentleman, in whom I could have been so much mistaken.’

They were all beginning again—­Pray, my Lord, proceed!—­Hear, hear—­pray, Ladies, hear!—­Now, my Lord, be pleased to proceed.  The Ladies are silent.

So they were; lost in admiration of me, hands and eyes uplifted.

Lord M. I will, to thy confusion; for he had looked over the next sentence.

What wretches, Belford, what spiteful wretches, are poor mortals!—­So rejoiced to sting one another! to see each other stung!

Lord M. [Reading.] ’For while I was endeavouring to save a drowning wretch, I have been, not accidentally, but premeditatedly, and of set purpose, drawn in after him.’—­What say you to that, Sir-r?

Lady S. |  Ay, Sir, what say you to this? 
Lady B. |

Lovel.  Say!  Why I say it is a very pretty metaphor, if it would but hold.—­But, if you please, my Lord, read on.  Let me hear what is further said, and I will speak to it all together.

Lord M. I will.  ’And he has had the glory to add to the list of those he has ruined, a name that, I will be bold to say, would not have disparaged his own.’

They all looked at me, as expecting me to speak.

Lovel.  Be pleased to proceed, my Lord:  I will speak to this by-and-by—­
How came she to know I kept a list?—­I will speak to this by-and-by.

Lord M. [Reading on.] ’And this, Madam, by means that would shock humanity to be made acquainted with.’

Then again, in a hurry, off went the spectacles.

This was a plaguy stroke upon me.  I thought myself an oak in impudence; but, by my troth, this almost felled me.

Lord M. What say you to this, sir-R!

Remember, Jack, to read all their Sirs in this dialogue with a double rr,
Sir-r! denoting indignation rather than respect.

They all looked at me as if to see if I could blush.

Lovel.  Eyes off, my Lord!——­Eyes off, Ladies! [Looking bashfully, I believe.]—­What say I to this, my Lord!—­Why, I say, that this lady has a strong manner of expressing herself!—­That’s all.—­There are many things that pass among lovers, which a man cannot explain himself upon before grave people.

Lady Betty.  Among lovers, Sir-r!  But, Mr. Lovelace, can you say that this lady behaved either like a weak, or a credulous person?—­Can you say—­