Page:The Clandestine Marriage (1766).djvu/82

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The CLANDESTINE MARRIAGE,

quiſite feelings, ſuppoſe we change the ſubject, and proceed to buſineſs.

Sterl. With all my heart, my Lord!

Lord Ogle. You ſee, Mr. Sterling, we can make no union in our families by the propos'd marriage.

Sterl. And very ſorry I am to ſee it, my Lord.

Lord Ogle. Have you ſet your heart upon being allied to our houſe, Mr. Sterling?

Sterl. 'Tis my only wiſh, at preſent, my omnium, as I may call it.

Lord Ogle. Your wiſhes ſhall be fulfill'd.

Sterl. Shall they, my Lord!—but how—how?

Lord Ogle. I'll marry in your family.

Sterl. What! my ſiſter Heidelberg?

Lord Ogle. You throw me into a cold ſweat, Mr. Sterling. No, not your ſiſter—but your daughter.

Sterl. My daughter!

Lord Ogle. Fanny!—now the murder's out!

Sterl. What you, my Lord?—

Lord Ogle. Yes—I, I, Mr. Sterling!

Sterl. No, no, my Lord—that's too much. [ſmiling.

Lord Ogle. Too much?—I don't comprehend you.

Sterl. What, you, my Lord, marry my Fanny!—Bleſs me, what will the folks ſay?

Lord Ogle. Why, what will they ſay?

Sterl. That you're a bold man, my Lord—that's all.

Lord Ogle. Mr. Sterling, this may be city wit for ought I know—Do you court my alliance?

Sterl. To be ſure, my Lord.

Lord Ogle. Then I'll explain.—My nephew won't marry your eldeſt daughter—nor I neither—Your youngeſt daughter won't marry him—I will marry your youngeſt daughter—

Sterl. What! with a younger daughter's fortune, my Lord?

Lord Ogle. With any fortune, or no fortune at all, Sir. Love is the idol of my heart, and the dæmon Inrereſt ſinks before him. So, Sir, as I ſaid before,

I will