Bet. Thank your honour—all pretty well. Will you please to sit down? Ours is but a little crowded place, but there is a clean corner. Set out the chair for his honour, Mary.
Land. I think everything is very clean. What, John’s in the field, I suppose?
Bet. Yes, sir, with his two eldest sons, sowing and harrowing.
Land. Well, and here are two, three, four, six; all the rest of your stock, I suppose.—All as busy as bees!
Bet. Ay, your honour! These are not times to be idle in. John and I have always worked hard, and we bring up our children to work too. There’s none of them, except the youngest, but can do something.
Land. You do very rightly. With industry and sobriety there is no fear of their getting a living, come what may. I wish many gentlemen’s children had as good a chance.
Bet. Lord! sir, if they have fortunes ready got for them, what need they care?
Land. But fortunes are easier to spend than to get; and when they are at the bottom of the purse, what must they do to fill it again?
Bet. Nay, that’s true, sir; and we have reason enough to be thankful, that we are able and willing to work, and have a good landlord to live under.
Land. Good tenants deserve good landlords; and I have been long acquainted with your value. Come, little folks, I have brought something for you.