Just. Ay, ay, drink her health—she deserves it. Ay, drink my darling’s health.
Land. And please your worship, it’s the right time, I believe, to speak of the goose-pie now; and a charming pie it is, and it’s on the table.
Will. And Mr. Smack, the curate, and Squire Solid, and the doctor, sir, are come, and dinner is upon the table.
Just. Then let us say no more; but do justice immediately to the goose-pie; and, darling, put me in mind to tell this story after dinner.
(After they go out, the Justice stops.)
“Tell this story”—I don’t know whether it tells well for me; but I’ll never be positive any more—that’s poz!
THE MIMIC.
CHAPTER I.
Mr. and Mrs. Montague spent the summer of the year 1795 at Clifton with their son Frederick, and their two daughters Sophia and Marianne. They had taken much care of the education of their children; nor were they ever tempted, by any motive of personal convenience or temporary amusement, to hazard the permanent happiness of their pupils.
Sensible of the extreme importance of early impressions, and of the powerful influence of external circumstances in forming the characters and the manners, they were now anxious that the variety of new ideas and new objects which would strike the minds of their children should appear in a just point of view.