Mrs. Hard. Pray, Mr. Hastings, what do you take to be the most fashionable age about town?
Hast. Some time ago, forty was all the mode; but I'm told the ladies intend to bring up fifty for the ensuing winter.
Miss Hard. Seriously! then I shall be too young for the fashion.
Hast. No lady begins now to put on jewels till she's past forty. For instance, Miss there, in a polite circle, would be considered as a child, as a mere maker of samplers.
Mrs. Hard. And yet Mrs. Niece thinks herself as much a woman, and is as fond of jewels, as the oldest of us all.
Hast. Your niece, is she? and that young gentleman, a brother of yours, I should presume?
Mrs. Hard. My son, sir. They are contracted to each other. Observe their little sports. They fall in and out ten times a day, as if they were man and wife already. (To them.) Well, Tony, child, what soft things are you saying to your cousin Constance this evening.
Tony. I have been saying no soft things; but that it's very hard to be followed about so. Ecod! I've not a place in the house now, that's left to myself, but the stable.
Mrs. Hard. Never mind him, Con my dear. He's in another story behind your back.
Miss Nev. There's something generous in my cousin's manner. He falls out before faces to be forgiven in private.