_Lady Rod_. O! a vary important one, I assure you;--of no less consequence, madam, than how an odd trick at whist was lost, or might have been saved.
_Lord Lum_. Ha, ha, ha! my dear Rodolpha, I have seen that very conflict a thousand times.
_Sir Per_. And so have I, upon honour, my lord.
_Lady Rod_. In another party, Sir Pertinax--ha, ha, ha! we had what was called the cabinet council, which was composed of a duke and a haberdasher,--a red hot patriot and a sneering courtier,--a discarded statesman and his scribbling chaplain,--with a busy, bawling, muckle-headed, prerogative lawyer;--all of whom were every minute ready to gang together by the lugs, about the in and the out meenistry--ha, ha, ha!
_Sir Per_. Ha, ha, ha! weel, that is a droll motley cabinet, I vow.--Vary whimsical upon honour.--But they are aw great politicians at Bath, and settle a meenistry there with as much ease as they do the tune of a country dance.
_Lady Rod_. Then, Sir Pertinax, in a retired part of the room--in a bye corner--snug--we had a Jew and a bishop--
_Sir Per_. A Jew and a bishop!--ha--ha--a devilish guid connection that;-- and pray, my lady, what were they about?
_Lady Rod_. Why, sir, the bishop--was striving to convert the Jew,--while the Jew--by intervals--was slily picking up intelligence fra the bishop about the change in the meenistry, in hopes of making a stroke in the stock.
_Sir Per_. Ha, ha, ha! admirable! admirable! I honour the smouse:--hah! it was develish clever of him, my lord,--develish clever.
_Lord Lum_. Yes, yes--the fellow kept a sharp look-out.--I think it was a fair trial of skill on both sides, Mr. Egerton.
_Eger_. True, my lord;--but the Jew seems to have been in the fairer way to succeed.
_Lord Lum_. O! all to nothing, sir; ha, ha, ha!--Well, child, I like your Jew and your bishop much.--It's develish clever.--Let us have the rest of the history, pray, my dear.
_Lady Rod_. Guid traith, my lord, the sum total is--that there we aw danced, and wrangled, and flattered, and slandered, and gambled, and cheated, and mingled, and jumbled, and wolloped together--clean and unclean--even like the animal assembly in Noah's ark.
_Lord Lum_. Ha, ha, ha!--Well, you are a droll girl, Rodolpha,--and, upon my honour, ha, ha, ha!--you have given us as whimsical a sketch as ever was hit off.