H. B. Marriott Watson

“ He made no answer, but, flinging from the gate, went swaggering across the patch of green into the lane.
'Pray, reconsider,' I called to him. 'This is the rashest venture on important issues.'
'’Tis most immaterial,' he answered lightly. He was a man set in the pink of fashion, and employed his limbs with a delicate extravagance. Stepping into the road, he whipped off his hat and bowed as a true exquisite. The girl stared and lingered, as she brushed the burrs from her skirts. I knew her for the village beauty: one spoiled of whims and vanities, but of a rare spirit and possession. ”

“ DIOGENES OF LONDON 'NO,' said he, swinging his heels upon the gate and facing the distance meditatively, 'marriage matters nothing. This side of lusty youth love is an affair of arrangement—one down, t'other come on. There is no choice practicable between women. Nonage, I grant you, has delectable idols, but the currents of life sweep us clean of 'em, and when we are come to discrete and uncomplaining years we submit to the maturer laws of our destiny. ”

“ Madam, will you wed me, and prove with me to the world and my obstinate squire that marriage is of the slightest consequence?'
'You are not sober, sir. Sirs, this is a sorry joke,' said she,
'My life, it is most serious,' he vowed. 'Doubtless you would have some information as to my degree. 'Tis a thought worthy of your providence, an exemplar to my sentimentalist behind. These clothes, madam, are of the newest fashion, of a quality becoming to a man of taste and fortune ”