I thought Mr Croftangry
was looking very cadgy when he came in to play a
rubber with us last night. Poor gentleman, I am
sure I should be sorry to see him make a fool of
himself.''
Spare your compassion, dear madam, there is not
the least danger. The _beaux yeux de ma cassette_
are not brilliant enough to make amends for the
spectacles which must supply the dimness of my
own. I am a little deaf too, as you know to your
sorrow when we are partners; and if I could get a
nymph to marry me with all these imperfections,
who the deuce would marry Janet M`Evoy? and
from Janet M`Evoy Chrystal Croftangry will not
part.
Miss Katie Fairscribe gave me the tale of Menie
Gray with much taste and simplicity, not attempting
to suppress the feelings, whether of grief or resentment,
which justly and naturally arose from the circumstances
of the tale. Her father afterwards confirmed
the principal outlines of the story, and furnished
me with some additional circumstances
which Miss Katie had suppressed or forgotten. Indeed,
I have learned on this occasion, what old Lintot
meant when he told Pope, that he used to propitiate
the critics of importance, when he had a work in the
press, by now and then letting them see a sheet of
the blotted proof, or a few leaves of the original
manuscript.
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