The Contrast | Page 8

remorseless pity of
woman; years of penitence and tears
cannot wash
away the stain, nor a life of virtue obliterate its

remembrance. Reputation is the life of woman; yet
courage to protect
it is masculine and disgusting;
and the only safe asylum a woman of
delicacy can
find is in the arms of a man of honour. How
naturally,
then, should we love the brave and the
generous; how gratefully
should we bless the arm
raised for our protection, when nerv'd by
virtue and
directed by honour! Heaven grant that the man
with
whom I may be connected--may be connected!
Whither has my
imagination transported me--whither
does it now lead me? Am I not
indissolubly
engaged, "by every obligation of honour which my

own consent and my father's approbation can give,"
to a man who can
never share my affections, and
whom a few days hence it will be
criminal for me to
disapprove--to disapprove! would to heaven that

were all--to despise. For, can the most frivolous
manners, actuated by
the most depraved heart, meet,
or merit, anything but contempt from
every woman
of delicacy and sentiment?
[VAN ROUGH without. Mary!]
Ha! my father's voice--Sir!--
[Enter VAN ROUGH.
VAN ROUGH
What, Mary, always singing doleful ditties, and
moping over these

plaguy books.
MARIA
I hope, Sir, that it is not criminal to improve my
mind with books, or
to divert my melancholy with
singing, at my leisure hours.
VAN ROUGH
Why, I don't know that, child; I don't know that.
They us'd to say,
when I was a young man, that if a
woman knew how to make a
pudding, and to keep
herself out of fire and water, she knew enough
for a
wife. Now, what good have these books done you?
have they
not made you melancholy? as you call it.
Pray, what right has a girl
of your age to be in the
dumps? haven't you everything your heart can
wish;
an't you going to be married to a young man of great
fortune;
an't you going to have the quit-rent of twenty
miles square?
MARIA
One-hundredth part of the land, and a lease for life
of the heart of a
man I could love, would satisfy me.
VAN ROUGH
Pho, pho, pho! child; nonsense, downright nonsense,
child. This
comes of your reading your storybooks;
your Charles Grandisons,
your Sentimental
Journals, and your Robinson Crusoes, and such
other
trumpery. No, no, no! child; it is money makes the
mare go;
keep your eye upon the main chance, Mary.
MARIA
Marriage, Sir, is, indeed, a very serious affair.
VAN ROUGH

You are right, child; you are right. I am sure I
found it so, to my cost.
MARIA
I mean, Sir, that as marriage is a portion for life,
and so intimately
involves our happiness, we cannot
be too considerate in the choice of
our companion.
VAN ROUGH
Right, child; very right. A young woman should
be very sober when
she is making her choice, but
when she has once made it, as you have
done, I don't
see why she should not be as merry as a grig; I am

sure she has reason enough to be so. Solomon says
that "there is a
time to laugh, and a time to weep."
Now, a time for a young woman
to laugh is when she
has made sure of a good rich husband. Now, a
time
to cry, according to you, Mary, is when she is making
choice
of him; but I should think that a young
woman's time to cry was when
she despaired of
getting one. Why, there was your mother, now: to be

sure, when I popp'd the question to her she did look
a little silly;
but when she had once looked down on
her apron-strings, as all
modest young women us'd to
do, and drawled out ye-s, she was as
brisk and as
merry as a bee.
MARIA
My honoured mother, Sir, had no motive to melancholy;
she married
the man of her choice.
VAN ROUGH
The man of her choice! And pray, Mary, an't you
going to marry the
man of your choice--what trumpery
notion is this? It is these vile
books [throwing
them away]. I'd have you to know, Mary, if you

won't make young Van Dumpling the man of your
choice, you shall

marry him as the man of my choice.
MARIA
You terrify me, Sir. Indeed, Sir, I am all submission.
My will is
yours.
VAN ROUGH
Why, that is the way your mother us'd to talk.
"My will is yours, my
dear Mr. Van Rough, my will
is yours"; but she took special care to
have her
own way, though, for all that.
MARIA
Do not reflect upon my mother's memory, Sir--
VAN ROUGH
Why not, Mary, why not? She kept me from speaking
my mind all
her life, and do you think she shall
henpeck me now she is dead too?
Come, come;
don't go to sniveling; be a good girl, and mind the

main chance. I'll see you well settled in the world.
MARIA
I do not doubt your love, Sir, and it is my duty to
obey you. I will
endeavour to make my duty and
inclination go hand in hand.
VAN ROUGH
Well, Well,