The Way of the World by William Congreve
page 17 of 143 (11%)
page 17 of 143 (11%)
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MIRA. For travel! Why the man that I mean is above forty.
FAIN. No matter for that; 'tis for the honour of England that all Europe should know we have blockheads of all ages. MIRA. I wonder there is not an act of parliament to save the credit of the nation and prohibit the exportation of fools. FAIN. By no means, 'tis better as 'tis; 'tis better to trade with a little loss, than to be quite eaten up with being overstocked. MIRA. Pray, are the follies of this knight-errant and those of the squire, his brother, anything related? FAIN. Not at all: Witwoud grows by the knight like a medlar grafted on a crab. One will melt in your mouth and t'other set your teeth on edge; one is all pulp and the other all core. MIRA. So one will be rotten before he be ripe, and the other will be rotten without ever being ripe at all. FAIN. Sir Wilfull is an odd mixture of bashfulness and obstinacy. But when he's drunk, he's as loving as the monster in The Tempest, and much after the same manner. To give bother his due, he has something of good-nature, and does not always want wit. MIRA. Not always: but as often as his memory fails him and his commonplace of comparisons. He is a fool with a good memory and some few scraps of other folks' wit. He is one whose conversation can never be approved, yet it is now and then to be endured. He has |
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