CAT. As for me, uncle, all I can say is, that I think marriage a very
shocking business. How can one endure the thought of lying by the side
of a man, who is really naked?

MAD. Give us leave to take breath for a short time among the fashionable
world of Paris, where we are but just arrived. Allow us to prepare at
our leisure the groundwork of our novel, and do not hurry on the
conclusion too abruptly.

GORG. (_Aside_). I cannot doubt it any longer; they are completely mad.
(_Aloud_). Once more, I tell you, I understand nothing of all this
gibberish; I will be master, and to cut short all kinds of arguments,
either you shall both be married shortly, or, upon my word, you shall be
nuns; that I swear.

[Footnote: This scene is the mere outline of the well known quarrel
between Chrysale, Philaminte, and Belinda in the "_Femmes Savantes_"
(see vol. iii.) but a husband trembling before his wife, and only daring
to show his temper to his sister, is a much more tempting subject for a
dramatic writer than a man addressing in a firm tone his daughter and
niece.]




SCENE VI.--CATHOS, MADELON.


CAT. Good Heavens, my dear, how deeply is your father still immersed in