reformation in _my_ civil list: that economy was a word which I had never
heard of in my life till I married his lordship; that, upon second
recollection, it was true I had heard of such a thing as national economy,
and that it would be a very pretty, though rather hackneyed topic of
declamation for a maiden speech in the House of Lords. I therefore advised
him to reserve all he had to say upon the subject for the noble lord upon
the woolsack; nay, I very graciously added, that upon this condition I
would go to the house myself to give his arguments and eloquence a fair
hearing, and that I would do my best to keep myself awake. This was all
mighty playful and witty; but it happened that my Lord Delacour, who never
had any great taste for wit, could not this unlucky morning at all relish
it. Of course I grew angry, and reminded him, with an indelicacy which his
want of generosity justified, that an heiress, who had brought a hundred
thousand pounds into his family, had some right to amuse herself, and that
it was not my fault if elegant amusements were more expensive than others.

"Then came a long criminating and recriminating chapter. It was, 'My lord,
your Newmarket blunders'--'My lady, your cursed _theatricals_'--'My lord,
I have surely a right'--and, 'My lady, I have surely as good a right.'

"But, my dear Belinda, however we might pay one another, we could not pay
all the world with words. In short, after running through thousands and
tens of thousands, we were actually in distress for money. Then came
selling of lands, and I don't know what devices for raising money,
according to the modes of lawyers and attorneys. It was quite indifferent
to me how they got money, provided they did get it. By what art these
gentlemen raised money, I never troubled myself to inquire; it might have
been the black art, for any thing I know to the contrary. I know nothing
of business. So I signed all the papers they brought to me; and I was
mighty well pleased to find, that by so easy an expedient as writing 'T.