MR. CROTCHET. Your house would have been very safe, Doctor, if they had had no better science than the learned friend's to work with. THE REV. DR. FOLLIOTT. Well, sir, that may be. Excellent potted char. The lord deliver me from the learned friend. MR. CROTCHET. Well, Doctor, for your comfort, here is a declaration of the learned friend's that he will never take office. THE REV. DR. FOLLIOTT. Then, sir, he will be in office next week. Peace be with him. Sugar and cream. MR. CROTCHET. But, Doctor, are you for Chainmail Hall on Christmas-day? THE REV. DR. FOLLIOTT. That am I, for there will be an excellent dinner, though, peradventure, grotesquely served. MR. CROTCHET. I have not seen my neighbour since he left us on the canal. THE REV. DR. FOLLIOTT. He has married a wife, and brought her home. LADY CLARINDA. Indeed! If she suits him, she must be an oddity: it will be amusing to see them together. LORD BOSSNOWL. Very amusing. He! He! MR. FIREDAMP. Is there any water about Chainmail. Hall? THE REV. DR. FOLLIOTT. An old moat. MR. FIREDAMP. I shall die of malaria. MR. TRILLO. Shall we have any music? THE REV. DR. FOLLIOTT. An old harper. MR. TRILLO. Those fellows are always horridly out of tune. What will he play? THE REV. DR. FOLLIOTT. Old songs and marches. MR. SKIONAR. Amongst so many old things, I hope we shall find Old Philosophy. THE REV. DR. FOLLIOTT. An old woman. MR. PHILPOT. Perhaps an old map of the river in the twelfth century. THE REV. DR. FOLLIOTT. No doubt. MR. MAC QUEDY. How many more old things? THE REV. DR. FOLLIOTT. Old hospitality; old wine; old ale; all the images of old England; an old butler. MR. TOOGOOD. Shall we all be welcome? THE REV. DR. FOLLIOTT. Heartily; you will be slapped on the shoulder, and called Old boy. LORD BOSSNOWL. I think we should all go in our old clothes. He! He! THE REV. DR. FOLLIOTT. You will sit on old chairs, round an old table, by the light of old lamps, suspended from pointed arches, which, Mr. Chainmail says, first came into use in the twelfth century; with old armour on the pillars, and old banners in the roof. LADY CLARINDA. And what curious piece of antiquity is the lady of the mansion? THE REV. DR. FOLLIOTT. No antiquity there; none. |