Bracebridge look grave, he having a great antipathy to
an indecent jest. In a word, the general is a complete instance of the
declension in gay life, by which a young man of pleasure is apt to
cool down into an obscene old gentleman.
I saw him and Master Simon, an evening or two since, conversing with a
buxom milkmaid in a meadow; and from their elbowing each other now and
then, and the general's shaking his shoulders, blowing up his cheeks,
and breaking out into a short fit of irrepressible laughter, I had no
doubt they were playing the mischief with the girl.
As I looked at them through a hedge, I could not but think they would
have made a tolerable group for a modern picture of Susannah and the
two elders. It is true, the girl seemed in nowise alarmed at the force
of the enemy; and I question, had either of them been alone, whether
she would not have been more than they would have ventured to
encounter. Such veteran roysters are daring wags when together, and
will put any female to the blush with their jokes; but they are as
quiet as lambs when they fall singly into the clutches of a fine
woman.
In spite of the general's years, he evidently is a little vain of his
person, and ambitious of conquests.
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