Master Simon often parries these attacks by a stanza from
his old work of "Cupid's Solicitor for Love:"
"'Tis in vain to wooe a widow over long,
In once or twice her mind you may perceive;
Widows are subtle, be they old or young,
And by their wiles young men they will deceive."
LOVE-CHARMS.
------Come, do not weep, my girl,
Forget him, pretty Pensiveness; there will
Come others, every day, as good as he.
--SIR J. SUCKLING.
The approach of a wedding in a family is always an event of great
importance, but particularly so in a household like this, in a retired
part of the country. Master Simon, who is a pervading spirit, and,
through means of the butler and housekeeper, knows every thing that
goes forward, tells me that the maid-servants are continually trying
their fortunes, and that the servants'-hall has of late been quite a
scene of incantation.
It is amusing to notice how the oddities of the head of a family flow
down through all the branches. The Squire, in the indulgence of his
love of every thing that smacks of old times, has held so many grave
conversations with the parson at table, about popular superstitions
and traditional rites, that they have been carried from the parlour to
the kitchen by the listening domestics, and, being apparently
sanctioned by such high authority, the whole house has become infected
by them.
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