stable business?
Was it not plain, that this trembling sensibility, which has marked my
character from earliest infancy, must for ever disqualify me for a
profession which--what do ye want? what do ye buy? O, it is only
somebody going past. I thought it had been a customer.--Why was not I
bred a glover, like my cousin Langston? to see him poke his two little
sticks into a delicate pair of real Woodstock--"A very little stretching
ma'am, and they will fit exactly"--Or a haberdasher, like my next-door
neighbour--"not a better bit of lace in all town, my lady--Mrs.
Breakstock took the last of it last Friday, all but this bit, which I
can afford to let your ladyship have a bargain--reach down that drawer
on your left hand, Miss Fisher."

(_Enter in haste, Davenport, Marian, and Lucy._)

LUCY
This is the house I saw a bill up at, ma'am; and a droll creature the
landlord is.

DAVENPORT
We have no time for nicety.

CUTLET
What do ye want? what do ye buy? O, it is only you, Mrs. Lucy.

_Lucy whispers Cutlet._

CUTLET
I have a set of apartments at the end of my garden. They are quite
detached from the shop. A single lady at present occupies the ground
floor.

MARIAN
Aye, aye, any where.

DAVENPORT
In, in.--

CUTLET
Pretty lamb,--she seems agitated. _Davenport and Marian go in with
Cutlet._

LUCY
I am mistaken if my young lady does not find an agreeable companion in
these apartments. Almost a namesake. Only the difference of Flyn, and
Flint. I have some errands to do, or I would stop and have some fun with
this droll butcher. _Cutlet returns._

CUTLET
Why, how odd this is! _Your_ young lady knows _my_ young lady. They are
as thick as flies.

LUCY
You may thank me for your new lodger, Mr. Cutlet.--But bless me, you do
not look well?

CUTLET
To tell you the truth, I am rather heavy about the eyes. Want of sleep,
I believe.

LUCY
Late hours, perhaps. Raking last night.

CUTLET
No, that is not it, Mrs. Lucy. My repose was disturbed by a very
different cause from what you may imagine. It proceeded from too much
thinking.

LUCY
The deuce it did! and what, if I may be so bold, might be the subject of
your Night Thoughts?

CUTLET
The distresses of my fellow creatures. I never lay my head down on my
pillow, but I fall a thinking, how many at this very instant are
perishing. Some with cold--

LUCY
What, in the midst of summer?

CUTLET
Aye. Not here, but in countries abroad, where the climate is d