I am sure it were better to remain a lonely maiden all my life than take up with such pitiful company as some of your good matrons do, and rather more respectable too.
LADY GOODBODY.
No, child; a married woman is always more respectable than a single one, let her be married to whom she will.
MISS MARTIN.
Indeed! Can one give to another what he is not possess'd of himself? Can a woman receive any additional respectability because some drivelling insignificant man, whom all the world despises, has put a wedding-ring upon her finger!—ha! ha! ha! But I suppose a good settlement is the honour your Ladyship means.
LADY GOODBODY.
No, indeed: I say, every married woman is more respectable than a single one, independently of all settlements. What else do you think would have induced me, with the fortune I had, to marry Sir Benjamin Goodbody? for his person was disagreeable, and his best friends admitted he was no conjurer. Don't mistake me, however, I mean no disrepect to his memory. He was a very good man, and I have lamented him sincerely. And what else
