tête-à-tête

   , a mere matrimonial

    vis-à-vis

   ; the husband in a yawning state of dissipation, and the lady in almost the same drowsy attitude, called, A nothing-to-doishness. If an unexpected visitor should happen to break in upon their solitude, the lady, in her apology, declares that "she is horribly chagrined, and most immensely out of countenance, to be caught in such a deshabille: but, upon honour, she did not mind

   how her clothes were huddled on, not expecting any company, there being nobody at home but her husband."

   The gentleman, he shakes his guest by the hand, and says, "I am heartily glad to see you, Jack; I don't know how it was, I was almost asleep; for, as there was nobody at home but my wife, I did not know what to do with myself."

   We shall now consider the law, as our laws are very considerable, both in bulk and number, according as the statutes declare;

    considerandi, considerando, considerandum

   ; and are not to be meddled with by those that don't understand 'em. Law always expressing itself with true grammatical precision, never confounding moods, cases, or genders, except indeed when a

    woman

   happens accidentally to be slain, then the verdict is always brought in

    man

   -slaughter. The essence of the law is altercation; for the law can altercate, fulminate, deprecate, irritate, and go on at any rate. Now the quintessence of the law has, according to its name, five parts. The first is the

    beginning

   , or

    incipiendum

   ; the second the

    uncertainty

 Prev. P 32/54 next