Volume 2 / Part 1 — THE LITTLE FRENCH LAWYER.
Reading edition
Act I. sc. 1. Dinant's speech:—
Are you become a patron too? 'Tis a new one, No more on't, &c.
Seward reads:—
Are you become a patron too? How long Have you been conning this speech? 'Tis a new one, &c.
If conjectural emendation, like this, be allowed, we might venture to read:—
Are you become a patron to a new tune?
or,
Are you become a patron? 'Tis a new tune.
Ib.
'Din'. Thou wouldst not willingly Live a protested coward, or be call'd one? 'Cler'. Words are but words. 'Din'. Nor wouldst thou take a blow?
Seward's note.
O miserable! Dinant sees through Cleremont's gravity, and the actor is to explain it. 'Words are but words,' is the last struggle of affected morality.