LYRA: There were readings in poetry with Mr. Osier, I recollect.
ASTRAEA: His own compositions became obtrusive.
LYRA: No fencing, no music, no poetry! no West Coast of Africa either, I
suppose.
ASTRAEA: Very well! I am on my defence. You at least shall not
misunderstand me, Lyra. One intense regret I have; that I did not live in
the time of the Amazons. They were free from this question of marriage;
this babble of love. Why am I so persecuted? He will not take a refusal.
There are sacred reasons. I am supported by every woman having the sense
of her dignity. I am perverted, burlesqued by the fury of wrath I feel at
their incessant pursuit. And I despise Mr. Osier and Mr. Swithin because
they have an air of pious agreement with the Dame, and are conspirators
behind their mask.
LYRA: False, false men!
ASTRAEA: They come to me. I am complimented on being the vulnerable spot.
LYRA: The object desired is usually addressed by suitors, my poor
Astraea!
ASTRAEA: With the assumption, that as I am feminine I must necessarily be
in the folds of the horrible constrictor they call Love, and that I leap
to the thoughts of their debasing marriage.
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