Scotland/Scots > Man of the world > Volume 2

THE MAN OF THE WORLD. 1/
belabour one another without mercy ; the
conteft having one advantage peculiar to
battles of this kind, that each party, far
from being weakened by its exertion,
commonly appears to have gained ftrength
as well as honour, from the rencounter.
Bolton indeed did not poflefs quite fo
much of this quality as his antagonift: he
could not, in common good-breeding,
refufe her challenge; but he often main¬
tained the conflift in a manner rather da-
ftardly for a philofopher. He gave, how¬
ever, full audience to the lady’s arguments j
and if he fometimes Ihowed an unwilling-
nefs to reply, fhe confidered it as a tefti-
mony of her power to filence. But Ihe
was generous in her victories: whenever
flie conceived them completely obtained,
flae celebrated the prowefs of her adverfary,
and allowed him all that wifdom which
retreats from the fortrefs it cannot de¬
fend.
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