Select the correct text in the passage.
Read this excerpt from The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde. Which four sets of lines satirize the Victorians' tendency to place wealth above other factors in deciding whether a person was eligible for marriage?
Algernon: I am engaged to be married to Cecily, Aunt Augusta.
Lady Bracknell: I beg your pardon?
Cecily: Mr. Moncrieff and I are engaged to be married, Lady Bracknell.
Lady Bracknell: [With a shiver, crossing to the sofa and sitting down.]
... I think some preliminary inquiry on my
part would not be out of place. Mr. Worthing, is Miss Cardew at all
connected with any of the larger railway stations in London? I merely
desire information. Until yesterday I had no idea that there were any
families or persons whose origin was a Terminus. [Jack looks perfectly
furious, but restrains himself.]
Jack: [In a clear, cold voice.] Miss Cardew is the grand-daughter of
the late Mr. Thomas Cardew of 149 Belgrave Square, S.W.; Gervase Park,
Dorking, Surrey; and the Sporran, Fifeshire, N.B.
Lady Bracknell: That sounds not unsatisfactory. Three addresses always
inspire confidence, even in tradesmen.
...
Jack: [Very irritably.] How extremely kind of you, Lady Bracknell! I
have also in my possession, you will be pleased to hear, certificates of
Miss Cardew's birth, baptism, whooping cough, registration, vaccination,
confirmation, and the measles; both the German and the English variety.
Lady Bracknell: Ah! A life crowded with incident, I see; though perhaps
somewhat too exciting for a young girl. I am not myself in favour of
premature experiences. [Rises, looks at her watch.] Gwendolen! the time
approaches for our departure. We have not a moment to lose. As a matter
of form, Mr. Worthing, I had better ask you if Miss Cardew has any little
fortune?
Jack: Oh! about a hundred and thirty thousand pounds in the Funds. That
is all. Goodbye, Lady Bracknell. So pleased to have seen you.
Lady Bracknell: [Sitting down again.] A moment, Mr. Worthing. A
hundred and thirty thousand pounds! And in the Funds! Miss Cardew seems
to me a most attractive young lady, now that I look at her. Few girls of
the present day have any really solid qualities, any of the qualities
that last, and improve with time. We live, I regret to say, in an age of
surfaces. [To Cecily.] Come over here, dear. [Cecily goes across.]
Pretty child! your dress is sadly simple, and your hair seems almost as
Nature might have left it. But we can soon alter all that.
