THE

OBSER VE R.

N° CXXI.

I LEFT Conftantia fomewhat abruptly in my laft paper; and to fay the truth rather in an awkward predicament; but as I do not like to interrupt young ladies in their blufhes, I took occafion to call off the reader's attention from her, and beftowed it upon other ladies, who are not fubject to the fame embarraffments.

Our party foon broke up after this event: Ned and I repaired to our apartments in the Poultry, Conftantia to thofe flumbers, which purity infpires, temperance endears and devotion blesses.

The next morning brought Ned to my levee ; he had lain awake all night, but no noifes were complained of; they were not in the fault of having deprived him of his repofe.

He took up the morning paper and the playhoufe advertisements caught his eye: He began to question me about The Clandestine Marriage, which was up for the night at Drury Lane: Was VOL. IV.

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it a comedy? I told him, yes, and an admirable one: Then it ended happily he prefumed: Certainly it did; a very amiable young woman was clandeftinely married to a deferving young man, and both parties at the close of the fable were reconciled to their friends and made happy in each other: And is all this reprefented on the ftage? cried Ned:-All this with many more incidents is acted on the stage, and so acted, let me affure you, as leaves the merit of the performers only to be exceeded by that of the poet :- This is fine indeed! replied he; then as fure as can be I will be there this very night, if you think they will admit a country clown like me.-There was no fear of that. Very well then; is not this the play of all plays for Conftantia? Oh! that I had old furly there too; what would I give to have her grandfather at her elbow! He was fo poffeffed with the idea, and built his caftles in the air fo nimbly, that I could not find in my heart to dafh the vifion by throwing any bars in its way, though enough occurred to me, had I been disposed to employ them.

Away pofted Ned-(quantum mutatus ab illo!) on the wings of love to Saint Mary Axe; what rhetoric he there made ufe of I cannot pretend to fay, but certainly he came back with a decree in his favour for Mrs. Abrahams and Conftantia to accompany him to the comedy, if I would undertake to convey the party; for honest Abrahams, (though a dear lover of the Mufe, and as much attached to flage plays, as his countryman Shylock was averfe from them) had an unlucky engagement eliewhere, and as for Mrs. Goodifon, Ned had fagacioufly difcovered that he had fome ob

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jection to the title of the comedy in her own particular, though fhe ftated none against her daughter's being there.

After an early dinner with Abrahams, we repaired to the theatre four in number, and whilst the fecond mufic was playing pofted ourselves with all due precaution on the third row of one of the front boxes, where places had been kept for us; Mrs. Abrahams on my left hand against the partition of the box, and Constantia on the other hand between her admirer and me.

There is fomething captivating in that burst of fplendor, fcenery, human beauty and feftivity, which a royal theatre difplays to every fpectator on his entrance; what then must have been the ftroke on his optics, who never entered one before? Ned looked about him with furprize, and had there not been a central point of attraction, to which his eyes were neceffarily impelled by laws. not lefs irresistible than thofe of gravitation, there might have been no speedy ftop to the eccentricity of their motions. It was not indeed one of thofe delightfully crowded houses, which theatricaladvertisers announce fo rapturoufly to draw fucceeding crowds, there to enjoy the peals of the loudeft plaudits and moft roaring burfts of laughter, bestowed upon the tricks of a harlequin or the gibberish of a buffoon; but it was a full affembly of rational beings, convened for the enjoyment of a rational entertainment, where the ears were not in danger of being infulted by ribaldry, nor the understanding libelled by the fpectacle of folly.

Ned was charmed with the comedy, and foon became deeply interested for Lovewell and Fanny,

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on whose distressful fituation he made many natural remarks to his fair neighbour, and fhe on her part bestowed more attention on the scene, than was strictly reconcileable to modern high-breeding. The reprefentative of Lord Ogleby put him into fome alarm at firft, and he whifpered in my ear, that he hoped the merry old gentleman was not really fo ill as he seemed to be ;-for I am fure, adds he, he would be the best actor in the world, was he to recover his health, fince he can make fo good a stand even at death's door. I put his heart to rest by affuring him that his fickness was all a fiction, and that the fame old decrepid invalid, when he had washed the wrinkles out of his face, was as gay and sprightly as the best, aye, added I, and in his real character one of the best into the bargain: I am glad of it, I am glad of it to my heart, anfwered Ned, I hope he will never have one half of the complaints, which he counterfeits; but 'tis surprising what fome men can do.

In the interval of the fecond act an aged gentleman of a grave and fenatorial appearance, in a full-dreffed fuit of purple ratteen and a flowing white wig, entered the box alone, and as he was looking out for a feat, it was with pleasure I obferved the young idlers at the back pay respect to his age and perfon by making way for him, and point to a spare place on our bench, and to which he advanced, and after fome apologies natural to a well-bred man took his feat on our range.

His eyes immediately paid the tribute, which even age could not withhold from the beauty of Conftantia; he regarded her with more than a common degree of fenfibility and attention; he

watched

watched for opportunities of fpeaking to her every now and then at the fhifting of a scene or the exit of a performer; he afked her opinion of the actors, of the comedy, and at the conclufion of the act faid to her, I dare believe, young lady, you are no friend to the title of this comedy: I thould be no friend to it, replied Conftantia, if the author had drawn fo unnatural a character as an unrelenting father. One fuch monfler in an age, cried Ned, taking up the difcourfe, is one too many. When I overheard these words and noticed the effect which they had upon him, combining it alfo with his emotion at certain times, when he examined the features of Conftantia with a fixed attention, a thought arose in my mind of a romantic nature, which I kept to myfelf, that we might poffibly be then in company with the father of Mrs. Goodifon, and that Ned's prophetic withes were actually verified. When Fanny is difcovered to be a married woman at the clofe of the comedy, and the father in his fury cries out to her husband -Lovewell, you shall leave my house direct'y, and you fall follow him, Madam-Ned could not refrain himself from exclaiming, Oh, the hardened monster !-but whilft the words were on his lips, Lord Ogleby immediately replied to the father in. the very words, which benevolence would have dictated-And if they do, I will receive them into. mine, whereupon the whole theatre gave a loud applaufe, and Conftantia, whilst the tear of fenfibility and gratitude started in her eye, taking advantage of the general noise to addrefs herself to Ned without being overheard, remarked to him— That this was an effufion of generosity she could not scruple to applaud, fince she had an example in

her