The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 08 (of 12)Hazlitt, William
General
The collected works of William Hazlitt, Vol. 08 (of 12)
Hazlitt, William
English essays -- 19th century
A new Farce was brought out here on Monday week, the title of which is
What’s a Man of Fashion? a question which it does not solve. A young
lady (Miss Mathews) is left a fortune by her father, on condition of her
marrying a man of fashion within a year of his death. Her aunt (Mrs.
Davenport) is left her guardian, and locks her up to prevent her
marrying any one, that the fortune may devolve to her. Old Project
(personated by Fawcett) is instigated by the young lady, through the
key-hole of the door where she is locked up, to find her a husband who
shall also be a man of fashion; and just as the old gentleman, who is a
very strange mixture of the sailor, fox-hunter, and Bond-street lounger,
has undertaken this laudable task, he meets his nephew (Mr. Jones), whom
he fixes upon as the candidate for the young lady and for fifty thousand
pounds. The whole business of the piece arises out of the attempts of
Old Project to bring them together, and the schemes of the aunt to
prevent the conclusion of the marriage before the expiration of the
year, that is, before it strikes twelve o’clock at night. After many
trifling and improbable adventures, Old Project and his nephew succeed.
The clock strikes twelve, but the man of fashion and his mistress have
been married a few minutes before, though nobody knows how. We do not
think this farce a bit better than some we have lately noticed. The
author seems to have sat down to write it without a plot. There is
neither dialogue nor character in it, nor has it any thing to make it
amusing, but the absurdity of the incidents.
We have seen Miss O’Neill in the Orphan, and almost repent of what we
have said above. Her Monimia is a piece of acting as beautiful as it is
affecting. We never wish to see it acted otherwise or better. She is the
Orphan that Otway drew.
‘With pleas’d attention ‘midst his scenes we find
Each glowing thought that warms the female mind;
Each melting sigh and every tender tear,
The lover’s wishes, and the virgin’s fear,
His every strain the Smiles and Graces own.’
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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