MARIA. Her brother! [_Turns and sees MANLY._] Oh! my heart! the very gentleman I have been praising. MANLY. The same amiable girl I saw this morning! CHARLOTTE. Why, you look as if you were acquainted. MANLY. I unintentionally intruded into this lady's presence this morning, for which she was so good as to promise me her forgiveness. CHARLOTTE. Oh! ho! is that the case! Have these two pensorosos been together? Were they Henry's eyes that looked so tenderly? [_Aside._] And so you promised to pardon him? and could you be so good-natured?--have you really forgiven him? I beg you would do it for my sake [_Whispering loud to MARIA._]. But, my dear, as you are in such haste, it would be cruel to detain you; I can show you the way through the other room. MARIA. Spare me, my sprightly friend. MANLY. The lady does not, I hope, intend to deprive us of the pleasure of her company so soon. CHARLOTTE. She has only a mantua-maker who waits for her at home. But, as I am to give my opinion of the dress, I think she cannot go yet. We were talking of the fashions when you came in, but I suppose the subject must be changed to something of more importance now.--Mr. Dimple, will you favour us with an account of the public entertainments? DIMPLE. Why, really, Miss Manly, you could not have asked me a question more _mal-apropos_. For my part, I must confess that, to a man who has traveled, there is nothing that is worthy the name of amusement to be found in this city. CHARLOTTE. Except visiting the ladies. DIMPLE. Pardon me, madam; that is the avocation of a man of taste. But for amusement, I positively know of nothing that can be called so, unless you dignify with that title the hopping once a fortnight to the sound of two or three squeaking fiddles, and the clattering of the old tavern windows, or sitting to see the miserable mummers, whom you call actors, murder comedy and make a farce of tragedy. MANLY. Do you never attend the theatre, sir? DIMPLE. I was tortured there once. CHARLOTTE. Pray, Mr. Dimple, was it a tragedy or a comedy? DIMPLE. Faith, madam, I cannot tell; for I sat with my back to the stage all the time, admiring a much better actress than any there--a lady who played the fine woman to perfection; though, by the laugh of the horrid creatures round me, I suppose it was comedy. Yet, on second thoughts, it might be some hero in a tragedy, dying so comically as to set the whole house in an uproar.--Colonel, I presume you have been in Europe? MANLY. Indeed, sir, I was never ten leagues from the continent. DIMPLE. Believe me, Colonel, you have an immense pleasure to come; and when you shall have seen the brilliant exhibitions of Europe, you will learn to despise the amusements of this country as much as I do. MANLY. Therefore I do not wish to see them; for I can never esteem that knowledge valuable which tends to give me a distaste for my native country. DIMPLE. Well, Colonel, though you have not travelled, you have read.