Mrs. Flax. Indeed, I think thus:-to please my husband is my nioft earnest wifh-to be fure the difference in our ages is confiderable, and I did not fall into his arms thro' love, but was fomehow furpriz'd into them thro' efteem :-we have not acted a romance together-no light ning has inflamed, but a chearing marriage fun has conftantly animated us: be you then animated to fpeak confidently-but, notwithstanding this declaration, should my prefence any way confufe you, I will place myself behind thefe trees--forget my being here, and you need not fpare me in a foliloquy. • Erlach. Bravo!-that is my way, those who think thus, I efleem highly-and to those I esteem highly, I fpeak the truth. Mrs. Flax. Forward then Erlach. How can a woman with fuch an excellent head and heart, endure fo many fools about her? Mrs. Flax. Alas! dear captain-fhould we banish fools—our circles would become very circumfcrib'd. • Erlach. The fmaller the better-fenfe and fociability are guests who difappear if they behold lights at every window. 'Mrs. Flax. But folly lends good sense a foil. Erlach. She does not want it-and if your husband has pretended to like this manner of life, he has deceived you, Mrs. Flax. That would grieve me.— Erlach. He thought this indulgence was due to your youth. Mrs. Flax. Then he little knew me. Erlach. He feared you might imagine'Mrs. Flax. What? Erlach. That he was jealous. Mrs. Flax. Jealous !—you joke! • Erlach. Should I for example affure you, that last night he never closed an eye-that his imagination kept him on the rack till morning that he was oblig'd to force himself away, when he heard your carriage draw up. Mrs Flax. I am all aftonishment! Erlach. It gnaws my heart-ftrings, figh'd he mournfully-I endeavour in vain to conquer this weakness. Mrs. Flax. My God!-why did he not fay fo to me? Erlach. Falfe flame-the demon of confidence. Mrs. Flax. Well, I have hitherto left our company to a chance medley-in future, he fhall have the felection-he fhall be my conftant companion-this very day he shall make out a lift, and name the perfons whofe acquaintance he esteems. Erlock. The lift will be very short! 'Mrs. Flax. Not fo;-there are here many worthy, fenfible characters. Erlach, O! yes--but the more there are-fo much the more Mendi for an individual, who is no Crafus, to treat them all. 'Mrs. Flax. What do you mean -Flaxland is rich! Erlach. He was ! 'Mrs. Flax. How? Erlach. He may yet be called in good circumftances-but if his property continues to be melted, as it has been for these last three years. -- Mrs. Flax. My good fir, you alarm me.— • Erlach. Where the outgoings fo far exceeded the incomeMrs. Flax. Can it be poflible? Erlach. He might, peradventure, 'ere long have been compelled to infringe upon the maternal patrimony of his children. 'Mrs. Flax. My God!-why did he not tell me this? Erlach. Falfe fhame!-the lefs riches, the less esteem. 'Mrs. Flax. But not in my eyes. - Erlach. He has long wifhed to retire to bis farm. 'Mrs. Flax. Willingly ;-heartily-this prefent evening. • Erlach. But he fears at your age, that country fameness'Mrs. Flax. O! how it diftrefles me-that my husband did not think it worth while to appreciate my character-that a stranger fhould repofe more confidence in me, than a man of whofe affec tion I am proud-that I fhould injure his children, and deftroy his peace of mind!-that I fhould diffipate the favings of paternal folicitude and maternal affection!-why did he not put me to the proof? why did he fuppofe that a fwarm of coxcombs could entertain me better than domeftic quiet, and the converse of a wellinform'd man! O! Captain Erlach, men fo often reproach us for our weakness-it is no weaknefs-it is the foul's foftness-and it chiefly depends upon you to mould it into goodness--but you conceive that female love ill accords with truth-you require health and foundness of foul, and yet poifon it with flattery :-but I am P. 40. complaining and arguing where I fhould be acting) But Erlach alfo fuffers from falfe fhame. He is enamoured of Emma, a foundling whom he had placed under the care of Flaxland, and whom he fupported. This impediment is eafily removed; for, like most of Kotzebue's girls, Emma has no falfe fhame. With this part of the play, a trite discovery of confanguinity is injudicioufly mingled, merely to bring forward another (and the worft) inftance of falfe thame in a contemptible emigrant count, who is afhamed of his mother's poverty. This deftroys the fimplicity of the play, and weakens the intereft which it excites, by forcing upon the mind the recollection that all is fiction. We extract the fcene in which Flaxland and his wife come to an explanation. It contains the moral point of the play; and Kotzebue has feldom enforced one fo unexceptionable. 'Mrs. Flax. Who makes thee believe, that I find elsewhere more amufement than in thy company ?-this fimple defhabille O! I well know it becomes me better than a gala fuit-this is wholly for thee, my dear-modeft, unaifuming (filing), the duft of jealoufy will not cling to thefe folds. • Flax. Jealoufy!-I hope thou doft not think me tainted. Flax. But my confidence • Mrs. Flax. Why even there it frieks :-Oh! my good man, thou diffembleft before me a confidence, and tormenteft thyself in private with frightful chimeras--was I not then justified in afferting, that love alone did not fuffice to make the marriage ftate happy. Flax. (confufed) Thon wrongeft me. Mrs. Flax. No, no, I know all, and fpare thee the confeffion —a painful wound must be healed without too much use of the probe or the knife-fuffer me only to add it is thyself who was ever engaging me in the great world-it is thy felf who kept open hroufe for coxcombs and parafites-who feared thy young wife would be vapoured in thy houfe-That was falfe difcretionWhilft complying with thy defire abroad, evil dreams haunted thee at home-but thou wat afhamed of them, and that was falfe hame:-Man and wife thrould not even conceal their dreams from one another—a look would have been enough-I might, perhaps, have indulged a little laugh against thee-but should most chearfully have offered a worthlefs facrifice to thy peace of mind.--Oh! how many a marriage union is deftroyed, because the band of confidence was not tied heart to heart !-How oft' the torch of difcord becomes unextinguishable, because hufband or wife fmothered the rft spark Flax. Angelic woman !—forgive me! Mrs. Flax. I forgive thee, but upon one condition—that thou wilt be pleafed, henceforward, not to move a step without me:---when thou writeft, I will fit by thee with my work-bog-and when thou haft finished, we will continue together. Flax. Instead of punishing, thou art rewarding me, my love. Mrs. Flax. O!-I have now thought of a punishment:-thou preferreft the town, but I think the country moft engagingonly once, within three years, have we vifited our farm-that is unnatural-and as a penance, thou must linger there with me the whole fummer. Flax. Caroline this is too much. ← Mrs. Flax. I cannot fpare thee--and thou must moreover be fatisfied with houfehold fare, for I have difcharged our privileg'd poifon-mongers. Flax. Thou haft, I understand, made feveral ceconomical retrenchments. Mrs. Flax. A complete revolution. • Flax. Thou wilt thereby diminish thy pleafures. Mrs. Flax. And thereby acquire my heart's content :-man! man! must I also learn through a friend, that the luxuries thou waft daily recommending-the fuperfluity, in which thou madest me indulge, were purchased at the expence of thy peace of mind -that I was wronging thy children, to reward by the robbery, every species of ennui. Flax. Why furely Erlach 'Mrs. Flax. Thank God, for fending him to my falvationwithout him, I should have been hurried to perdition, and awoke too late!―Thou wicked man!—that again was thy fault, the want of confidence ;-in thy opinion, women were incapable of eftimating the value of a worthy man, unless his hands were ever loaded with prefents, like the fubjects of an eastern potentate. Learn to know us better-a wife is prouder in an estimable hufband, than in a pair of diamond ear-rings-and prefers going unnoticed on foot, poffeffing her husband's affection, than without it, attracting the eyes of a gaping croud, in a dazzling phaeton. Flax. (falls at her feet) Caroline ! 'Mrs. Flax. (Smiling) Dear Flaxland, I must for the first time remind thee, that thou art turn'd of forty-kneeling does not become thee. Flax. I have indeed misjudged thee!-pardon me. 'Mrs. Flax. (raises him and embraces him) It is past-we will retire into the country, shall we not ?—and in a few years iny diffipation will be recovered-Oh! how many an establishment falls to ruin, because the husband is afhamed to difclofe to his wife the true ftate of his circumftances-my experience this day has fo innately convinced me of this melancholy truth, that were I now standing before a numerous affembly, I fhould extend my arms, and glowing with philanthropy, fhould addrefs each father of a family-Trust thy wife-thou tottereft perchance on the brink of an abyfs confidence may fave thee-banifh falfe fhame, this monfter of vanity and arrogance!-truft thy wife, thy trueft friend! and thou wilt be rewarded with confolation for the pastwith advice and affiftance for the future. • Flax. Wife!—what a spirit gives utterance through thee! • Mrs. Flax. I should be a low-minded wife, if love and duty could not inspire me. • Flax. I ought to be ashamed, that a woman of five and twenty should instruct a man of my mature years :—but this were again false shame, which fhall be for ever banished from my bosom :from this moment, thou, like God, fhalt behold my heart's inmost thoughts-even thofe, that fhun the light of day, will I whifper in thy ear-and whenever a weakness would lurk concealed, the remembrance of this hour fhall draw it forth, for thy good-natured merriment and forgiveness. Mrs. Flax. O God! I thank thee!-it is accomplished-my husband is once more mine. Flax. Thine for ever!-But, dearest Caroline, do not imagine that through deranged circumftances thou art compelled to bury thy youth in the country-my property is yet ample. Mrs. Flax. Bury !--the enjoyment of nature and one's felf, men call burying-well then, the nightingales fhall chaunt our requiem. tude. Flax. My dear Caroline, thou art not familiarized with foli • Mrs. Flax. Through conjugal affection the wife adopts another mode of life with the fame facility fhe changes a fashion;a few years fince I fancied only a large hat could become me, and the hats were never large enough to my mind-I now think this fafhion frightful, and am only pleafed with myfelf in the fmalleft hat. Thus will it be in this cafe-four weeks in the country, and a city life will appear like a large hat-and I fhall never be able to comprehend how I could endure myself in it.' P. 68. Our English dramatifts, we hope, will learn from the German plays, that popularity may be gained without ftage trick and buffoonery. General View of the Agriculture of the County of Somerset, with Obfervations on the Means of its Improvement. Drawn up in the Year 1795, for the Confideration of the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement. By John Billingsley, Efq. of Afwick-Grove, near Shepton-Mallet. And now reprinted, with confiderable Additions and Amendments, accompanied with the Remarks of fome refpectable Gentlemen and Farmers in the County. 8vo. 6s. Boards. Dilly. THE writers of reports of this kind feem, in general, to pay too little attention to the practical parts of the subject, while they devote much labour and research to the examination of theoretical points; and Mr. Billingfley is not wholly free from cenfure in this refpect, though his report is drawn up with ability and confiderable knowledge of rural management. Enclofing is an interefting object; and Mr. Billingfley has ftudied its advantages with great accuracy and clearnels. On the making of walls and quickfet hedges, he has fuggested fome judicious hints; but we conceive that the estimates of expenfe are in general too low. We perfectly agree with our author in his opinion refpecting teams of horfes and oxen; and we therefore give his statements at full length. |
