Page:Austen - Mansfield Park, vol. I, 1814.djvu/281

, presented any thing that could satisfy even the tragedians; and the Rivals, the School for Scandal, Wheel of Fortune, Heir at Law, and a long etcetera, were successively dismissed with yet warmer objections. No piece could be proposed that did not supply somebody with a difficulty, and on one side or the other it was a continual repetition of, "Oh! no, that will never do. Let us have no ranting tragedies. Too many characters—Not a tolerable woman's part in the play—Any thing but that, my dear Tom. It would be impossible to fill it up—One could not expect any body to take such a part—Nothing but buffoonery from beginning to end. That might do, perhaps, but for the low parts—If I must give my opinion, I have always thought it the most insipid play in the English language—I do not wish to make objections, I shall be happy to be of any use, but I think we could not chuse worse."

Fanny looked on and listened, not Rh