Page:Hannah More (1887 Charlotte Mary Yonge British).djvu/42

30 No drama of lady's manufacture has kept a permanent hold on the stage; but Percy's immediate success was triumphant. The authoress's home letter begins: "I may now venture to tell you (as you extorted a promise from me to conceal nothing) what I would not hardly have done last night, that the reception of Percy exceeded my most sanguine wishes. I am just returning from the second night, and it was, if possible, received more favourably than on the first.

"One tear is worth a thousand hands, and I had the satisfaction to see even the men shed them in abundance. The critics (as is usual) met at the Bedford last night, to fix the character of the play. If I were a heroine of romance, and were writing to my confidante, I should tell you all the fine things that were told; but as I am a living Christian woman, I do not think it would be so modest; I will only say, as Garrick does, that I have had so much flattery, that I might, if I would, choke myself in my own pap."

The house of Northumberland regarded the tragedy as a personal compliment, and Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore, and collector of the Reliques, was deputed by the Duke to congratulate and thank her, and expressed his regret that the gout had prevented both him and his son from being present. "They sent, however, each for a ticket, for which they paid, as