KATE: In which of your
characters
may we address you?
World's Greatest Books - Volume 17 - Poetry and Drama
--_The hall_.
SIR CHARLES MARLOW _and_ HARDCASTLE _witness,
from concealment, the formal proposal of_ MARLOW _to make
the supposed "poor relation" his wife. They break in_.
SIR CHARLES: Charles, Charles, how thou hast deceived me! Is this
your indifference?
HARDCASTLE: Your cold contempt? Your formal interview? What have you
to say?
MARLOW: That I'm all amazement. What does it mean?
HARDCASTLE: It means that you say and unsay things at pleasure; that
you can address a lady in private and deny it in public; that you have
one story for us and another for my daughter.
MARLOW: Daughter? This lady your daughter? Oh, the devil! Oh--!
KATE: In which of your characters may we address you? The faltering
gentleman who looks on the ground and hates hypocrisy, or the bold,
forward Agreeable Rattle of the ladies' club?
MARLOW: Zounds, this is worse than death! I must be gone.
HARDCASTLE: But you shall not! I see it was all a mistake. She'll
forgive you; we'll all forgive you. Courage, man! And if she makes as
good a wife as she has a daughter, I don't believe you'll ever repent
your bargain. So now to supper. To-morrow we shall gather all the poor
of this parish about us; the mistakes of the night shall be crowned
with a merry morning.
FOOTNOTES:
[D] The Life of Goldsmith, by John Forster, may be found in
Volume IX of the WORLD'S GREATEST BOOKS (see also Vol. IV, p. 275).
"The Mistakes of a Night, or She Stoops to Conquer," appeared at Covent
Garden, in March, 1773. So convinced was George Colman that the public
would endure nothing but sentiment, that he could hardly be induced to
accept the play, and was extremely nervous about its success, almost
until the fall of the curtain on the first night.
from concealment, the formal proposal of_ MARLOW _to make
the supposed "poor relation" his wife. They break in_.
SIR CHARLES: Charles, Charles, how thou hast deceived me! Is this
your indifference?
HARDCASTLE: Your cold contempt? Your formal interview? What have you
to say?
MARLOW: That I'm all amazement. What does it mean?
HARDCASTLE: It means that you say and unsay things at pleasure; that
you can address a lady in private and deny it in public; that you have
one story for us and another for my daughter.
MARLOW: Daughter? This lady your daughter? Oh, the devil! Oh--!
KATE: In which of your characters may we address you? The faltering
gentleman who looks on the ground and hates hypocrisy, or the bold,
forward Agreeable Rattle of the ladies' club?
MARLOW: Zounds, this is worse than death! I must be gone.
HARDCASTLE: But you shall not! I see it was all a mistake. She'll
forgive you; we'll all forgive you. Courage, man! And if she makes as
good a wife as she has a daughter, I don't believe you'll ever repent
your bargain. So now to supper. To-morrow we shall gather all the poor
of this parish about us; the mistakes of the night shall be crowned
with a merry morning.
FOOTNOTES:
[D] The Life of Goldsmith, by John Forster, may be found in
Volume IX of the WORLD'S GREATEST BOOKS (see also Vol. IV, p. 275).
"The Mistakes of a Night, or She Stoops to Conquer," appeared at Covent
Garden, in March, 1773. So convinced was George Colman that the public
would endure nothing but sentiment, that he could hardly be induced to
accept the play, and was extremely nervous about its success, almost
until the fall of the curtain on the first night.
