t 'George began to
think himself quite a man now,' whereupon both pa and ma laughed too; and
George (who carried a dress cane and was cultivating whiskers) muttered
that 'William always was encouraged in his impertinence;' and assumed a
look of profound contempt, which lasted the whole evening.

The play began, and the interest of the little boys knew no bounds. Pa
was clearly interested too, although he very unsuccessfully endeavoured
to look as if he wasn't. As for ma, she was perfectly overcome by the
drollery of the principal comedian, and laughed till every one of the
immense bows on her ample cap trembled, at which the governess peeped out
from behind the pillar again, and whenever she could catch ma's eye, put
her handkerchief to her mouth, and appeared, as in duty bound, to be in
convulsions of laughter also. Then when the man in the splendid armour
vowed to rescue the lady or perish in the attempt, the little boys
applauded vehemently, especially one little fellow who was apparently on
a visit to the family, and had been carrying on a child's flirtation, the
whole evening, with a small coquette of twelve years old, who looked like
a model of her mamma on a reduced scale; and who, in common with the
other little girls (who generally speaking have even more coquettishness
about them than much older ones), looked very properly shocked, when the
knight's squire kissed the princess's confidential chambermaid.

When the scenes in the circle commenced, the children were more delighted
than ever; and the wish to see what was going forward, completely
conquering pa's dignity, he stood up in the box, and applauded as loudly
as any of them. Between each feat of horsemanship, the governess leant
across to ma, and retailed the clever remarks of the children on that
which had preceded: and ma, in the openness of her heart, offered the
governess an acidulated drop, and the governess, gratified to be taken
notice of, retired behind her pillar again with a brighter countenance:
and the whole party seemed quite happy, except the exquisite in the back
of the box, who, being too grand to take any interest in the children,
and too insignificant to be taken notice of by anybody else, occupied
himself, from time to time, in rubbing the place where the whiskers ought
to be, and was completely alone in his glory.

We defy any one who has been to Astley's two or three times, and is
consequently capable of appreciating the persevera