, that she consents
to marry him.'

Mrs. Teachum, addressing herself to them all, told them, that this was
a method she wished they would take with whatever they read; for nothing
so strongly imprinted anything on the memory as such a repetition; and
then turning to Miss Jenny Peace, she said, 'And now, Miss Jenny, I
desire you will speak freely what you think is the chief moral to be
drawn from the play you have just read.'

Miss Jenny being thus suddenly asked a question of this nature,
considered some time before she gave an answer; for she was naturally
very diffident of her own opinion in anything where she had not been
before instructed by some one she thought wiser than herself. At last,
with a modest look, and an humble voice, she said, 'Since, madam,
you have commanded me to speak my sentiments freely, I think by what
happened to each character in this play, the author intended to prove
what my good mamma first taught me, and what you, madam, since have so
strongly confirmed me in; namely, that folly, wickedness, and misery,
all three, as constantly dwell together, as wisdom, virtue, and
happiness do.'

''Tis very true (answered Mrs. Teachum); but this moral does not arise
only from the happy turn in favour of the virtuous characters in the
conclusion of the play, but is strongly inculcated, as you see all
along, in the peace of mind that attends the virtuous, even in the
midst of oppression and distress, while the event is yet doubtful, and
apparently against them; and, on the contrary, in the confusion of mind
which the vicious are tormented with, even whilst they falsely imagine
themselves triumphant.'

Mrs. Teachum then taking the book out of Miss Jenny's hands, and turning
to the passage, said, 'How does Lady Brumpton show us the wretched
condition of her own mind, when she says,

'"How miserable 'tis to have one one hates always about one! And when
one can't endure one's own reflections upon some actions, who can bear
the thoughts of another upon them?"

'Then with what perturbation of mind does she proceed, to wish it was in
her power to increase her wickedness, without making use enough of her
understanding, to see that by that means she would but increase her own
misery.

'On the other hand, what a noble figure does Lord Hardy make, when, by
this wicked woman's contrivances,