The aspect of public affairs is injurious to the theater, and these
graver interests thin our houses while they crowd the houses of
Parliament. However, when we played "The Provoked Husband" before
the king and queen the other night, the theater was crammed from
floor to ceiling, and presented a most beautiful _coup d'oeil_. I
have just come out in Mrs. Haller. It seems to have pleased the
people very much. I need not tell you how much I dislike the play;
it is the quintessence of trashy sentimentalism; but our audiences
cry and sob at it till we can hardly hear ourselves speak on the
stage, and the public in general rejoices in what the servant-maids
call "something deep." My father acts the Stranger with me, which
makes it very trying to my nerves, as I mix up all my own personal
feelings for him with my acting, and the sight of his anguish and
sense of his displeasure is really very dreadful to me, though it
is only all about "stuff and nonsense" after all.
I must leave off writing; I am excruciated with the toothache,
which has tormented me without respite all day. I will inclose a
line to Mrs.
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