?An afterpiece instead of a comedy,? said Mr?Lovers?
Vows were at an end, and Lord and Lady Ravenshaw left to act My
Grandmother by themselvesWell, the jointure may comfort him;
and perhaps, between friends, he began to tremble for his credit
and his lungs in the Baron, and was not sorry to withdraw; and to
make you amends, Yates, I think we must raise a little theatre at
Mansfield, and ask you to be our manager
This, though the thought of the moment, did not end with the
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moment; for the inclination to act was awakened, and in no one
more strongly than in him who was now master of the house; and
who, having so much leisure as to make almost any novelty a certain
good, had likewise such a degree of lively talents and comic
taste, as were exactly adapted to the novelty of actingThe thought
returned again and again?Oh for the Ecclesford theatre and scenery
to try something with Each sister could echo the wish; and
Henry Crawford, to whom, in all the riot of his gratifications it was
yet an untasted pleasure, was quite alive at the idea?I really believe,?
said he, ?I could be fool enough at this moment to undertake
any character that ever was written, from Shylock or Richard III
down to the singing hero of a farce in his scarlet coat and cocked
hatI feel as if I could be anything or http://www.irluxury.com/categorys_11_Necklace-Pendants_1.html" target="_blank everything; as if I could rant
and storm, or sigh or cut capers, in any tragedy or comedy in the
English languageLet us be doing somethingBe it only half a play,
an act, a scene; what should prevent us? Not these countenances, I
am sure,? looking towards the Miss Bertrams; ?and for a theatre,
what signifies a theatre? We shall be only amusing ourselvesAny
room in this house might suffice
?We must have a curtain,? said Tom Bertram; ?a few yards of
green baize for a curtain, and perhaps that may be enough
?Oh, quite enough,? cried MrYates, ?with only just a side wing
or two run up, doors in flat, and three or four scenes to be let down;
nothing more would be necessary on such a plan as thisFor mere
amusement among ourselves we should want nothing more
?I believe we must be satisfied with less,? said Maria?There would
not be time, and other difficulties would ariseWe must rather adopt
MrCrawford?s views, and make the performance, not the theatre,
our objectMany parts of our best plays are independent of scenery
?Nay,? said Edmund, who began to listen with alarm?Let us do
nothing by halvesIf we are to act, let it be in a theatre completely
fitted up with pit, boxes, and gallery, and let us have a play entire
from beginning to end; so as it be a German play, no matter what,
with a good tricking, shifting http://www.ooluxury.com/scategory_8_Hermes.html" target="_blank afterpiece, and a figure-dance, and a
hornpipe, and a song between the actsIf we do not outdo Ecclesford,
we do nothing
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?Now, Edmund, do not be disagreeable,? said Julia?Nobody loves
a play better than you do, or can have gone much farther to see
one
?True, to see real acting, good hardened real acting; but I would
hardly walk from this room to the next to look at the raw efforts of
those who have not been bred to the trade: a set of gentlemen and
ladies, who have all the disadvantages of education and decorum to
struggle through
After a short pause, however, the subject still continued, and was
discussed with unabated eagerness, every one?s inclination increasing
by the discussion, and a knowledge of the inclination of the
rest; and though nothing was settled but that Tom Bertram would
prefer a comedy, and his sisters and Henry Crawford a tragedy, and
that nothing in the world could be easier than to find a piece which
would please them all, the resolution to act something or other
seemed so decided as to make Edmund quite uncomfortableHe
was determined to prevent it, if possible, though his mother, who
equally heard the conversation which passed at table, did not evince
the least disapprobation
The same evening afforded him an opportunity of trying his
strengthMaria, Julia, Henry http://www.muluxury.com/scategory_2_Chanel.html" target="_blank Crawford, and MrYates were in the
billiard-roomTom, returning from them into the drawing-room,
where Edmund was standing thoughtfully by the fire, while Lady
Bertram was on the sofa at a little distance, and Fanny close beside
her arranging her work, thus began as he entered??Such a horribly
vile billiard-table as ours is not to be met with, I believe, above
groundI can stand it no longer, and I think, I may say, that nothing
shall ever tempt me to it again; but one good thing I have just
ascertained: it is the very room for a theatre, precisely the shape and
length for it; and the doors at the farther end, communicating with
each other, as they may be made to do in five minutes, by merely
moving the bookcase in my father?s room, is the very thing we could
have desired, if we had sat down to wish for it; and my father?s room
will be an excellent greenroomIt seems to join the billiard-room
on purpose
?You are not serious, Tom, in meaning to act?? said Edmund, in a
low voice, as his brother approached the fire
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Jane Austen
?Not serious! never more so, I assure youWhat is there to surprise
you in it??
?I think it would be very wrongIn a general light, private theatricals
are open to some objections, but as we are circumstanced, I
must think it would be highly injudicious, and more than injudicious
to http://www.enluxury.com/scategory_30_Cartier-Watches.html" target="_blank attempt anything of the kindIt would shew great want of
feeling on my father?s account, absent as he is, and in some degree
of constant danger; and it would be imprudent, I think, with regard
to Maria, whose situation is a very delicate one, considering everything,
extremely delicate
?You take up a thing so seriously! as if we were going to act three
times a week till my father?s return, and invite all the countryBut it
is not to be a display of that sortWe mean nothing but a little
amusement among ourselves, just to vary the scene, and exercise
our powers in something newWe want no audience, no publicity
We may be trusted, I think, in chusing some play most perfectly
unexceptionable; and I can conceive no greater harm or danger to
any of us in conversing in the elegant written language of some
respectable author than in chattering in words of our ownI have
no fears and no scruplesAnd as to my father?s being absent, it is so
far from an objection, that I consider it rather as a motive; for the
expectation of his return must be a very anxious period to my mother;
and if we can be the means of amusing that anxiety, and keeping up
her spirits for the next few weeks, I shall think our time very well
spent, and so, I am sure, will heIt is a very anxious period for her
As he said this, each looked towards their http://www.ualuxury.com/scategory_9_Louis-Vuitton.html" target="_blank mother