re delightful when they are shared among numbers.
If the whole theatre were your own, and you were sitting by yourself
to see the performance, how dull it would seem, to what you will find
it, with so many happy faces around us, all amused with the same
thing!" I hardly knew what my mamma meant, for I had never seen a
play; but when I got there, after the curtain drew up, I looked up
towards the galleries, and down into the pit, and into all the boxes,
and then I knew what a pretty sight it was to see a number of happy
faces. I was very well convinced, that it would not have been half so
cheerful if the theatre had been my own, to have sat there by myself.
From that time, whenever I felt inclined to be selfish, I used to
remember the theatre, where the mamma of the young lady I had been so
rude to, gave me a seat in her own box. There is nothing in the world
so charming as going to a play. All the way there I was as dull and as
silent as I used to be in ----shire, because I was so sorry mamma had
been displeased with me. Just as the coach stopped, miss Frederica
said, "Will you be friends with me, Emily?" and I replied, "Yes, if
you please, Frederica;" and we went hand in hand together into the
house. I did not speak any more till we entered the box, but after
that I was as lively as if nothing at all had happened.

I shall never forget how delighted I was at the first sight of the
house. My little friend and I were placed together in the front, while
our mammas retired to the back part of the box to chat by themselves,
for they had been so kind as to come very early that I might look
about me before the performance began.

Frederica had been very often at a play. She was very useful in
telling me what every thing was. She made me observe how the common
people were coming bustling down the benches in the galleries, as if
they were afraid they should lose their places. She told me what a
crowd these poor people had to go through, before they got into the
house. Then she shewed me how leisurely they all came into the pit,
and looked about them, before they took their seats. She gave me a
charming description of the king and queen at the play, and shewed me
where they sate, and told me how the princesses were drest. It was a
pretty sight to see the remainder of the candles lighted; and so it
was to see the musicians come up from under the stage. I admired the
music very much, and I asked if that was the play. Frederica la