I suppose you mean the sweets of
domestic life--the large portion of comfort arising from a large winter
fire, and the very pleasing tittle-tattle of an antiquated maiden aunt, or
the equally pleasing (tho' less loquacious) society of a husband, who, with
a complaisance peculiar to husbands, responds--sometimes by a doubtful
shrug, sometimes a stupid yawn, a lazy stretch, an unthinking stare, a
clownish nod, a surly no, or interrogates you with a--humph? till bed time,
when, heaven defend us! you are doom'd to be snor'd out of your wits till
day-break, when----

HARRIET. Hold, Maria--what a catalogue of uncomfortable comforts have you
run over.--Pleasure and Comfort are words which imply the same thing with
me; but in this enlighten'd age, when words are so curiously refin'd and
defin'd, modern critics and fashionable word-mongers have, in the abundance
of their wisdom, made a very nice distinction between them--for my part, I
always endeavour to reconcile modish pleasure with real comfort, and custom
with reason, as much as is in any way consistent with the obligation one is
under to conform a little to the perverse notions of mankind.

MARIA. There now!--you know I can't abide to hear you moralize--prithee, my
dear Harriet, leave that to grey beards and long-ear'd caps--everything is
beautiful in its season, you know.

HARRIET. Common sense and propriety are ever in season, Maria, and I was
going to mention a _sentimental_ pleasure, a _rational_ enjoyment, which is
peculiar to the present _season_, tho' beautiful in every one, if you had
not got frightened at the idea of being _comforted_.

MARIA. Well, my dear comfortable, rational, sentimental Harriet! Let me
hear what this rational enjoyment of yours is?

HARRIET. Hearing a good play, my dear.

MARIA. Hearing a good play! why not seeing it, pray?

HARRIET. Because I believe plays are frequently seen, and not heard; at
least, not as they ought to be.

MARIA. I protest you are quite a critic, Harriet.

HARRIET. If you desire amusement, what so likely to beguile the heavy hours
as Comedy? If your spirits are depress'd, what so replete with that which
can revive them as the laughter-loving Thalia? If the foibles and vices of
human nature ought to suffer correction, in what way can they be satiriz'd
so happily and successfully as on the stage;--or if elegance of language,
and refinement of sentiment----

MARIA. Humph--there's sentiment again.

HARRIET. You d