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Warranted Harmless That is one good point to be assured of before we put plays into the hands of our children, says a mother, looking at this book in the booksellers shop. But, mamma, says her little girl9 are they entertaining? A ye, mamma, are they entertaining? repeats her brother: I never will read them, unless they are warranted entertaining as well as harmless. Of all things, I would never r... More

Warranted Harmless That is one good point to be assured of before we put plays into the hands of our children, says a mother, looking at this book in the booksellers shop. But, mamma, says her little girl9 are they entertaining? A ye, mamma, are they entertaining? repeats her brother: I never will read them, unless they are warranted entertaining as well as harmless. Of all things, I would never read plays, unless they divert me: what else are they good for? Nothing, certainly. I want to see whether they look entertaining says the little girl, but I cannot, yet, for mamma is reading the preface; and you know, brother, you never like prefaces. Never. They always are stupid, and tell us that every book is entertaining theres no believing them. Besides, they are always so long. This is short, at any rate, says the little girl, peeping at the pages over her mothers shoulder. Well! what does it tell us? It tells us, in the first place, that these plays were written at No matter where, my dear. Many years ago; in the year Wo matter when, my dear. They have been lying by, nine years or more No matter for that either; though I know it is Horace sold advice, says the boy: but that will not make the plays divert us the more, if they are not diverting. They were originally written, continues the little girl, for the amusement of a private family. I dont care for whose amusement they were originally written. I do not know why authors always tell us that. But listen, my dear: they were read to the young people they were written for on their birthdays! Oh, brother! oh, mamma! I should like to have a play read to me on my birthday. If it was entertaining, I suppose you mean, persists the sturdy boy; for plays being read on all the birthdays in the world would not make them entertaining if they were tiresome.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)

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