We sometimes, mistakenly, say that the English are not good losers. To think of Charles Lamb may help us to correct that opinion.
All good plays of the period have an epilogue. By all means this should have one; and ten days later Lamb himself provided it. It appeared in “The Examiner,” where, speaking of Fanny Kelly’s acting in “The Hypocrite,” he said,—
“She is in truth not framed to tease or torment even in jest, but to utter a hearty Yes or No; to yield or refuse assent with a noble sincerity. We have not the pleasure of being acquainted with her, but we have been told that she carries the same cordial manners into private life.”
The curtain falls! The play is at an end.
