"Is she as handsome as they say? I have a huge _cur'osity_ to see her,"
said Wright, feigning more rusticity of manner and more simplicity than
was natural to him. "I have, truly, a woundy _cur'osity_ to see her,
I've heard so much of her, even down in Lincolnshire."

"If you go to see the play, sir, you can't fail to have your curiosity
gratified, for Miss Barton plays to-night--(Jenny! reach me a
play-bill)--for her own benefit, and appears in her very best character,
the Romp."

"The Romp!--Odds! Is that her best character? Why, now, to my notion,
bad's the best, if that be the best of her characters. The Romp!--Odds
so! What would our grandmothers say to that?"

"Oh, sir, times are changed, as well as fashions, since our
grandmothers' days," said the milliner. "Put up this bonnet for the
gentleman, Jenny.--I am sure I don't pretend to say any thing in favour
of the times, whatever I may of the fashions. But, as to fashion, to be
sure no one can be more fashionable, here in York, than Miss Barton. All
our gentlemen are dying for her."

"Odds my life, I'll keep out of her way! And yet I've a huge cur'osity
to set my eyes upon her. Pray, now, could I any way get to the sight or
speech of her in a room, or so? for seeing a woman on the stage is one
thing, and seeing her off, as I take it, is another."

"I take it so too, sir. Jenny, put up the cap for the gentleman, and
make out a bill."

"No, no; the bonnet's all I want, which I'll pay for on the nail."