The play went unproduced and almost unknown, until 1945, when her papers were acquired by the New York Public Library.
[1] The Witlings was not published until 1994, when Katherine Rogers included it in her anthology of Restoration and 18th-century women playwrights.
[citation needed] In 1995, her plays, including The Witlings were published by McGill University.
Thus blackmailed, Smatter is forced to relent, and the lovers are reconciled and the estate is recovered.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Voluble talks everyone's head off, and Mrs. Sapient also comes in, which adds more to Censor's dreadful impression of the place.
Their conversations consist of Mr. Dabler's literary works as well as their knowledge of literature in general.
The audience starts to understand each other's point of what use is their knowledge and their purpose for involving themselves in these topics.
Beaufort walks into the scene first and addresses the ladies and speaks of Jack's lack of communication in a timely manner.
His aunt immediately reconsiders Cecilia's engagement with Mr. Beaufort and thinks it's unfortunate that she is broke but doesn't hesitate to disown her.
Burney uses this scene to really showcase how ridiculous a few of the characters are in pretending to understand literature and having conversations that mean nothing.