GW is here attending the local premiere of the “new Comedy . . . A Word to the Wise,” by Hugh Kelly (1739–1777). It was received, reported Purdie and Dixon’s Virginia Gazette a week later, “with the warmest Marks of Approbation.” The newspaper went on to comment: “If the comick Writers would pursue Mr. Kelly’s Plan, and present us only with moral Plays, the Stage would become (what it ought to be) a School of Politeness and Virtue.”