company will perceive, that whatever effect the late run of fentimental comedies may have had upon their audiences, they have at leaft made the players men of ho

nour.

Mifs Flack. You are a villain!

Mrs Twink. He talks very finely tho' for all that, Mifs Flack; and is a very pretty man too.-I with you health and happiness, Mr Sotherton.

[Dropping a curtsy, half aside. Grif. I can hardly fpeak for laughing.-Come, come, Mifs Flack, never mind him; you fhall return with us, and I will make up the affair with your relations-Old Flack can't find fault with us now, Fillagree, he, he, he! There is nothing like having one's friends and acquaintance in the fame scrape with one's felf.-But let us have the dance; for, by their looks, half the couples here elfe will have fome complaint or other to make, he, he! Mrs Twink. You may take out Mifs Flack, Jemmy; I fhall dance with Mr Sotherton.

Fil. (In a half whisper.) Hark you, Mifs Flack, have you preferved your virtue?

Mifs Flack. O yes, indeed, madam.

Fil. Then you may defy the world; and learn from my example, that the woman who preferves her virtue will always be rewarded at last.

[Before the dance, Fillagree comes forward with Cupid in her hand, by way of Epilogue.]

Fil. Ladies, you'll witnefs what this boy has done, What fools he makes us, and what risks we run,

When this vile gad-fly goads us;

This puppet thing, this miniature of man!

What fay you, fhall I brain him with my fan?

Or, in the very zenith of his glory,

Here with my glove-ftring ftrangle him before you?
-You're tender-hearted. Well, then, so am I.
Methinks it were a pity Love fhould die.

In

Cup. Love cannot die, whilft fo much beauty reigns yon fair circle..

Say, ye nymphs, ye fwains, Was it not right, one knotty point to clear, That Love himself should be in perfon here?

M 2

That

That boys fhould match with girls, and girls with boys,
Mere nature can produce fuch idle toys:
But fure it asks fome fupernatural aid
When fuch a lover fighs for fuch a maid.

[Pointing to Fillagree and Grifkin.
Befides, ye fair, from me perhaps you'll hear
What from mere mortals might offend your ear.
Between ourselves, I cannot quite approve
This modern bare-fac'd hurrying into love.
My ancient chiefs, fo fam'd for love and war,
Befieg'd whole ages the obdurate fair.
Now, e'er the lover wooes, the lady's won,
And half the fex run poft to be undone.

Be wife, be cautious; keep this truth in view,
Few hafty marriages are happy too.
Approach with awe th' indiffoluble bands,
Try well your hearts before you yield your hands.
Let each kind parent's voice complete the plan,
And blush confent, even then, behind your fan.

Country Dance of the Characters, lead by Cupid.

Wil.

GRg

SCENE I.

Enter William and Dolly.

Oon, dear fifter Dolly-And fo my fweet girl was brought to the Widow Gadly's, as a relation of her's from Shropshire, and went by the name of Belton ?

Dol. Yes, yes-you had not been gone to London two days before your father and fhe met in the widow's garden.

M 3.

garden. I was with him; he was very inquifitive indeed, and was ftruck with her lively manner.

hardly get him home to dinner.

I could

Wil. Why this was beyond expectation; and fo, Dolly

Dol. Yes, his liking went much beyond my expectation or your wishes: In a week he fell in love with her, and is at this time a very dangerous rival.

Wil. I am fure to have some mischief happen in all my schemes.

Dol. Her finging, and twenty little agreeable fooleries fhe puts on, have bewitched him: Her mimicking the gipfies has fo enchanted him, that he has prevailed upon her to come to the May-pole to day among the holiday lads and laffes and tell their fortunes. She has drefs'd up herself often, and been among 'em, without their knowing who fhe is-In fhort, fhe has bewitch'd the whole village-I am to be there too as her mother-My father will have it fo.

Wil. So much the better; while you are telling fortunes, I may talk to her without being obferv'd. Send but a fortune-teller, or a mountebank, among country people, and they have no eyes and ears for any thing elfe. Where is my father now?

Del. Upon fome knotty point with Roger Dozey the clerk-I must go and prepare for the frolic. Don't be melancholy, Will; the worst that can happen is to marry the girl without your father's confent, turn gipfy with your wife, and fend your children to fteal his poultry.

Wil. But harkee, Dolly, who is to have Mr Goodwill's May-day legacy? A hundred pounds is a tolerable foundation to build upon-What is become of George, Dolly!

Dol. I have not time to tell you-He is a rogue like the rest of you: But as I have a heart that can make an honeft man happy that poffeffes it, fo it has a fpirit within it to despise a knave or a coxcomb.

Would

Would women do as I do,
With fpirit fcorn dejection;
The men no arts could fly to;
They'd keep 'em in subjection.
But if we figh or fimper,

The love-fick farce is over;
They'll bring us foon to whimper,
And then good-night the lover.
Would women do as I do,

No knaves or fools could cheat 'em ;
They'd paffion bid good-bye to,

And trick for trick would meet 'em.
But if we figh or fimper,

The love-fick farce is over;

They'll bring us foon to whimper,

And then good-night the lover.

Wil. Well faid, Dolly!-but I am afraid, in my fi tuation, I muft give up all hope.

Dol. Then you'll give up the best friend

you have; make much of her, or, with a true female fpirit, like mine, she'll leave you the moment you seem to neglect (Exit Dolly.

her.

William.

How can my heart reft, when I fee from the land
Fanny's arms open'd wide to receive me?
If hope caft her anchor to fix on the fand,
The winds and the waves both deceive me.

My love to its duty ftill conftant and true,
Tho' of fortune and tempeft the sport,
Shall beat round the fhore, the dear object in view,
Till it finks, or is fafe in the port.

SCENE, A hall in Furrow's house.

Enter Furrow and Dozey.

Fur. Well, but Dozey, think a little, and hear a little, before you speak, and understand my queftion. \ Doz. Put it..

Fur. You know that Walter Goodwill, Efq; left a legacy of one hundred pounds to the couple who shall

be