Tho. Your daughter has married a man of fome learning, and one who has feen a little of the world, and who, by his love to her, and obedience to you, will try to deferve your favour. As for my having worn a livery, 'let not that grieve you; as I have liv'd in a great family, I have feen that no one is refpected for what he is, but for what he has: the world pays no regard at prefent to any thing but money; and if my own industry should add to your fortune, fo as to entitle any of my pofterity to grandeur, it will be no reason against making my fon or grandfon a lord, that his father or grandfather was a footman.

Good. Ha! thou talk'st like a pretty fenfible fellow; and I don't know whether my daughter has not made a better choice than fhe could have done among her booby relations. I fhall fufpend my judgment at prefent, and pafs it hereafter according to your behaviour.

Tho. I will try to deserve it should be in my favour. * Worm. I hope, coufin, you don't expect I should lofe my time. I expect fix and eight pence for my jour

ney.

Good. Thy profeffion, I fee, has made a knave of whom nature meant a fool. Well, I am now convinc'd 'tis lefs difficult to raise a fortune, than to find one worthy to inherit it.'

AIR XII.

The Yorkshire Ballad.

Blifter.

Had your daughter been phyfic'd well, Sir, as fhe ought, With bleeding, and blift'ring, and vomit and draught, This footman had never been once in her thought, With his down, down, &c.

Coupee.

Had pretty Mifs been at a dancing fchool bred,
.Had her feet but been taught the right manner to tread,
Gad's curfe, 'twould have put better things in her head,
Than his down, down, &c.

Quaver.

Had the learnt, like fine ladies, inftead of her pray'rs To langufh and die at Italian foft airs,

A footman had never thus tickled her ears,

With his down, down, &c..

Lucy.

Lucy.

You may phyfic, and mufic, and dancing enhance,
In one I have got them all three by good chance
My doctor he'll be, and he'll teach me to dance,
With his down, down, &c.

And though foft Italians the ladies countroul,
He fwears he can charm a fine lady, by Gole!
More than an Italian can do for his foul,
With a down, down, &c.

My fate, then, fpectators, hangs on your decree;
I have brought kind papa here at last to agree;
If you'll pardon the poet, he will pardon me,
With my down, down, &c.

Let not a poor farce, then, nice critics pursue;
But like honeft-hearted good-natur❜d men do;
And clap, to please us, who have sweat to please you.
With our down, down, &c.

CHORUS.

Let not a poor farce, then, &c.

THE

WHAT various revolutions in our art,
Since Thefpis firft fung ballads in a cart!,
By nature fram'd the witty war to wage,
And lay the deep foundations of the ftage,
From his own foil that bard his pictures drew:
The gaping crowd the mimic features knew,
And the broad jest zwith fire electric flew.
Succeeding times, more polifb'd and refin'd
To rigid rules the comic mufe confin'd.
Robb'd of the nat' ral freedom of her fong,
In artful measures now fhe floats along.
No fprightly fallies roufe the fumb'ring pit:
Thalia, grown mere architect in wit,

TH

To doors and ladders Las confined her cares,
Convenient clofets, and a fng back-fairs;
'Tixt her and Satire has fol'd the league,
And jilted Humour to enjoy Intrigue.
To gain the fuffrage of this polijo'd age,
We bring to-night a ftranger on the stage:
His fire, De Vaga, we confess this truth,
Left you miftake him for a British youth.
Severe the cenfure on my feeble pen,
Neglecting manners, that fee copies men.
Thus, if I bum or ba, or name report,
'Tis Serjeant Splitcaufe from the inns of Court
If, at the age that ladies ceafe to dance,
To romp at Renelaugh, or read romance,
I draw a dowager inclin'd to man,
Or paint her rage for china or japan,
The true original is quickly known,

And Lady Squab proclaim'd throughout the town.
But in the following group let no man dare
To claim a limb, nay, not a jingle hair :
What gallant Briton can be fuch a fot
To own the child a Spaniard has begot?

A C T I.

SCENE, a Lodging

YOUNG WILDING and PAPILLION difcovered.

YOUNG WILDING.

AND am I now, Papillion, perfectly equipped?

Pap. Perfonne mieux.
Wild. My figure?

Pap. Fait a peindre.
Y. Wild. My air?
Pap. Libre.

Y. Wild. My addrefs?

Pap. Parifienne.

Nobody better.

Y. Wild. My hat fits easily under my arm; not like the draggled tail of my tatter'd academical habit? Pap. Ah, bien autre chose.

Y. Wild, Why, then, adieu Alma Mater, and bien venue la ville de Londres; farewell to the schools, and welcome the theatres; prefidents, proctors, short com

mons

mons with long graces, must now give place to plays, bagnios, long tavern bills with no graces at all. Pap. Ah, bravo, bravo!

Y. Wild. Well, but my dear Papillion, you must give me the chart du paye. This town is a new world to me; my provident papa, you know, would never fuffer me near the smoke of London? and what can be his motive for permitting me now, I can't readily conceive. Pap. Ni moi.

Y.Wild. I fhall, however, take the liberty to conceal my arrival from him for a few days.

Pap. Vous avez raison.

r Wild. Well my Mentor, and how am I to manage Direct my road: where must I begin? But the debate is, I fuppofe, of confequence?

Pap. Vraiment.

r'Wild. How long have you left Paris, Papillion? Pap. Twelve, dirteen year.

r'Wild. I can't compliment you upon your progrefs

in English.

Pap. The accent is difficult.

r Wild. But here you are at home.

Pap. C'est vrai.

r Wild. No ftranger to fashionable places.
Pap. O faite!

Y Wild. Acquainted with the fashionable figures of both fexes.

Pap. Sans doute.

r Wild. Well then, open your lecture: And, d'ye hear, Papillion, as you have the honour to be promoted from the mortifying condition of an humble valet to the important charge of a private tutor, let us discard all diftance between us. See me ready to flake my thirst at your fountain of knowledge, my Magnus Apollo.

Pap. Here then I difclofe my Helicon to my poetical pupil.

Wild. Hey, Papillion?

Pap. Sir?

r'Wild. What is this? why you speak English!

Pap. Without doubt.

Y Wild. But like a native.

Pap. To be fure.