DRAMATIS PERSONA. Drury Lane, Men.. Haymarket, Men, .Mr. Denman Sir James Elliot...Mr. De Camp.........Mr. Bartley Old Wilding......Mr. Powell... Young Wilding....Mr. Dwyer........... Mr. Ellifton Papillion.........Mr. Wewitzer......... Mr. Chapman IV omen. Mifs Grantham...Mifs Mellon... Women. ...Mrs. Harlowe Mifs Godfrey..... Mrs. Gunning........ Mrs. Gaudry Kitty............Mifs Tidfwell.........Mrs. Cleland, THE THE LYAR. ACT I. SCENE-Young Wilding's Lodgings. Young Wilding and Papillion difcovered. Young Wilding. AND am I now, Papillion, perfectly equipp’d? Pap. Perfonne mieux. Y. Wild. My addrefs? Nobody better. Y. Wild. My hat fits eafily under my arm; not like the draggled tail of my tatter'd academical habit. Pap. Ah, bien autre chofe. Y. Wild. Why, then, adieu Alma Mater, and bien venue la ville de Londre; farewell to the schools, and welcome the theatres; prefidents, proctors, fhort commons with long graces, muft 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 muft give me the chart du pays. This town is a new world to me: my provident papa, you know, would never fuffer me near the fmoke of London; and what can be his moA 3 tive ive for permitting me now, I can't readily tconceive. 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. Y. Wild. Well, my Mentor, and how am[ to manage? Direct my road: where must I begin? But the debate is, I fuppofe, of con fequence? Pap. Vraiment. Y. Wild. How long have you left Paris Papillion? Pap. Twelve, dirteen year. Y. Wild. I can't compliment you upon your progrefs in English. Pap. The accent is difficult. Y. Wild. But here you are at home. Y. Wild. No ftranger to fashionable places. Y. Wild. Acquainted with the fashionable figures of both fexes. Pap. Sans doute. Y. 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 distance between us. See me ready to flake my thirst at your fountain of knowledge, my Magnus Apollo. Pap. Here, then, I disclose my poetical pupil. Y.Wild. Hey, Papillion? my Helicon to Y. Wild Y. Wild. What is this? Why, you speak English! Pap. Without doubt. Y. Wild. But, like a native ! Pap. To be fure. Y. Wild. And what am I to conclude from all this? Pap. Logically thus, Sir: whoever speaks pure English is an Englishman. I fpeak pure English; ergo, I am an Englishman. There's a categorical fyllogifm for you, major, minor, and confequence. What! do you think, Sir, that, whilft you was busy at Oxford, I was idle? No, no, no. Y. Wild. Well, Sir, but, notwithstanding your pleafantry, I must have this matter explain'd. Pap. So you fhall, my good Sir; but don't be in fuch a hurry. You can't fuppofe I would give you the key, unless I meant you fhould open the door. Y. Wild. Why, then, prythee unlock it. Pap. Immediately. But, by way of entering upon my poft as preceptor, fuffer me first to give you a hint. You must not expect, Sir, to find here, as at Oxford, men appearing in their real characters: every body there, Sir, knows that Dr. Muffy is a fellow of Maudlin, and Tom Trifle a ftudent of Chrift-church; but this town is one great comedy, in which not only the principles, but frequently the perfons, are feign'd. Y. Wild. A useful obfervation. Pap. Why now, Sir, at the first coffee-house I fhall enter you, you will perhaps meet a man, from whofe decent fable drefs, pla A 4 cid cid countenance, infinuating behaviour, short fword, with the waiter's civil addition of A difh of coffee for Dr. Julap, you would fuppofe him to be a phyfician. Y. Wild. Well? Pap. Does not know diafcordium from diachylon. An abfolute French fpy; concealed under the shelter of a huge medicinal perriwig. Y. Wild. Indeed! Pap. A martial figure, too, it is odds but you will encounter, from whofe fcars, title, drefs, and addrefs, you would fuppofe to have had a share in every action fince the peace of the Pyrenees; runner to a gaming table, and bully to a bawdy houfe. Battles, to be fure, he has been in-with the watch; and frequently a prifoner, too, in the round-house. Y. Wild. Amazing! Pap. In fhort, Sir, you will meet with lawyers who practife fmuggling, and merchants. who trade upon Hounflow-heath; reverend atheifts, right honourable tharpers, and Frenchmen from the county of York. Y. Wild. In the last lift I prefume you roll. Pap. Juft my fituation. F. Wild. And pray, Sir, what may be your motive for this whimfical transformation? Pup. A very harmlefs one, I promise you. I would only avail myfelf at the expence of foliv and prejudice. Y. Wild. As how? Pap. Why, Sir-But, to be better underftood, I believe it will be neceffary to give you a fhort sketch of the principal incidents of my life. Y. Wild. |