Spoken by Mrs CLIVE. A when fome ancient, bofpitable feat,

Is by fome rworthlefs wanton beir destroy'd,
Its once full rooms grown a deserted void:
Witb fighs, each neighbour views the mournful plase ;
Witb fighs, each recollects what once it was.

So does our wretched theatre appear;
For mirtb and joy once kept their revels here.
Here the beau-monde in crowds repair'd each day,
And went well pleas?d and entertain'd away.
While Oldfield bere bath charm’d the list’ning age,
And Wilks adorn'd, and Booth bath fil'd the page;
Soft eunuchs warbled in successful frain,
And tumblers foow'd their little tricks in vain:
Tbofe boxes fill the brighter circles were,
Triumpbant toasts receiv'd their homage there.

But now, alas! bow alter'd is our case!
I view with tears this poar deserted place;
None to our boxes now in pity ftray,
But poets free o'th' boufe and beaux who never pay.
No longer now we see our crowded door
Send the late comer back again at four.

At seven now into our empty pit
Drops from his counter fome old prudent cit,
Contented with twelve pennyworth of wit.

-Our author, of a gen'rous foul polefs’d,
Hath kindly aim'd to fuccour the distress'd:
To-night what be fooll offer in our cause
Already hath been bleft with your applaufe ;
Yet this bis mufe, maturer, bath revis’d,
And added more to that which once so much you priz'd.
We fue, not mean to make a partial friend;
But without prejudice at least attend.
If we are dull, c'en cenfure; but we truft
Satire can ne'er displease you when 'tis juft:
Nor can we fear a brave, a gen’rous town
Will join to crush us, when we're almost down.

}

ACT I.

Scene, Covent-Garden.
Mrs HIGHMAN, LETTICE.

Mrs HIGHMAN.
O
H! Mrs Lettice; is it you? I am extremely glad

to see you; you are the very person I would meet. Let. I am much at your service, Madam.

Mrs High. Oh, Madam, I know very well that; and at every one's service, I dare swear, that will pay for it:

but

but all the service, Madam, that I have for you, is to carry a message to your master-I defire, Madam, that you would tell him from me, that he is a very great vil. lain ; and that I intreat him never to come near my

doors for if I find him within 'em, I will turn my niece out of them.

Let. Truly, Madam, you must send this by another messenger-But, pray, what has my master done, to deserve it should be sent at all ?

Mrs High. He has done nothing yet, I believe ;-I thank heaven, and my own prudence; but I know what he wou'd do.

Let. He wou'd do nothing but what becomes a gentleman, I am confident.

Mrs High. Oh! I dare swear, Madam ;, debauching a young lady is acting like a very fine gentleman : but I shall keep my niece out of the hands of such fine gentle.

men.

Let. You wrong my master, Madam, cruelly: I know his designs on your neice are honourable.

Mrs High. You know!

Let. Yes, Madam; no one knows my master's heart better than I do: I am sure, were his designs otherwise, I would not be accessary to 'em; I love your niece too much, Madam, to carry on an amour in which she shou'd be a loser: but as I know that my master is heartily in love with her, and that she is heartily in love with my master, and as I am certain they will be a very happy couple, I will not leave one stone unturn'd to bring 'em together.

Mrs High. Rare impudence! Huffy, I have another match for her, she thall marry Mr Oldcastle.

Let. Oh!- then I find it is you that have a dishonourable design on your niece.

Mrs High. How? fauciness!

Let. Yes, Madam, marrying a young lady, who is in love with a young fellow, to an old one whom she hates, is the surest way to bring about I know what, that can poffibly be taken.

AIR I. Soldier Laddie.
When a virgin in love with a brisk jolly lad,
You match to a spark more. fit for her dad,

Tis

'Tis as pure, and as sure, and secure as a gun,
The young lover's bufiness is happily done:
Thoạit seems to her arms he takes the wrong rout,
Yet my life for a farthing,

Pursuing

His wooing,

The
young fellow finds, tho he go round about,

"Tis only to come
The nearett

way

home. Mrs High. I can bear this no longer. I wou'd advise you, Madam, and your mafter both, to keep from my house, or I shall take meafures you won't like. [Exit.

Let. I defy you: we have the strongest party: and I warrant we'll get the better of you. But here comes the Foung lady herself.

Enter Charlotte.
Char. So, Mrs Lettice!

Let. 'Tis pity you had not come a little fooner, Madam ; your aunt is but juit gone, and has left positive orders that you should make more frequent visits at our house.

Char. Indeed !
Let. Yes, Madam; for she has forbid

my

master ever visiting at yours, and I know it will be impoffible for you to live without seeing him.

Char. I afsure you! Do you think me so fond then? Let. Do I! I know you are; you love nothing elfe, think of nothing else all day; and, if you will confess the truth, I dare lay a wager that you dream of nothing else all night. Char. Then, to fhow you, Madam, how well you

know me -- the devil take me if you are not in the right.

Let. Ah! Madam, to a woman practis’d in love, like me, there's no occasion for confession ;--for my part, I don't want words to assure me of what the eyes tell me. Oh! if the lovers would but consult the eyes of their mi. ftreffes, we shou'd not have such fighing, languishing, and despairing as we have.

AIR II. Bush of Boon.
What need he trust your words precise,

Your soft defires denying;

When

When, oh! he reads within your eyes
Your tender heart complying.

Your tongue may cheat,

And with deceit
Your softer wishes cover;

But oh! your eyes

Know no disguise,
Nor ever cheat your lover.

Enter Valentine. : Val. My dearest Charlotte! this is meeting my wishes indeed; for I was coming to wait on you.

Let. 'Tis very lucky that you do meet her here, for her house is forbidden ground; you have seen the last of that, Mrs Highman swears.

Val. Ha! not go where my dear Charlotte is? what danger cou'd deter me? what difficulty prevent me? Not cannon nor plagues, nor all the most frightful forms of death, should keep me from her arms.

Char. Nay, by what I can find, you are not to put your valour to any proof;--the danger is to be mine; I am to be turn’d out of doors if ever you are seen in them again.

Val. The apprehensions of your danger wou'd, indeed, put it to the feverest proof: But why will my deareft Charlotte continue in the house of one who threatens to turn her out of it? why will she not know another home, one where she would find a protector from every kind of danger?

Cbar. How can you pretend to love me, Valentine, and ask me that in our present desperate circumstances?

Let. Nay, nay, don't accuse him wrongfully: I won't indeed infilt that he gives you any great instance of his prudence by it; but I'll swear it is a very strong one of his love, and such an instance, as whr man has once Shown, no woman of any honesty, ozonour, or gratia tude, can refuse him any longer. For any part, if I had ever found a lover who had not wicked mercenary views upon my fortune, I should have married him, whatever he had been.

Char. Thy fortune!

Let. My fortune! Yes, Madam, my fortune; I was, worth fifty-Gx pounds before I put it into the lottery :

What