fons. He had got acquainted with and deluded Mifs Leefon, niece of Mrs. Tempeft, the miftrefs of General Savage, who is the Captain's father. Belville had effected this under pretence of being an Irish manager, and had engaged the Lady for the Dublin ftage. Mrs. Tempeft procured fome knowledge of his defign, and had upbraided him with it in the hearing of Mrs. Belville; but in fo outrageous a manner, that Belville eafily perfuaded his good wife that the woman was mad. Mr. and Mrs. Belville join Captain Savage and Mifs Walfingham; and a few words pafs on this fubject, when Lady Rachel Mildew fends her compliments and fays fhe will wait on Mr. and Mrs. Belville. Some witty hints are given of a love-affair between this Lady, who is a poet and a wit, and Torrington, an old lawyer; and Mifs Walfingham tells us, that Lady Rachel puts her charms into fuch repair, whenever the expects to meet him, that her cheeks look for all the world like a rafberry ice upon a ground of custard.'-This piece of wit has been applauded, but we apprehend it to be defective in many effential requifites of a fimile. It is not at all to be understood, but by those who are admitted to the tables of the great; and it gives extraordinary trouble to a Reviewer, who muft of neceffity, be at a lofs to judge of the propriety of fuch dainty allufions. However, as the Author may, in this inftance at leaft, object to the competency of the court, we shall drop the point, and proceed. The fcene changes to Leefon's chambers in the Temple. Leefon is brother to the girl who is deluded by Belville. And Conolly is a faithful and affectionate Irifh fervant. Leefon is in difficulties, which are to be removed by his running away with a girl of large fortune. In the mean time he fends a challenge to Belville for the injury done to his fifter.-The fcene removes us to an apartment at Belville's; and opens with one of the beft leffons in the School for Wives. • Mrs. Bel. How ftrangely this affair of Mrs. Tempeft hangs upon my fpirits! though I have every reafon from the tenderness, the politeness, [and the generofity of Mr. Belville, as well as from the woman's behaviour, to believe the whole charge the refult of a difturbed imagination-Yet fuppofe it should be actually true:-heigho! well, fuppofe it should;-I would endeavour-I think I would endeavour to keep my temper:-a frowning. face never recovered a heart that was not to be fixed with a fmiling one:-but women in general, forget this grand article of the matrimonial creed entirely; the dignity of infulted virtue obliges them to play the fool, whenever their Corydons play the libertine ;-and, poh! they must pull down the house about the traitor's ears, though they are themselves to be crushed in pieces by the ruins.' This excellent foliloquy is interrupted by the introduction of Lady Rachel Mildew, and the converfation turns on love, on poetry, and on Mifs Leefon, as a candidate for the ftage. They They fee Belville and Captain Savage approaching, and they retire. In the converfation between Belville and Savage, the latter affures the Captain that he has an intrigue with Mifs Walfingham; and this forms one of the perplexities of the play. The fecond Act opens with a converfation between General Savage, the Captain's father, and his friend Torrington; in which the fpirit of a keeper is very happily exemplified. The General expreffes his refolution to get Mifs Moreland for his fon; and to marry Mifs Walfingham himself: but in attempting to pay his devoirs, he meets with thofe mortifying interruptions and checks from his miftrefs, which hold him up to the audi ence as an irresistible object of laughter. The dialogue, here, between the old Gentleman, his friend, and his mistress, is very well managed, on the whole; but we think the Author is not happy in his fimiles. That which is taken from the punishment of a felon who refufes to plead, is too far-fetched. The punishment is fo feldom inflicted that it is not known to one man in ten thousand. And gilding a death warrant for the execution of a prifoner is a custom which we believe to be totally unknown. This is followed by a lively dialogue between Mifs Wallingham and Belville in which the vanity of that gay Gentleman is feverely mortified; which is the reason, we fuppofe, that he Twears by the ftings of mortification?' On Mifs Walfingham's departure, he is joined by Captain Savage, who is made eafy by his account of the interview. While they are in converfation Conolly brings Belville a challenge from Leefon, and a duel is appointed. When they retire, General Savage and Mifs Walfingham meet, and as the following converfation is one of the best scenes in the play, we fhall give it our Readers as a farther specimen of the Author's talents and style. Enter Mifs Walfingham. Mifs Wal. General Savage, your most humble fervant, Gen. Sav. My dear Mifs Walfingham, it is rather cruel that you fhould be left at home by yourfelf; and yet I am greatly rejoiced to find you at prefent without company. Mifs Wal. I can't but think my felf in the best company when I have the honour of your converfation, General. 'Gen. You flatter me too much, Madam; yet I am come to talk to you on a ferious affair, Mifs Walfingham; an affair of importance to me and to yourself. Have you leifure to favour me with a short audience if I beat a parley? Mifs Wal. Any thing of importance to you, Sir, is always fufficient to command my leifure-'Tis as the Captain fufpected. (afide.) Gen. You tremble, my lovely girl, but don't be alarmed; for though my business is of an important nature, I hope it won't be of a difagreeable one. D 3 Mifs Wal. And yet I am greatly agitated. (afide) Gen. Soldiers, Mifs Walfingham, are faid to be generally favoured by the kind partiality of the Ladies. Mifs Wal. The ladies are not without gratitude, Sir, to those who devote their lives peculiarly to the fervice of their country. Gen. Generously faid, Madam. Then give me leave, without any masked battery, to ask if the heart of an honeft foldier is a prize at all worth your acceptance. • Mifs Wal. Upon my word, Sir, there's no masked battery în this question. Ger. I am as fond of a coup de main, Madam, in love as in war, and hate the tedious method of fapping a town, when there is a pos fibility of entering fword in hand. Mifs Wal. Why really, Sir, a woman may as well know her own mind, when she is first fummoned by the trumpet of a lover, as when the undergoes all the tirefome formality of a fiege. You fee I have caught your own mode of converfing, General. Gen. And a very great compliment I confider it, Madam. But now that you have candidly confeffed an acquaintance with your own mind; answer me with that franknefs, for which every body admires you fo much, Have you any objection to change the name of Walfingham? Mifs Wal. Why then, frankly, General Savage, I fay, No... Gen. I'd fooner fee my fon run away in the day of battle ;—I'd Tooner think Lord Ruffel was bribed by Lewis the 14th ;-and fooner vilify the memory of Algernoon Sydney! Mifs Wal. How unjust it was ever to fuppofe the General a ty rannical father! (afide) Gen. You have told me condefcendingly, Mifs Walfingham, that you have no objection to change your name; I have but one question more to ask. Mifs Wal. Pray propose it. Gen. Would the name of Savage be difagreeable to you? speak frankly again, my dear girl. Mifs Wal. Why then, again, I frankly fay, No. Gen. You make me too happy; and though I shall readily own, that a propofal of this nature would come with more propriety from my fon Mifs Wal. I am much better pleafed that you make the propo. fal yourself, Sir. Gen. You are too good to me. Torrington thought that I should meet with a repulfe. (afide) Mifs Wal. Have you communicated that bufinefs to the Captain, Sir? Gen. No, my dear Madam, I did not think that at all neceffary. I have always been attentive to the Captain's happiness; and I propofe that he fhall be married in a few days. Miss Wal, What, whether I will or no? MA Mifs Wal. I must be confulted however about the day, General, but nothing in my power fhall be wanting to make him happy. Gen. Obliging loveliness! Mifs Wal. You may imagine, that if I was not previously impreffed in favour of your propofal, it would not have met my concurrence fo readily. • Gen. Then you own, that I had a previous friend in the garrison. • Mifs Wal. I don't blush to acknowledge it, when I confider the accomplishments of the object, Sir. Gen. O, this is too much, Madam; the principal merit of the object is his paffion for Mifs Walfingham. Mifs Wal. Don't fay that, General, I beg of you; for I don't think there are many women in the kingdom who could behold him with indifference. Gen. Ah, you flattering, flattering angel. And yet, by the memory of Marlborough, my lovely girl, it was the idea of a prepof feffion on your part which encouraged me to hope for a favourable reception. Miss Wal. Then I must have been very indifcreet; for I laboured to conceal that prepoffeffion as much as poffible." 'Gen. You couldn't conceal it from me! you cou'dn't conceal it from me! the female heart is a field which I am thoroughly acquainted with; and which has more than once been a witness to my victories, Madam. • Mifs Wal. I don't at all doubt your fuccefs with the Ladies, General; but as we now understand one another so perfectly, you will give me leave to retire. Gen. One word, my dear creature, and no more: I fhall wait upon you fometime to-day with Mr. Torrington, about the neceffary fettlements. Mifs Wal. You must do as you please, General, you are invin. cible in every thing. Gen. And if you pleafe, we'll keep every thing a profound fecret, till the articles are all settled, and the definitive treaty ready for execution. Mijs Wal. You may be fure, that delicacy will not fuffer me to be communicate on the subject, Sir. [Exit. Gen. Then you leave every thing to my management, Mifs Wal. I can't truft a more noble negociator. Gen. The day's my own! (Jings)" Britons, ftrike home! ftrike home! Revenge, &c." (Exit finging. This is the general ftyle and manner of the play. The Reader will perceive, that it is fpirited, and agreeable; but, in one or two inftances, fomewhat injured by an affected phrafe, or a ftudied turn of a fentence. To be communicate is one of thefe affectations, if it be not an error of the prefs. And to refer to the late attempt againft the memories of Lord Ruffel and Algernoon Sydney, is unbecoming the Comic Mufe, The queftion relating to thofe Gentlemen, is either of a literary or a political nature; and till it be clearly decided, it is invidious, D 4 and and perhaps cruel, to raise the cry of mad-dog against the individual who has started it. The third Act opens with a scene at Mifs Leefon's lodgings; where Lady Rachel Mildew, and Mrs. Belville, meet, to try the abilities of the young actrefs; or, rather, to gratify the jealous curiofity of the laft-mentioned Lady. Belville, as theatrical manager, enters, and is difcovered by his wife he is forry, and the is forgiving, and fo the matter is made up. Then follows a fcene between General Savage and his fon'; a proper counterpart, to that which we have given the Reader between the General and Mifs Walfingham. We fuppofe the continu-. ance of this mistake was expedient to the Author's fable; and we believe it to be the principal circumftance which denomi nates it new, according to his own opinion of that circumftance it would otherwife, perhaps, have appeared to him im. probable, that two or three converfations fhould have been carried on by perfons fo interested and in a matter fo important, and that yet this miftake fhould ftill continue. But to go on with the play. Lady Rachel and Mrs. Belville, not entirely fatisfied with Belville's repentance, lay a plot to try him. Lady Rachel is to play the part of Mifs Walfingham, and to draw him into an intrigue. She counterfeits Mifs Walfingham's hand-writing; and her letter is delivered to Belville while Captain Savage is with him; and as the Author has not chofen to make his hero very delicate and fecret in his amours (for that would have been perhaps too fentimental) he reads it out; and the other ftamps and exclaims as became him. The fervant fuddenly brings word that Mifs Walfingham is overturned at Belville's door, and carried into the houfe in a fit. The Captain flies to her affiftance; finds her recovered; and they have a kind of quarrel about Lady Rachel's letter. The old General interrupts them; and the mistake which has been fo useful to the Author is in fome measure removed; and the lovers go out in distress. The fourth Act opens with the diftrefs of Mrs. Belville on account of her husband's duel with Leefon. The duel terminates much to the honour of Belville. The scene then changes to Belville's houfe, and an intire explanation enfues between Mifs Walfingham and General Savage, to the great mortification of that Gentleman. This fcene is followed by a more serious one between Belville and his wife... But the Author is not a Steele or a Cumberland in fentimental matters.. Captain Savage, who is not yet undeceived, in relation to Mifs Walfingham, meets the General, and after heartily agreeing to abufe her, they refolve to go to the masquerade, where, • Vide Preface, accord |