WRITTEN BY W. T. FITZGERALD, ESQ.

SPOKEN BY MR. TOMS.

To each new Play, a Prologue must appear,

Like Poet Laureat's Ode to each New-Year-
But here, at once, the fimile muft end,

Chance is the Laureat's, not the Prologue's Friend:
He may anticipate the coming hour,

By the prophetic Mufe's magic pow'r ;

But we, like fhewmen, trumpet forth our ware,
Promife you feafts; but fhew no Bill of Fare:
Bound down to fecrecy we must not fay,
One word upon the fubject of the Play.
Yet for Our Author this I dare impart,
He bears your former favours next his heart-
And though the courfe he fteers to night be new,
He fears no quickfands, piloted by you;
Whose powerful aid, and still sustaining hand,
Have ever brought his little bark to land,
And moor'd her where his hope begins and ends,
Safe in the haven of his gen'rous friends.

Perhaps thefe crouded benches may contain
Some who've been fool'd in Fortune's giddy train!
Some who, with ceafelefs toil, purfuing wealth,
Have gain'd their object but have loft their health;
And prov'd, at length, that gold can ne'er bestow,
A balm for fickness, or a fhield for woe:
Some, who ambitious of a fleeting name,
Have barter'd Happiness, and Peace for Fame;
And found too late, in Disappointment's school,
How oft Ambition makes us Fortune's Fool.

Our Author on Thalia's treafury draws-
An annual candidate for your applaufe!
Which, like the fresh'ning dews of rifing morn,
Hangs, through his life, a gem on ev'ry thorn!
To night, once more, his fate on you depends,
His gen'rous patrons, and his pow'rful friends!
'Twas you who brighten'd up his early day,
And now to independence lead the way!
The curtain drop'd, he'll prove, if you have fmil'd,
Not Fortune's Fool, but Fortune's fav'rite Child!

SERVANTS MESSRS. BLURTON, WILDE, STREET, AND LEE.

ORANGE WOMEN...MRS. NORTON, MISS LESERVE, AND

MRS. WALTS.

SCENE LONDON.

SCENE.-- An Apartment in an HOTEL---on one fide of a Table Sir CHARLES DANVERS difcovered afleep---on the other fide Lady DANVERS, reading.

LADY.--(Putting down her Book.) HEIGHO!--- If this be the beginning of a run

away inatch, what will be the end of it?---Here am I but just return'd from Gretna-Green, and there's the loving partner of my joys.---(Sir CHARLES wakes and looks at her.)---How the man ftares--it's very odd with what astonishment we always look at one another ?---as much as to fay, how in the name of Hymen did we two come together?----My life!

Sir Charles. My foul!

Lady. Come, come---it's time to reflect---now we're married and return'd to London, 'tis fit you fhould leave this Hotel and think of an establishment.---How much did you fay your fortune was, Sir Charles?

Sir Charles. Fortune !---that depends on my uucle; and perhaps he is offended.---How much did you say yours was?

B.

Lady.

Lady. That depends on my mother; and haps fhe is offended.

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Sir Charles. Indeed! What's to be done then? ---Pray, Mifs Seymour---Lady Danvers, I mean ---what induc'd you to elope with me?

Lady. I don't know--my mother wanted me to marry Mr. Orville, whom I hated---you made love to me---told me matrimony was Elyfium; and fo, without thinking

Sir Charles. Without thinking !---ah! that was my cafe---restless in my difpofition---tir'd of diffipation, I thought to find happiness in domestic life---Well, well---we had a pleasant journey to Scotland, however.

Lady. Very---but coming back, Sir Charles--Oh! what an alteration!

Sir Charles. Alteration !---how?

Lady. How !---why the whole way to GretnaGreen were you not all love, adoration, and attention; and in a little hour after the Blacksmith had received his fee, didn't you become a different man?---before we re-crofs'd the Tweed, you amus'd yourself by yawning---at Newcastle you talk'd of the expences of travelling---at York you forgot to hand me out of the carriage---at Doncafter, when I order'd your favourite dinner, you faid there was'nt a difh you could eat---at Grantham, I faw you throw glances at the chambermaid---from Stamford to London you wrangled with the drivers, and groan'd at the turnpikes; and from the time we arrived, till now, have you opened your eyes ?---No---if you are my partner, you're a fleeping one, I'm fure, Sir Charles.

Sir Charles. Lady Danvers, I confefs the truth of all this, and fincerely ask your pardon; but the fact is, I found that we had rufh'd precipitately

into marriage, without confidering the confequences---too late I found it, for if our friends defert us, how are we to live ?---I spent all my fortune on the road.

Lady. (agitated) You don't fay fo.

Sir Charles. The laft fhilling went to the last post-boy---you don't know the expences of a family---a man may steer his own veffel through the ftorms of life, but if he takes another in tow--Lady. Down they both go to the bottom;--upon my word we're in a very pleasant situation--but you forget what you faid, Sir Charles, you vow'd that you could live with me on a cruft in a cottage---light a fire with me under a hedge--beg---ftarve with me

Sir Charles. Did I?---I'm forry for it---I can encounter poverty myself, but to make an innocent girl partake of it !---No, no---I have been diffipated---not dishonest.

Lady. Then you would'nt starve with me---now that's unfair, Sir Charles; for I think I could undergo a great deal for you---I'm not fure that you love me, nor indeed have I had time to ask my heart whether it loves you, but fomething tells me, (and don't think me romantic) that your diftreffes have excited fenfations towards you, which your riches might never have infpir'd.

Sir Charles. Generous girl!---Come---Fortune ftill may aid us---your mother may forget---my uncle may forgive---by this time they know of our return, and---heh !---who's here?

Lady. Mifs Union, the match-maker, and her nephew Mr. Orville.

Sir Charles. That Orville !---was he to be your husband?---Zounds !---how the plot thickens !--B 2

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