tions: and to show you that it is not a low-bred, vulgar 'Change-alley spirit-Help! help! Thieves! thieves! thieves, I say!

Sterl. Ay, ay, you may save your lungs-the house is in an uproar.

Enter CANTON, in a night-gown and slippers.

Can. Eh, diable! vat is de raison of dis great noise, dis tantamarre ?

Sterl. Ask those ladies, sir; 'tis of their making.

Lord Ogleby. [Calls within.] Brush !-Brush!-Canton!-Where are you?-What's the matter? [Rings a bell.] Where are you?

Sterl. 'Tis my lord calls, Mr. Canton.

Can. I com, mi lor!

[Exit CANTON.-LORD OGLEBY still rings. Serg. Flower. [Calls within.] A light! a light here!— where are the servants? Bring a light for me and my brothers.

Sterl. Lights here! lights for the gentlemen!

[Exit STERLING. Mrs. Heidel. My brother feels, I see-your sister's turn will come next.

Miss Sterl. Ay, ay, let it go round, madam, it is the only comfort I have left.

Enter STERLING, with lights, before SERGEANT FLOWER, with one boot and a slipper, and TRAVERSE.

Sterl. This way, sir! this way, gentlemen!

Flow. Well; but, Mr. Sterling, no danger, I hope. Have they made a burglarious entry? Are you prepared to repulse them? I am very much alarmed about thieves at circuit time. They would be particularly severe with us gentlemen of the bar.

Trav. No danger, Mr. Sterling-no trespass, I hope! Sterl. None, gentlemen, but of those ladies' making. Mrs. Heidel. You'll be asham'd to know, gentlemen, that all your labours and studies about this young lady

are thrown away-Sir John Melvil is at this moment locked up with this lady's younger sister.

Flow. The thing is a little extraordinary, to be sure; but, why were we to be frighten'd out of our beds for this? Could not we have tried this cause to-morrow morning?

Miss Sterl. But, sir, by to-morrow morning, perhaps, even your assistance would not have been of any service the birds now in that cage would have flown away.

Enter LORD OGLEBY, in his robe-de-chambre, night-cap, &c. leaning on Canton.

Lord O. I had rather lose a limb than my night's rest. What's the matter with you all?

Sterl. Ay, ay, 'tis all over !—Here's my lord, too. Lord O. What's all this shrieking and screaming? Where's my angelic Fanny? She's safe, I hope?

Mrs. Heidel. Your angelic Fanny, my lord, is lock'd up with your angelic nephew, in that chamber.

Lord O. My nephew! Then will I be excommunicated.

Mrs. Heidel. Your nephew, my lord, has been plotting to run away with Miss Fanny, and Miss Fanny has been plotting to run away with your nephew: and if we had not watched them, and call'd up the fammaly, they had been upon the scamper to Scotland by this time.

Lord O. Lookye, ladies! I know that Sir John has conceived a violent passion for Miss Fanny; and I know, too, that Miss Fanny has conceived a violent passion for another person; and I am so well convinced of the rectitude of her affections, that I will support them with my fortune, my honour, and my life.--Eh, sha'n't I, Mr. Sterling? [Smiling.] What say you?

Sterl. [Sulkily.] To be sure, my lord.-These bawling women have been the ruin of every thing. [Aside.]

Lord O. But come, I'll end this business in a triceIf you, ladies, will compose yourselves, and Mr. Sterling will ensure Miss Fanny from violence, I will engage to draw her from her pillow with a whisper through the key-hole.

Mrs. Heidel. The horrid creatures!—I say, my lord, break the door open.

Lord O. Let me beg of your delicacy not to be too precipitate! Now to our experiment!

[Advancing towards the door. Miss Sterl. Now, what will they do? My heart will beat through my bosom.

Enter BETTY, with the key.

Betty. There's no occasion for breaking open doors, my lord; we have done nothing that we ought to be ashamed of, and my mistress shall face her enemies. [Going to unlock the door.

Mrs. Heidel. There's impudence!

Lord O. The mystery thickens. Lady of the bedchamber, [To BETTY.] open the door, and entreat Sir John Melvil (for the ladies will have it that he is there) to appear, and answer to high crimes and misdemeanors, -Call Sir John Melvil into the court!

Enter SIR JOHN MELVIL, on the other side.

Sir John. I am here, my lord.

Mrs. Heidel. Heyday!

Sir John. What's all this alarm and confusion? There is nothing but hurry in this house? What is the reason of it?

Lord O. Because you have been in that chamber ;have been! nay, you are there at this moment, as these ladies have protested, so don't deny it

Trav. This is the clearest alibi I ever knew, Mr, Sergeant.

Flow. Luce clarius.

Lord O. Upon my word, ladies, if you have often these frolics, it would be really entertaining to pass a whole summer with you. But come, [To BETTY.] open the door, and entreat your amiable mistress to come forth, and dispel all our doubts with her smiles.

Betty. [Opening the door.] Madam, you are wanted in this room. [Pertly.

Enter FANNY, in great confusion.

Miss Sterl. You see she's ready dressed-and what confusion she's in!

Mrs. Heidel. Ready to pack off, bag and baggage! Her guilt confounds her!

Flow. Silence in the court, ladies!

Fanny. I am confounded, indeed, madam!

Lord O. Don't droop, my beauteous lily! but with your own peculiar modesty declare your state of mind. -Pour conviction into their ears, and rapture into mine. [Smiling.

Fanny. I am at this moment the most unhappy-most distressed-the tumult is too much for my heart-and I want the power to reveal a secret, which, to conceal, has been the misfortune and misery of my

[Faints away.

LOVEWELL rushes out of the chamber.

Love. My Fanny in danger! I can contain no longer! Prudence were now a crime; all other cares were lost in this! Speak, speak, speak to me, my dearest Fanny! let me but hear thy voice: open your eyes, and bless me with the smallest sign of life!

[During this speech they are all in amazement.

Miss Sterl. Lovewell!—I am easy.
Mrs. Heidel. I am thunderstruck!
Lord O. I am petrified!

Sir John. And I undone.

Fanny. [Recovering.] O, Lovewell!-even supported by thee, I dare not look my father nor his lordship in the face.

Sterl. What now? did not I send you to London, sir? Lord O. Eh!-What! How's this? By what right and title have you been half the night in that lady's bed-chamber?

Love. By that right which makes me the happiest of men! and by a title which I would not forego, for any the best of kings could give.

Betty. I could cry my eyes out to hear his magnimity. Lord O. I am annihilated!

Sterl. I have been choked with rage and wonder; but now I can speak.-Lovewell, you are a villain!— You have broke your word with me.

Fanny. Indeed, sir, he has not-you forbade him to think of me, when it was out of his power to obey you-we have been married these four months.

Sterl. And he sha'n't stay in my house four hours. What baseness and treachery! As for you, you shall repent this step as long as you live, madam!

Funny. Indeed, sir, it is impossible to conceive the tortures I have already endured in consequence of my disobedience. My heart has continually upbraided me for it; and though I was too weak to struggle with affection, I feel that I must be miserable for ever with. out your forgiveness.

Sterl. Lovewell, you shall leave my house directly! and you shall follow him, madam!

Lord O. And if they do, I will receive them into mine. Lookye, Mr. Sterling, there have been some mistakes, which we had all better forget for our own sakes; and the best way to forget them, is to forgive the cause of them; which I do from my soul.-Poor girl! I swore to support her affection with my life and fortune; 'tis a debt of honour, and must be paid