"What will the world say? where's my reputation? Now that's at stake "-No, fool, 'tis out of fashion. If loss of that should follow want of wit,

How many undone men were in the pit!

Why, that's some comfort to an author's fears,
If he's an ass, he will be tried by's peers.
But hold-I am exceeding my commission:
My business here was humbly to petition;
But we're so used to rail on these occasions,
I could not help one trial of your patience :
For 'tis our way (you know) for fear o' th' worst,
To be beforehand still, and cry fool first.

How say you, sparks? how do you stand affected?

I swear, young Bays within is so dejected,

'Twould grieve your hearts to see him; shall I call him?
But then you cruel critics would so maul him!
Yet, may be you'll encourage a beginner;
But how? Just how the devil does a sinner.
Women and wits are used e'en much at one,

You gain your end, and damn 'em when you've done.

Interdum tamen, et vocem Comoedia tollit. -HORAT. Ars Poet.1

Syrus. Huic equidem consilio palmam do: hic me magnifice effero,

Qui vim tantam in me, et potestatem habeam tantæ astutiæ,
Vera dicendo ut eos ambos fallam.-TERENT. Heauton.2

1 Nevertheless, sometimes even comedy exalts her voice.

2 To this plan I give the palm. Here I mightily extol myself as one who has such strength, and the power of such great cunning, that I can deceive them both by speaking the truth.

HE comedy of The Double-Dealer made its first appearance at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, in 1694, and is, artistically, far superior to its predecessor, The Old Bachelor. The characters play closer, and the plot is less involved and better sustained. The brilliant dialogue is seldom forced, and rises easily and spontaneously from the action of the story. Like all Congreve's comedies, however, the progress of the play is occasionally interrupted for the sake of introducing wit and sarcasm which have little to do with the development of plot and character. Conversation takes place which, though always brilliant and amusing, has but the slightest connection with the solemn stupidity of Lord Froth, the intrigue of Lady Froth, the "niceties" of Lady Plyant, and the villainies of Maskwell. The unity of the piece is sacrificed to the dominant claims of dialogue. As is always apparent in the comedies of Congreve, the love here is sensuality, and virtue only another term for timorous or calculating vice. Nothing more plainly shows the looseness of the times than the conversation which is permitted to take place between Sir Paul Plyant and his daughter.

Upon its first representation The Double-Dealer was not a success, and it was not until Dryden taught the public its merits that it became popular.

To my dear Friend Mr. CONGREVE, on his Comedy called, "The Double-Dealer."

WELL, then, the promised hour is come at last;

The present age of wit obscures the past:

Strong were our sires, and as they fought they writ,
Conquering with force of arms and dint of wit;
Theirs was the giant race before the flood;

And thus, when Charles returned, our empire stood.
Like Janus, he the stubborn soil manured,
With rules of husbandry the rankness cured:
Tamed us to manners, when the stage was rude;
And boisterous English wit with art endued.
Our age was cultivated thus at length;
But what we gained in skill we lost in strength.
Our builders were with want of genius curst;
The second temple was not like the first:
'Till you, the best Vitruvius, come at length,
Our beauties equal, but excel our strength.
Firm Doric pillars found your solid base,
The fair Corinthian crowns the higher space;
Thus all below is strength, and all above is grace.
In easy dialogue is Fletcher's praise;

He moved the mind, but had not power to raise.
Great Jonson did by strength of judgment please;
Yet doubling Fletcher's force, he wants his ease.
In differing talents both adorned their age;
One for the study, t'other for the stage.

But both to Congreve justly shall submit,

One matched in judgment, both o'ermatched in wit.
In him all beauties of this age we see,

Etherege his courtship, Southerne's purity;
The satire, wit, and strength of manly Wycherley.
All this in blooming youth you have achieved;
Nor are your foiled contemporaries grieved ;
So much the sweetness of your manners move,
We cannot envy you, because we love.
Fabius might joy in Scipio, when he saw
A beardless consul made against the law,
And join his suffrage to the votes of Rome;
Though he with Hannibal was overcome.
Thus old Romano bowed to Raphael's fame;
And scholar to the youth he taught became.

Oh! that your brows my laurel had sustained,
Well had I been deposed if you had reigned!
The father had descended for the son;
For only you are lineal to the throne.
Thus when the state one Edward did depose,
A greater Edward in his room arose.
But now, not I, but poetry is curst;

For Tom the second reigns like Tom the first.
But let 'em not mistake my patron's part,
Nor call his charity their own desert.
Yet I this prophesy: Thou shalt be seen,
(Though with some short parenthesis between,)
High on the throne of wit; and seated there,
Not mine (that's little) but thy laurel wear.
Thy first attempt an early promise made,
That early promise this has more than paid;
So bold, yet so judiciously you dare,

That your least praise is to be regular.

Time, place, and action, may with pains be wrought,
But genius must be born, and never can be taught.
This is your portion, this your native store;

Heaven, that but once was prodigal before,

To Shakspeare gave as much; she could not give him more.

Maintain your post: that's all the fame you need; For 'tis impossible you should proceed.