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necessities of the former could not extort a shilling from that benevolent gentleman; and now, egad, I stood a chance of faring worse than my ancestors, and being knocked down without being bid for.

Jos. Surf. Charles!
Chas. Surf. Joseph!

Jos. Surf. 'Tis now complete!
Chas. Surf. Very.

Sir Oliv. Sir Peter, my friend, and Rowley too look on that elder nephew of mine. You know what he has already received from my bounty; and you also know how gladly I would have regarded half my fortune as held in trust for him: judge then my disappointment in discovering him to be destitute of faith, charity, and gratitude!

Sir Pet. Sir Oliver, I should be more surprised at this declaration, if I had not myself found him to be mean, treacherous, and hypocritical.

Lady Teaz. And if the gentleman. pleads not guilty to these, pray let him call me to his character.

Sir Pet. Then, I believe, we need add no more: if he knows himself, he will consider it as the most perfect punishment that he is known to the world.

Chas. Surf. If they talk this way to Honesty, what will they say to me, by and by? (Aside)

(SIR PETER, LADY TEAZLE, and MARIA retire)

Sir Oliv. brother, there Chas. Surf. Ay, now comes my turn: the damned family pictures will ruin me! (Aside)

As for that prodigal, his

Jos. Surf. Sir Oliver-uncle, will you honor me with a hearing?

Chas. Surf. Now, if Joseph would make one of his long speeches, I might recollect myself a little.

(Aside)

Sir Oliv. (To JOSEPH) I suppose you would undertake to justify yourself? Jos. Surf. I trust I could.

Sir Oliv. (To CHARLES) Well, sir!and you could justify yourself, too, I suppose?

Chas. Surf. Not that I know of, Sir Oliver.

Sir Oliv. What!-Little Premium has been let too much into the secret, I sup

pose?

Chas. Surf. True, sir; but they were family secrets, and should not be mentioned again, you know.

Row. Come, Sir Oliver, I know you cannot speak of Charles's follies with anger.

Sir Oliv. Odds heart, no more I can; nor with gravity either. Sir Peter, do you know the rogue bargained with me for all his ancestors; sold me judges and generals by the foot, and maiden aunts. as cheap as broken china.

Chas. Surf. To be sure, Sir Oliver, I did make a little free with the family canvas, that's the truth on't. My ancestors may rise in judgment against me, there's no denying it; but believe me sincere when I tell you-and upon my soul I would not say so if I was notthat if I do not appear mortified at the exposure of my follies, it is because I feel at this moment the warmest satisfaction in seeing you, my liberal benefactor.

Sir Oliv. Charles, I believe you. Give me your hand again: the ill-looking little fellow over the settee has made your peace.

Chas. Surf. Then, sir, my gratitude to the original is still increased.

Lady Teazle. Yet, I believe, Sir Oliver, here is one whom Charles is still more anxious to be reconciled to.

(Pointing to MARIA) Sir Oliv. Oh, I have heard of his attachment there; and, with the young

lady's pardon, if I construe right-that blush

Sir Pet. Well, child, speak your sentiments!

Mar. Sir, I have little to say, but that I shall rejoice to hear that he is happy; for me, whatever claim I had to his affection, I willingly resign to one who has a better title.

Chas. Surf. How, Maria!

Sir Pet. Heyday! what's the mystery now? While he appeared an incorrigible rake, you would give your hand to no one else; and now that he is likely to reform I'll warrant you won't have him! Mar. His own heart and Lady Sneerwell know the cause.

Chas. Surf. Lady Sneerwell!

Jos. Surf. Brother, it is with great concern I am obliged to speak on this point, but my regard to justice compels me, and Lady Sneerwell's injuries can no longer be concealed. (Opens the door)

(Enter LADY SNEERWELL)

Sir Pet. So! another French milliner! Egad, he has one in every room in the house, I suppose!

Lady Sneer. Ungrateful Charles! Well may you be surprised, and feel for the indelicate situation your perfidy has forced me into.

Chas. Surf. Pray, uncle, is this another plot of yours? For, as I have life, I don't understand it.

Jos. Surf. I believe, sir, there is but the evidence of one person more necessary to make it extremely clear.

Sir Pet. And that person, I imagine, is Mr. Snake.-Rowley, you were perfectly right to bring him with us, and pray let him appear.

Row. Walk in, Mr. Snake.

(Enter SNAKE)

I thought his testimony might be wanted: however, it happens unluckily, that he

comes to confront Lady Sneerwell, not to support her.

Lady Sneer. A villain! Treacherous to me at last! Speak, fellow, have you too conspired against me?

Snake. I beg your ladyship ten thousand pardons: you paid me extremely liberally for the lie in question; but I unfortunately have been offered double to speak the truth.

Sir Pct. Plot and counter-plot, egad! Lady Sneer. The torments of shame and disappointment on you all.

(Going)

Lady Teaz. Hold, Lady Sneerwellbefore you go, let me thank you for the trouble you and that gentleman have taken, in writing letters from me to Charles, and answering them yourself; and let me also request you to make my respects to the scandalous college, of which you are president, and inform them, that Lady Teazle, licentiate,' begs' leave to return the diploma they granted her, as she leaves off practice, and kills characters no longer.

Lady Sneer. You too, madam!-provoking-insolent! May your husband live these fifty years! (Exit)

Sir Pet. Ooons! what a fury! Lady Teaz. A malicious creature, indeed!

Sir Pet. Hey! Not for her last wish?
Lady Teaz. Oh, no!

Sir Oliv. Well, sir, and what have you to say now?

Jos. Surf. Sir, I am so confounded, to find that Lady Sneerwell could be guilty of suborning Mr. Snake in this manner, to impose on us all, that I know not what to say: however, lest her revengeful spirit should prompt her to injure my brother, I had certainly better follow her directly. (Exit)

Sir Pet. Moral to the last!

Sir Oliv. Ay, and marry her, Joseph,

1 One licensed to practise.

if you can. Oil and vinegar, egad! you'll do very well together.

Row. I believe we have no more occasion for Mr. Snake at present?

Snake. Before I go, I beg pardon once for all, for whatever uneasiness I have been the humble instrument of causing to the parties present.

Sir Pet. Well, well, you have made atonement by a good deed at last.

Snake. But I must request of the company that it shall never be known.

Sir Pet. Hey! what the plague! are you ashamed of having done a right thing once in your life?

Snake. Ah, sir, consider-I live by the badness of my character; I have nothing but my infamy to depend on! and, if it were once known that I had been betrayed into an honest action, I should lose every friend I have in the world.

Sir Oliv. Well, well-we'll not traduce you by saying anything in your praise, never fear. (Exit SNAKE) Sir Pet. There's a precious rogue! Lady Teaz. See, Sir Oliver, there needs no persuasion now to reconcile your nephew and Maria.

Sir Oliv. Ay, ay, that's as it should be, and, egad, we'll have the wedding tomorrow morning.

Chas. Surf. Thank you, dear uncle. Sir Pet. What, you rogue! don't you ask the girl's consent first?

Chas. Surf. Oh, I have done that a long time a minute ago and she has looked yes.

Mar. For shame, Charles!-I protest, Sir Peter, there has not been a word

Sir Oliv. Well, then, the fewer the better; may your love for each other never know abatement.

Sir Pet. And may you live as happily together as Lady Teazle and I intend to do!

Chas. Surf. Rowley, my old friend, I

am sure you congratulate me; and I suspect that I owe you much.

Sir Oliv. You do, indeed, Charles. Row. If my efforts to serve you had not succeeded you would have been in my debt for the attempt; but deserve to be happy, and you overpay me.

Sir Pet. Ay, honest Rowley always said you would reform.

Chas. Surf. Why, as to reforming, Sir Peter, I'll make no promises, and that I take to be a proof that I intend to set about it. But here shall be my monitor'my gentle guide.-Ah! can I leave the virtuous path those eyes illumine?

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Such is my case; and yet I must deplore That spirit-stirring drum!-card drums I That the gay dream of dissipation's

o'er.

And say, ye fair! was ever lively wife,

mean,

Spadille odd trick-pam-basto-king and queen! 3

Born with a genius for the highest life, And you, ye knockers, that, with brazen.
Like me untimely blasted in her bloom,
Like me condemn'd to such a dismal

doom?

Save money--when I just knew how to waste it!

Leave London-just as I began to taste

it!

20

throat,

The welcome visitors' approach denote;
Farewell all quality of high renown,
Pride, pomp, and circumstance of glorious

town!

40

Farewell! your revels I partake no more, And Lady Teazle's occupation's o'er! Must I then watch the early crowing All this I told our bard; he smiled, and

cock,

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LYRIC POETRY OF THE ROMANTIC PERIOD

THE early nineteenth century, like the Age of Elizabeth, was a favorable time for the development of lyric poetry. During the latter part of the preceding century the rationalism that had dominated the Age of Pope gave way and the value of the emotions and the imagination in human life was once more appreciated. There came changes of political and social significance. Instead of bowing in subservience to social conventions that were beneficial to the group, men recognized increasingly the right of an individual to express himself freely and naturally. These social changes brought changes in the expression of life in literature and in standards of literary taste; and by the last decades of the eighteenth century writers were finding new subjects in the beauties of the countryside, in humble life, and in the real, vital experiences of everyday life. Less emphasis was placed upon precision and rhetoric, and more attention given to expressing naturally what lay closest to the heart. It is lyric poetry that is concerned with just these things, the expression with enthusiasm and directness of the personal thoughts and emotions of the individual.

The lyric poets here represented indicate somewhat the wide range of the lyrics of the time. Robert Burns, the Scotch farmer poet, found his subjects in the world immediately about him, in animals, and in the warm human relationships of men and women that make for happiness. William Wordsworth, living quietly in Northern England, found in Nature the force that would guide man safely, would comfort him and heal the scars of life, and would develop strength and dignity of character; so he wrote of "plain living and high thinking." John Keats, lover of beauty, turned his thoughts to the picturesque past of Greece and medieval England and to the representation of beauty through art. Percy Bysshe Shelley, the idealist worshiping the spirit of freedom, wrote of the upper air, of clouds, the west wind, the skylark,— of the aspiration of the human soul in its longing for the unattainable. Lord Byron wrote much descriptive and narrative poetry, but had also the ability to express lyrically his personal emotions.

Of the group Burns and Shelley have the song quality that was so conspicuous in the earlier lyrics of Elizabeth's day. In general, however, the lyrics of the period are more concerned with interpreting life for us. Each poet gives freely of himself as he translates life through the medium of his personality, and each in his own way reveals the beauty and truth that are the concern of every artist.

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