THE ROVERS;

OR,

THE DOUBLE ARRANGEMENT.

DRAMATIS PERSONE.

PRIOR of the ABBEY of QUEDLINBURGH, very corpulent and cruel.

ROGERO, a Prisoner in the Abbey, in love with MATILDA POTTINGen.

CASIMERE, a Polish Emigrant, in Dembrowsky's Legion, married to CECILIA, but having several Children by MATILDA.

PUDDINGFIELD and BEEFINGTON, English Noblemen, exiled by the Tyranny of King John, previous to the signature of Magna Charta.

RODERIC, Count of SAXE WEIMAR, a bloody Tyrant, with red hair, and an amorous complexion.

GASPAR, the Minister of the Count; Author of ROGERO's Confinement.

Young POTTINGEN, Brother to MATILDA.

MATILDA POTTINGEN, in love with ROGERO, and Mother to CASIMERE'S Children.

CECILIA MÜCKENFELD, Wife to CASIMERE.

Landlady, Waiter, Grenadiers, Troubadours, &c. &c.

PANTALOWSKY, and BRITCHINDA, Children of MATILDA, by CASIMERe.
JOACHIM, JABEL, and AMARANTHA, Children of MATILDA, by ROGERO.
Children of CASIMERE and CECILIA, with their respective Nurses.

Several Children; Fathers and Mothers unknown.

The Scene lies in the Town of WEIMAR, and the Neighbourhood of the ABBEY of

QUEDLINBURgh.

Time, from the 12th to the present Century.

PROLOGUE,

IN CHARACTER.

Too long the triumphs of our early times,

With civil discord, and with regal crimes,

Have stain'd these boards; while Shakspeare's pen has shewn
Thoughts, manners, men, to modern days unknown.

Too long have Rome and Athens been the rage;
And classic Buskins soil'd a British Stage.

To-night our Bard, who scorns pedantic rules, His Plot has borrow'd from the German schools;

-The German schools-where no dull maxims bind

The bold expansion of the electric mind.
Fix'd to no period, circled by no space,

He leaps the flaming bounds of time and place:
Round the dark confines of the forest raves,
With gentle Robbers* stocks his gloomy caves;
Tells how prime Ministers are shocking things,
And reigning Dukes as bad as tyrant Kings;

[Applause.

See the "Robbers,” a German tragedy, in which Robbery is put in so fascinating a light, that the whole of a German University went upon the highway in consequence of it.

+ See "Cabal and Love," a German tragedy, very severe against Prime Ministers,

How to two swains* one nymph her vows may give,
And how two damsels * with one lover live!
Delicious scenes!-such scenes our Bard displays,
Which, crown'd with German, sue for British, praise.

Slow are the steeds, that through Germania's roads
With hempen rein the slumbering post-boy goads ;-
Slow is the slumbering post-boy, who proceeds
Through deep sands floundering, on those tardy steeds;
More slow, more tedious, from his husky throat
Twangs through the twisted horn the struggling note.

These truths confess'd-Oh! yet, ye travell'd few,
Germania's Plays with eyes unjaundiced view!
View and approve!—though in each passage fine
The faint translation ** mock the genuine line;

and reigning Dukes of Brunswick.-This admirable performance very judiciously reprobates the hire of German troops for the American War in the reign of Queen Elizabeth—a practice which would undoubtedly have been highly discreditable to that wise and patriotic Princess, not to say wholly unnecessary, there being no American War at that particular time.

* See the "Stranger; or, Reform'd Housekeeper," in which the former of these morals is beautifully illustrated;—and " Stella,” a genteel German comedy, which ends with placing a man bodkin between two wives, like Thames between his two banks, in the Critic. Nothing can be more edifying than these two Dramas. I am shocked to hear that there are some people who think them ridiculous.

Though the nice ear the erring sight belie,
For U twice dotted is pronounced like I;**
Yet oft the scene shall Nature's fire impart,

Warm from the breast, and glowing to the heart!

Ye travell❜'d few, attend!-On you our Bard

[Applause.

Builds his fond hope! Do you his genius guard! [Applause. Nor let succeeding generations say

-A British Audience damn'd a German Play!

[Loud and continued Applauses.

Flash of Lightning.—The Ghost of PROLOGUE'S GRANDMOTHER by the
Father's side, appears to soft music, in a white tiffany riding-hood. PRO-
LOGUE kneels to receive her blessing, which she gives in a solemn and affect-
ing manner, the Audience clapping and crying all the while.-Flash of
Lightning.-PROLOGUE and his GRANDMOTHER sink through the trap-

door.

66

** These are the warnings very properly given to Readers, to beware how they judge of what they cannot understand. Thus, if the translation runs " lightning of my soul, fulguration of angels, sulphur of hell;" we should recollect that this is not coarse or strange in the German language, when applied by a lover to his mistress; but the English has nothing precisely parallel to the original Mulychause Archangelichen, which means rather emanation of the archangelican nature—or to Smellmynkern Vankelfer, which, if literally rendered, would signify made of stuff of the same odour whereof the Devil makes flambeaux. See Schüttenbrüch on the German Idiom.

THE ROVERS;

OR,

THE DOUBLE ARRANGEMENT.

ACT I. SCENE I.

Scene represents a Room at an Inn, at Weimar-On one side of the Stage the Bar Room, with Jellies, Lemons in Nets, Syllabubs, and part of a cold roast Fowl, &c. -On the opposite side a Window looking into the Street, through which Persons (Inhabitants of Weimar) are seen passing to and fro in apparent agitation— Matilda appears in a Great Coat and Riding Habit, seated at the corner of the Dinner Table, which is covered with a clean Huckaback Cloth-Plates and Napkins, with Buck's-Horn-handled Knives and Forks, are laid as if for four Persons.

MATILDA.

Is it impossible for me to have dinner sooner?

Land. Madam, the Brunswick post-waggon is not yet come in, and the Ordinary is never before two o'clock.

Mat. [with a look expressive of disappointment, but immediately recomposing herself.] Well, then, I must have patience. [Exit Landlady.] Oh Casimere !-How often have the thoughts of thee served to amuse these moments of expectation!-What a difference, alas!-Dinner-it is taken away as soon as over, and we regret