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all the way, and I would advife him to transfer it as foon as poffible.Mifs Kemble was as great as ufual!

ROBIN HOOD.

Covent-Garden.

A NEW comic opera under this title, could not but attract general notice, and accordingly this Theatre, on Saturday evening, was filled with company, at a very early hour.

THE fcene lines in Sherwood foreft, and the plot is taken from Goldfinith's beautiful ballad of Edwin and Angelina, Turn gentle hermit of the dale. Vide the Vicar of Wakefield. Robin Hood and Clorinda, Scarlet and Stella, Allen a Dale and Margaret, are all lovers in whom there is nothing interefting. Edwin and Angelina are drawn in water-colours, or at leaft they appear fuch after the admirable portraits of Goldsmith; and the dicovery of Edwin is not managed fo as to raise any of those emotions which accompany the reading of the ballad. Indeed there cannot be a more difficult task than giving ftage animation, if I may fo call it, to characters which have been finished by the mufes. The ballads from which Shakspeare borrowed many of his plots were fuch as admitted of amplification and refinement; but Edwin and Angelina admit of neither. To amplify is to spoil it; to refine it, is to burn paper. It admits of nothing but mufic, and perhaps there is no mufician living capable to do it justice.

THIS opera is faid to be written by Mr. Mac Nally, the author of Retaliation, a dramatic afterpiece which does him much credit. I am forry I cannot fay fo much of Robin Hood. The wit is thinly scattered, and is too frequently coufingerman to the pun. It is very remarkable that Mr. Mac Nally, who, I am told, is called to the Bar, never omits an opportunity to lash the gentlemen of the law; his reflections on judges and juries, in the prefent performance, are, however, illiberal and vulgar. Of fentiments he is very fparing. In faying that virtue flou-. rishes more in England than any where elfe, I am afraid he is flattering his audience; the exclamation against bull-baiting was well conceived; and I do not recollect any other fentiments worth notice.

THE new mufic is by Shield; and, except in the opening, and one movement of the overture, adds nothing to his reputation. It is pleafing, but wants variety and novelty. I do not recollect a fingle air that is likely to become popular. The duet between Robin and Edwin (Bannister and

Johnstone) gave the most general fatisfaction, because melody and fimplicity were happily united. The mufic is Harrington's. I wonder the old fong of " As blithe as the linnet," with the old mufic, was not introduced.

THE characters were well supported, and well dreffed. Mrs. Martyr, as Clorinda, looked and fung charmingly, and merited a brisker lover than Mr. Bannister, who looked and is drawn too ferious to give an idea of the bonny Robin Hood. Mrs. Kemble played the artfully fimple Stella to advantage. Quick, in Little John, and Edwin, in the Tinker, were as comical as ufual.

BULIA.

The Conteft continued! SAMOT and IRAM.

NOTWITHSTANDING the artifices of Reynardam, and the infamous interference of Noveda, Sefilra continued to have the advantage, and the friends of his opponents were nearly driven to defperation. Reynardam harangued the Bulian mob; Noveda distributed her favors with a liberal hand; but all would not do. Reynardam was beheld with deteftation; and Noveda regarded as an unexampled inftance of female folly.

THE public and private evils attending this contest were innumerable. Amongst the chicf of the latter may be reckoned the misfortunes of Samot and Iram.

IRAM, beloved by Samot, was the youngest daughter of a man of fortune. Samot was the remaining branch of an honourable family. She was chafte and he was valiant. The day was fixed on for their union. Unfortunately the Bulian conteft intervened. The father of Iram had long been the declared enemy of Reynardam. Such, however, were the revolutions in Bulian politics, that he was now become his firm friend. Samot, who had hitherto agreed with the father of Iram, in a determined oppofition to the principles of Reynardam, could not be prevailed upon to regard him as worthy of his attachment who fo well merited the oppofition he had met with. This fo exasperated Iram's father, that he refused to give the hand of his daughter to Sa

mot.

THE diftrefs of the lovers may readily be conceived. Samot would have been unworthy of the heart of Iram, had he facrificed his principles to his affection. He would have facrificed any thing but principle: In proportion as Sefilra advanced in the conteft, and as Reynar. dam became more execrated, the father of Iram

was

was more exasperated against Samot, though he did not at all interfere in any thing relative to the contest.

IT is a hard thing for a man of fortune in Bulia to escape the imputation of being a partizan. The friends of Reynardam like himself, the outcafts of fortune, conceiving that Samot was his enemy, took every opportunity to insult him. Indeed many of the friends of Reynardam depended much on his fuccefs. Thofe idle and diffipated young fellows, who had fquandered their patrimony in the exceffes for which Reynardam had rendered himself famous, or rather infamous; thofe defpicable tools of faction, who prostituted the little wit wherewith heaven, in in its anger, had curfed them, in vile endeavours to mislead the public opinion; those abandoned women with whom these men associated, and who mutually ruined each other; all these depended on the good fortune of Reynardam, for future honours, and fome of them for future fubfiftence; and all these were, of courfe, the enemies of Samot.

AGAINST fuch complicated vices, what virtue can ftand fecure? They not only leagned themselves against the beft and greateft of the Buljan people, but fowed division in families, and fpread difcord throughout Bulia. Such wretches live only in confufion, and, enemies to fubordination, trample under-foot all order and decency. It was well known that Samot loved his king, revered the laws, and detefted fedition. He was, therefore, marked by the oppofite party as an object worthy of their peculiar malice. Het was affulted by fome of the dregs of the people, and his life endangered. Report proclaimed his death, and Iram,. unprepared for fuch fatal intelligence, fwooned away, and revived no more. Samot recovered of his wounds, and erected a ftately maufoleum to the eternal memory of Iram, and the everlasting difgrace of the Bulian faction.

FEMALE DRESS

Has been at a dead stand since the diffolution of Parliament. The ladies have been fo deeply engaged in the important business of canvafling for members, that they have had no time to attend to alterations of drefs. Half-boots, the treble-caped great coat and belt, and the hat half-balloon, halfBridgman, with blue ribbons infcribed Fox, has been and, notwithstanding the warm weather, ftill continue the electioneering livery of the fafhionable frails of the metropolis. Sad com

plaints amongst the milliners and mantua-makers who have already received their spring dolls, dreffed at Paris, and cannot prevail on the ladies. to think of any thing but Fox bows, Fox muffs, Fox tails, Fox every thing!

Yours, in hafte,

JOHN BULL.

To the NEW SPECTATOR.

Mr. SPECTATOR,

I AM very much astonished and enraged at that vile fellow John Bull, whom you call your fagacious deputy, who has the impudence to abuse the most lovely creature in the univerfe. Give me leave to tell you Mr. SPECTATOR, that your predeceffor never abused people as you do; and had always a particular regard for the fair fex. Follow his example, or dread the

refentment of

Yours, &c.

KITTY DOWNRIGHT,

KITTY DOWNRIGHT entertains the general opinion, that perfonality is no where to be found in those delightful papers, the Spectator. It is true that at this diftance of time the particular perfons alluded to are not known; but it is far from being true, that Mr. SPECTATOR was not, now and then, very perfonal.

INDEED there is much difference between the manners of thofe days and of thefe. The ladies were then under fome awe of public cenfure.. But the fashion is now to fet public opinion at defiance, and Mr. Addison never had the mortification to fee the meretricious airs, and imprudent follies of women of quality defended, patronised, and applauded in the news papers of thofe days.

Mr. ADDISON indeed always touches the faults of the ladies with a gentle hand. Enormity of offence did not then dare to raise its head. The disease was in its infancy, and required not thofe rough applications, which it now demands. To cenfure the purfuits of particular persons is im itself difagreeable; but fometimes it is no less neceffary. To fpare vice is to countenance it.

IF, therefore, Kitty Downright is an admirer of the Old Spectator, fhe muft ceafe to admire thofe Ladies who render themfelves objects of public reprehenfion; and I would recommend it to her to follow the precepts contained in the Old Spectator, rather than the example of thofe Ladies fhe fo much admires, and who have ren

dered

dered themselves liable to the cenfure of my fagacious Deputy John Bull.

FOR my own part, having little to do in the fashionable world, I do not pretend to judge of the particular perfonages my faid Deputy may allude to. But of this I am confident, that John Bull is too honeft to cenfure or to praise those who do not richly deferve reprehenfion or commendation.

To the NEW SPECTATOR. Mr. SPECTATOR,

If you are not very fqueamish, give me leave to tell you a story of a rape. As the ladies are particularly fond of hearing trials of that kind, I hope you will indulge me with relating a circumftance that once occurred at Lincoln, on the trial of a man for that offence, before the late Sir Richard Afton.

Ir happened that many ladies were prefent. to hear the trials, and particularly on the day the impudent fellow was to be brought up. Before he was put to the bar, the Judge very properly informed the ladies of the nature of the man's offence, and advised them to quit the court. Out of about forty, three departed, who, by the bye, were ftrongly fufpected to be old maids. The indictment was then read, which ftated, that this man being poffeffed of a turnip field, he caught the woman in the fact of stealing his turnips, and in revenge, committed the rape. The indictment being read, the Judge again exhorted the ladies to depart, and two more went, as difcreet women as any in Lincoln.

THE woman was then called, and previous to her examination, his lordfhip remonftrated rather warmly with the ladies on the fubject of their prefence. But not another could be prevailed upon to ftir.-The man was acquitted, with this admonition from the judge; "You "ought to be thankful that you have escaped "this time; and that you may never involve "yourself in a fimilar fituation, I advise you "never to sow that field with turnips again, for "if you do, you may depend upon it, that all "the Ladies of Lincoln will come to steal your turnips! !"

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I am, Sir, Yours, &c.

AN OLD JURY-MAN.

I HOPE the London ladies will not arrogate to themselves a fuperiority of delicacy over the ladies of Lincoln. The conveniencies at the latter place have rendered the hearing of trials a fashionable amusement,

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I SOLEMNLY profess, I will never drink above one gallon of tea on a visiting day, nor above a quart on any other day. I vow, that I think from my heart, that above a pint of coffee in four and twenty hours, is an excefs; and that more than two difhes of chocolate is an unpardonable debauch; and we ought to drink thofe two but very feldom, for fear of heating our conftitutions, especially towards the opening of the fummer. It is a very great abuse, to pretend a fit of the head-ach above once a week, for the fake of a dram of strong waters; and to complain of an illness in one's ftomach any oftener, that one have the benefit of fwallowing a cordial.

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I vow and proteft that it is a very ill custom to go abroad in a hackney coach on mornings, to make little purchases, as cheapening tea, buying china, &c. with no body but one's felf and a maid, wrapped up in loofe gowns, without ftays; that it is highly tending towards ill manners, and is, without a great crime, impracticable by any one that hath ever been inftructed in the rules of decency.

RECREATION I allow of, and applaud, except where it is not allowable and praise worthy. I forfwear all high play at cards; and it is my judgment, that the woman is extremely to blame who ventures any fuch fum as that the lofs of it fhould create any uneafinefs in her; or the winning of it give her too much pleasure.

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To the NEW SPECTATOR.

Mr- SPECTATOR,

you

MANY people having expreffed their aftonishment at the intimacy fubfifting between. Squire Morgan's Nephew and Master Jelly, I beg will inform those whom it may concern, that the faid Jelly during the minority of the faid Squire, and on the particular emergency of a run of bad luck at play, lent him Five hundred pounds, more or lefs, as the lawyers fay; and ever fince that time, the young gentleman, out of pure gratitude, and to encourage the attachment of so useful a man, has fhewn Jelly such particular favour that he is called the High Prieft of Neceffity!

Yours, &c.

PALL MALL.

To other CORRESPONDENTS.

I AM extremely obliged to R. B. who will perceive that I have already availed myfelf of his friendship. It is with pleasure that I comply with his requeft.— A Father's advice to his Son, is received, and fhall appear as foon as convenient. I have not yet been favoured with the promised information from G. J. -The numerous writers on the conduct of a certain Duchefs, cannot all be obliged; that their favours have been rejected by the morning papers is no wonder, as it is a rule of conduct with them to reject every thing in favour of decency, when they are paid to trumpet the charms of indecency.-The letter figned the Seven Stars is fomewhat too fublime for my comprehenfion.-A.B.C may be a very witty man, but he has certainly no pretenfions whatever to common fenfe.-L.F. is received.

LONDON: Printed by T. RICKABY, No. 15, Duke's-Court, Bow-Street, Covent-Garden; And Sold by T. AXTELL, No. 1, Finch-Lane, Cornhill, and at the Royal Exchange; by W. SWIFT, Bookfeller, Charles-Street, St. James's-Square; by P. BRETT, Bookfeller and Stationer, oppofite St. Clement's-Church in the Strand; by G. KEARSLEY, No. 46, Fleet-Street; and by W. THISELTON, Bookfeller and Stationer, No. 37, Goodge-Street, Rathbone-Place.

**CORRESPONDENTS are requested to address their favours to the NEW SPECTATOR, to be left at Mr. SWIFT's, in Charles-Street, St. James's-Square, where a LETTER-BOX is affixed for their reception.

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Laws grind the poor, and rich men rule the law.

N author to whom this country is much indebted, speaking of the maxim, afsented

to by all good divines and philofophers, "That no 66 man whatever can do evil for evil's fake," expreffes his forrow that one of the greatest objections that can be made to this univerfel problem, fhould lie at the door of my countrymen; and I cannot but join him in this censure against them but I trust the new parliament will make it an early bufinefs to take off the ftigma.

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WHAT I am now speaking of, relates to the infolvent debtors with whom c.r gaols are crowded. The ungenerous world is come to that pass, that the strong will not stand by the infirm; the rich will not help the needy; the fine-dreffed gentlemen overlook, and are afhamed of the ragged, and will not cloath the naked; persons wallowing riotoufly in luxury, voluptuousness, and all forts of unwarrantable pleasures, will not give meat to the hungry, nor spare time to caft down one glance of pity on honeft neceffity and innocent want. I should think myself inexcufable, living in a christian age, and in a country whose purity of doctrine in religion teaches it to be the most zealous in points of charity, were I to omit reprimanding those who by a general defection from the laws, both of god and man, by an univerfal degeneracy both in grace and humanity, deny food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, cloaths to the naked, a vifit to the fick,

GOLDSMITH.

and the imprifoned, and comfort to the comfortless of heart; especially fince these are the corporal works of mercy, by the measure of which mankind is to be finally judged, to be eternally faved or condemned.

To a man living in all temporal bleffings, indulging himself in the affluence and pomp of wealth, and triumphing, as it were, over fortune, with infinite gladnefs, fober and ferious reflections of this nature, may perhaps feem a little prepofterous; but I must beg leave to tell him this unwelcome truth, that such an unchristian and even inhuman çonfideration of the infelicities of his fellow creatures, which he only owes to providence that he never felt, proceeds from a giddiness of thought, caused by undigested meals, the fumes of wine, and fhameful luxury.

Such a man must be made to know, that many of those wretches who are now in prison, were not always fo; that many who now would be thankful for a cup of cold water, have been able to drink wine as well as he; that many who now rejoice and leap at the product of common charity, could once afford to keep as plentiful a table as he; that many who are now glad of a patched and party-coloured garment to cover their nakedness, have formerly made great appearances, and fhone in far different apparel; that many who now lie upon straw, or perhaps stretched on the cold ground, have enjoyed as many golden

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