ZANGER.

Noble Hali, they're Chriftians like myself.

HALI.

Come hafte on board-O Halyma-adieu !

A long adieu!

Farewell!

HALYMA.

Oh thou generous youth,

HALI.

Farewell to all! Your prophet blefs

And guide youRajep attend them to the

[exeunt Zanger and Christians.

Bark, and count thy fortune made-fo thanks to Heav'n, I've gain'd the hard fought victory.

THIS COMEDY

O F

TWO ACTS,

WAS given by the Defire of many of the Author's Friends, to Mr. ORAM, to be performed at the Theatre in York, the 6th of February, 1769, for his Benefit. Mr. Powell, Mr. Robertson, Mifs Phillips, and Mrs. Fitzmaurice, did great Justice to their Parts. The other Performers were fo imperfect, that they did not speak one Line as the Author· wrote it. It was not damn'd; but the Author was in Purgatory all the Time of it's Performance.

Mr. Wilkinson Spoke the Prologue excellently.

PROLOGUE

ΤΟ ΤΗΕ

PLOTTING WIVES;

As it was acted at the THEATRE, at YORK, for the Benefit of Mr. ORAM, on the 6th of February, 1769.

(Spoken by Mr. WILKINSON.)

NOW Garrick, and his rival Coleman, reign,
O'er Covent-Garden, and fam'd Drury-Lane.
On equal terms thefe mighty chiefs engage,
And proud defiance fend from stage to stage!
High pay they give to heroes and their spouses,
And authors flock in droves to both their houses;
New plays each month,---the bufkin or the fock,
Are puff'd away---like pills of Doctor Rock!
Scene-fhifting pantomimes are weekly brought,
And droll burlettas---fweetly void of thought;
Op'ras and farces---who can count their number,
Like fhrimps that fwarm within our teeming
Humber!

For novelty's the thing that charms the nation,
And ev'ry Briton loves this emulation.

And

And fhall, O blush ye bards to hear it nam'd! Shall York, for learning and for poets fam'd; A town polite as any Europe boasts,

Be ftill ferv'd up with plays departed ghosts? Will no bright genius bring us fomething new? O Mason we have long look'd up to you!

Accept this mite, from one to fame unknown; A tribute fmall for num'rous favours fhewn. Excufe its faults---for faults it has most glaring, And be what authors wifh, of cenfure fparing! So may the world from your example fee, That men of tafte, can men of candour be! 'Tis hop'd your favour to this farce may rouze Some abler bard to dignify this house

Dramatis