play is written partly in blank verse, partly in prose; though very
coarse, it is, on the whole, clever and witty. Old Moneylove, a
credulous fool, who has a young wife (Act ii., Scene I), reminds one at
times of the senator Antonio in Otway's _Venice Preserved_, and is,
of course, deceived by the gallant Stanley; the sayings and doings of
Mrs. Moneylove, who is "what she ought not to be," and the way she
tricks her husband, are very racy, perhaps too much so for the taste of
the present times. I do not think any dramatist would now bring upon the
stage a young lady like Theodocia, daughter of old Moneylove, reading
the list about Squire Careless. Tom Essence is a seller of perfumes, a
"jealous coxcomb of his wife;" and Courtly is "a sober gentleman,
servant to Theodocia;" these are imitations of Sganarelle and Lelio.
Loveall, "a wilde debaucht blade," and Mrs. Luce, "a widdow disguis'd,
and passes for Theodocia's maid," are taken from Corneille.

In the epilogue, the whole of which cannot be given, Mrs, Essence speaks
the following lines:

"But now methinks a Cloak-Cabal I see,
Whose Prick-ears glow, whilst they their Jealousie
In _Essence_ find; but Citty-Sirs, I fear,
Most of you have more cause to be severe.
We yield you are the truest Character."


Nearly all the scenes imitated in this play from Moliere's
_Sganarelle_ contain nothing which merits to be reproduced.

_The Perplexed Couple, or Mistake upon Mistake_, as it is acted at
the New Theatre in Lincolns-Inn-Fields, by the Company of Comedians,