acting under Letters Patent granted by King Charles the Second. London,
Printed for _W. Meares_ at the _Lamb_, and _F. Brown_, at
the _Black Swan_ without _Temple Bar_, 1715, is the third
imitation of Moliere's _Sganarelle_. This comedy, printed for two
gentlemen, with zoological signs, was written by a Mr. Charles Molloy,
who for a long time was the editor of a well-known paper, _Common
Sense_, in defence of Tory principles. This play had little success,
and deserved to have had none, for it has no merit whatever. Our author
states in the prologue:--

"The injur'd Muses, who with savage Rage,
Of late have often been expell'd a Tyrant Stage,
Here fly for Refuge; where, secure from Harms,
By you protected, shall display their Charms...
No Jest profane the guilty scene deforms,
That impious way of being dull he scorns;
No Party Cant shall here inflame the Mind,
And poison what for Pleasure was designed."


Mr. Molloy admits in the preface that "the Incident of the Picture in
the Third act, something in the Fourth, and one Hint in the last Act,
are taken from the _Cocu Imaginaire_; the rest I'm forced to
subscribe to myself, for I can lay it to no Body else." I shall only
remark on this, that nearly the whole play is a mere paraphrasing of
Moliere's _Cocu Imaginaire_, and several other of his plays. The
scene between Leonora, the heroine, and Sterling, the old usurer and
lover (Act I.), is imitated from Madelon's description in the art of
making love in the _Pretentious Young Ladies_, and so are many
others. The servant Crispin is a medley of Mascarille from _The