Oh, were I a quart, pint, or gill, To be scrubb'd by her delicate hands, Let others possess what they will Of learning, and houses, and lands; My parlour that's next to the sky I'd quit, her blest mansion to share; So happy to live and to die In Dyot Street, Bloomsbury Square. And oh, would this damsel be mine, No other provision I'd seek; On a look I could breakfast and dine, And feast on a smile for a week. But ah! should she false-hearted prove, Suspended, I'll dangle in air; A victim to delicate love, In Dyot Street, Bloomsbury Square. At this point, English stage burlesque suddenly takes a new departure, combining, with satire of the contemporary native "boards," satire not less keen of certain products of the foreign muse. The incident came about in this way:--Just before the close of the eighteenth century, the English book-market had been flooded with translations of certain German plays, including Schiller's "Robbers" and "Cabal and Love," Goethe's "Stella," and Kotzebue's "Misanthropy and Repentance" ("The Stranger") and "Count Benyowsky." Canning, Ellis, and Frere, who were then bringing out _The Anti-Jacobin_, were struck by the absurdities contained within these dramas, and accordingly composed and printed (in June 1798) that well-known skit, "The Rovers, or the Double Arrangement." In this the plays chiefly parodied are "Stella," "The Stranger," and "Count Benyowsky." By "Stella" was suggested not only "the double arrangement" (by which Matilda and Cecilia share the affections of their lover Casimere), but the famous scene in which the two women, before they know they are rivals, become, on the instant, bosom friends. Both admit that they are in love, and then-- _Cecilia._ Your countenance grows animated, my dear madam. _Matilda._ And yours is glowing with illumination. _Cecilia._ I had long been looking out for a congenial spirit! My heart was withered, but the beams of yours have rekindled it. _Matilda._ A sudden thought strikes me: let us swear an eternal friendship. _Cecilia._ Let us agree to live together! _Matilda._ Willingly. _Cecilia._ Let us embrace. (_They embrace._)