_Irish._ Why I believe it will be a kind of Prologue that will be spoken by the Pit. _Rattle._ Ay, that we suppose but in what Manner? _Irish._ Why I am come here on purpose to know that, but I suppose it will be in the manner of--a--a--by my Shoul I don't know how it will be. _Smart._ Upon my word, Sir, I think you give a very clear Account of it. _Rattle._ Jack, yonder's Snarlewit, the Poet and intimate Friend of Macklin's; you are acquainted with him. Prithee call him; ten to one but he can give us the History both of the Prologue and the Farce. _Smart._ Hiss, Mr. Snarlewit, we have Room for you here, if you will come and set by us; do you know Snarlewit, Dick? _Rattle._ He is a devilish odd Fellow; he is one that never speaks well of any Man behind his back nor ill of him to his Face and is a most terrible Critick. (SNARLEWIT _steps over the Benches and sits down between_ RATTLE _and_ SMART) _Snarle._ Mr. Smart, your Servant. How do you do, Mr. Rattle? What, you are come to hear the Pit speak the Prologue, I suppose. Ha! Macklin's fine Conceit. _Smart._ Ay, we are so; do you know anything of it? _Snarle._ Psha! psha! a parcel of Stuff! a ridiculous Conceit of the Blockhead's in imitation of a French writer who stole it from one of the Greek Comic Poets. _Smart._ But in what manner is it to be done? Is it in Prose or in Verse, or upon the Stage, or really in the Pit? _Snarle._ Lord, Sir, the Blockhead brings the Pit upon the Stage; and the supposed Conversation there between the Play and the Farce is to be the Prologue,--a French Conceit calculated merely to raise Curiosity and fill the House, that's all. _Smart._ Ay, and enough too, if it answers his purpose. _Irish._ But pray, Sir, with humble Submission, if he brings the Pit up on the Stage, how shall we be able to see the Farce unless we go up into the Gallery? _Omnes._ Ha! ha! ha! _Rattle._ Very well observed, Sir. _Snarle._ Why this Fellow's an Idiot. _Smart._ No, no, he is only a Teague. But Mr. Snarlewit, do you think this Prologue will be liked? _Snarle._ Psha! psha! liked, impossible! So it is for his Wife's Benefit and meant as a Puff to fill her House, why perhaps the Town may be so indulgent as to let it pass--but it is damned Trash! I advised the Fool against it. But he persisted. He said he was sure it would be better liked than the modern dull way of Prologue Writing which for many years has been only to give the Audience an Historical Account of the Comic Stoick or the Tragic Buskin, or a dull detail of the piece they were to see with the Age and Circumstances of the Author, and how long he was writing his Play. Now, says Macklin, my Prologue, Sir, if it has nothing else, it has Novelty on its side; and as Bays says it will elevate and surprize and all that. And if they don't laugh at it as a good Prologue, I am sure, says he, they will laugh at me for its being a bad one--so that either way they will have their Joke. _Omnes._ Ha! ha! ha!