5. A just View of the _British_ Stage, or three heads better than one, scene _Newgate_, by _M. D. V--to_.[1] This print represents the rehearsing a new farce, that will include the two famous entertainments _Dr. Faustus_ and _Harlequin Shepherd_.[2] To which will be added, _Scaramouch Jack Hall_ the Chimney-sweeper's Escape from _Newgate_ through the Privy, with the comical Humours of _Ben Johnson's Ghost_, concluding with the Play Dance, performed in the air by the figures A. B. C. [_Wilks, Booth,_ and _Cibber_] assisted by ropes from the Muses. Note, there are no Conjurors concerned in it, as the Ignorant imagine. The Bricks, Rubbish, &c. will be real; but the Excrements upon _Jack Hall_ will be made of chewed Gingerbread, to prevent Offence. _Vivat Rex. Price Sixpence._ Such is the inscription on the plate; but I may add, that the _ropes_ already mentioned are no other than _halters_, suspended over the heads of the three managers;[3] and that labels issuing from their respective mouths have the following characteristic words. The airy _Wilks_, who dangles the effigy of _Punch_, is made to exclaim--"Poor _R-ch_! faith I pitty him." The laureat _Cibber_, with _Harlequin_ for his playfellow, invokes the Muses painted on the cieling--"Assist, ye sacred Nine;" while the solemn _Booth_, letting down the image of _Jack Hall_ into the forica, is most tragically blaspheming--"Ha! this will do, G-d d-m me." On a table before these gentlemen lies a pamphlet, exhibiting a print of _Jack Shepherd_, in confinement; and over the forica is suspended a parcel of waste paper, consisting of leaves torn from _The Way of the World--Hamlet--Macbeth_, and _Julius Cæsar. Ben Jonson's_ Ghost, in the mean while, is rising through the stage, and p----g on a pantomimic statue tumbled from its base. A fidler is also represented hanging by a cord in the air, and performing, with a scroll before him, that exhibits--_Music for the What_--[perhaps the _What d' ye call it] entertainment_. The countenances of Tragedy and Comedy, on each side of the stage, are hoodwinked by the bills for _Harlequin Dr. Faustus_ and _Harlequin Shepherd_, &c. &c. There is also a dragon preparing to fly; a dog thrusting his head out of his kennel; a flask put in motion by machinery, &c. _Vivetur Ingenio_ is the motto over the curtain. In Mr. _Walpole's_ catalogue the description of this plate is, "_Booth, Wilks, and Cibber, contriving a pantomime. A satire on farces. No name._" [1] Mr. _Devoto_ was scene-painter to _Drury-Lane_ or _Lincoln's-Inn Fields_, and also to _Goodman's Fields_ Theatre. There is a mezzotinto of him with the following title: "_Johannes Devoto_ Historicus Scenicusque Pictor." _Vincenso Damini_ pinxit. _J. Faber_ fecit, 1736. [2] Dr. _Faustus_ and _Harlequin Shepherd_ were pantomimes contrived by _Thurmond_ the dancing-master, and acted at _Drury-Lane_ in 1725. [3]--_Halters_, &c.; The same idea is introduced in the 9th plate of the apprentices.