The residence of Content and Barbara Allen is a scene, the minute correctness of which it would be wicked to doubt, when the bills so solemnly guarantee that it is copied from the "best authorities." _Barbara_ opens the door, makes a curtsey, produces a purse, and after saying she is going to pay her rent, is, by an ingenious contrivance of the Sadler's Wells' Shakspere, confronted with her landlord, the _Sir Gregory_ before-mentioned. All stage-landlords are villains, who prefer seduction to rent, and he of the "gash" is no exception. The struggle, rescue, and duel, which follow, are got through in no time. The last would certainly have been fatal, had not the assailant's servant come on to announce that "a gentleman wished to speak to him at his own residence." The lover (who is of course the rescuer) deems this a sufficient excuse to let off his antagonist without a scratch; _Barbara_ rewards him with an embrace and a rose, just as another rival intrudes himself in the person of _Mr. John Ketch_. The altercation which now ensues is but slight; for _Jack_, instead of fighting, goes off to Fairlop-fair with another young lady, who seems to come upon the stage for no other purpose than to oblige him. At the fair we find _Jack's_ spirits considerably damped by the prediction of a gipsy, that he will marry a hangman's daughter; but, after the jumping in sacks, which forms a part of the sports, he rescues _Barbara_ from being once more assailed by her landlord. Thereupon another component of the festive scene--our friend the hangman--declares that she is his daughter! "Horror" tableau, and end of Act I. After establishing a lapse of four years between the acts, the author takes high ground;--we are presented with the summit of Primrose-hill, St. Paul's in the distance, and a gentleman with black clothes, and literary habits, reading in the foreground. This turns out to be "The Laird Lawson," _Barbara's_ favoured lover and benevolent duellist. Though on the top of Cockney Mount, he is suffering under a deep depression of spirits; for he has never seen _Miss Allen_ during four years, come next Fairlop-fair. Having heard this, the audience is, of course, quite prepared for that lady's appearance; and, sure enough, on she comes, accounting for her presence with great adroitness:--having left the city to go to Holloway, she is taking a short cut over Primrose-hill. The lovers go through the mode of recognition never departed from at minor theatres, with the most frantic energy, and have nearly hugged themselves out of breath, when the executioner papa interrupts the blissful scene, without so much as saying how he got there; but "finishers" are mysterious beings. _Barabbas_ denounces the laird; and when his consent is asked for the hand of _Miss Barbara_, tells the lover "he will see him hanged first!"