In the epilogue, the whole of which cannot be given, Mrs. Essence speaks the following lines: "But now methinks a Cloak-Cabal I see, Whose Prick-ears glow, whilst they their Jealousie In _Essence_ find; but Citty-Sirs, I fear, Most of you have more cause to be severe. We yield you are the truest Character." Nearly all the scenes imitated in this play from Moliere's _Sganarelle_ contain nothing which merits to be reproduced. _The Perplexed Couple, or Mistake upon Mistake_, as it is acted at the New Theatre in Lincolns-Inn-Fields, by the Company of Comedians, 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 Blunderer_, of Gros-Rene from _The Love-Tiff_, and of the servant of the same name in the _Cocu Imaginaire_; the interfering uncle of Lady Thinwit, is taken from _George Dandin_, whilst Sir Anthony Tainwit becomes Sganarelle. The only thing new I have been able to discover in _The Perplexed Couple_ is the lover Octavio disguising himself as a pedlar to gain admittance to the object of his love; and old Sterling, the usurer, marrying the maid instead of the mistress. Moliere's farce has been lengthened by those means into a five-act comedy, and though "no jest profane" may be found in it it is more full than usual of coarse and lewd sayings, which can hardly be called inuendoes. The play is a mistake altogether; perhaps that is the reason, its second name is called _Mistake upon Mistake_.