Dryden has imitated _The Blunderer_ in _Sir Martin Mar-all; or the Feigned Innocence_, first translated by William Cavendish, Duke of Newcastle, and afterwards adapted for the stage by "glorious John." It must have been very successful, for it ran no less than thirty-three nights, and was four times acted at court. It was performed at Lincoln's Inn Fields by the Duke of York's servants, probably at the desire of the Duke of Newcastle, as Dryden was engaged to write for the King's Company. It seems to have been acted in 1667, and was published, without the author's name, in 1668. But it cannot be fairly called a translation, for Dryden has made several alterations, generally not for the better, and changed _double entendres_ into single ones. The heroine in the English play, Mrs. Millisent, (Celia), marries the roguish servant, Warner (Mascarille), who takes all his master's blunders upon himself, is bribed by nearly everybody, pockets insults and money with the same equanimity, and when married, is at last proved a gentleman, by the disgusting Lord Dartmouth, who "cannot refuse to own him for my (his) kinsman." With a fine stroke of irony Millisent's father becomes reconciled to his daughter having married a serving-man as soon as he hears that the latter has an estate of eight hundred a year. Sir Martin Mar-all is far more conceited and foolish than Lelio; Trufaldin becomes Mr. Moody, a swashbuckler; a compound of Leander and Andrès, Sir John Swallow, a Kentish knight; whilst of the filthy characters of Lord Dartmouth, Lady Dupe, Mrs. Christian, and Mrs. Preparation, no counterparts are found in Molière's play. But the scene in which Warner plays the lute, whilst his master pretends to do so, and which is at last discovered by Sir Martin continuing to play after the servant has finished, is very clever. [Footnote: According to Geneste, _Some Accounts of the English Stage_, 10 vols., 1832, vol. i., p. 76, Bishop Warburton, in his _Alliance of Church and State_ (the same work is mentioned in Note 2), and Porson in his _Letters to Travis_ alludes to this scene.] Dryden is also said to have consulted _l'Amant indiscret_ of Quinault, in order to furbish forth the Duke of Newcastle's labours. Sir Walter Scott states in his introduction: "in that part of the play, which occasions its second title of 'the feigned Innocence,' the reader will hardly find wit enough to counterbalance the want of delicacy." Murphy has borrowed from _The Blunderer_ some incidents of the second act of his _School for Guardians_, played for the first time in 1767. DRAMATIS PERSONAE [Footnote: Molière, Racine, and Corneille always call the dramatis personae _acteurs_, and not _personnages_.] LELIO, _son to_ PANDOLPHUS. LEANDER, _a young gentleman of good birth_. ANSELMO, _an old man_. PANDOLPHUS, _an old man_. TRUFALDIN, _an old man_. ANDRÈS, _a supposed gipsy_. MASCARILLE, _servant to Lelio_.