This complaint is curious, on account of the talents of the man who makes it; and, for the same cause, highly reprehensible. If Farquhar, thought himself superior to the French dancer, why did he honour her by a comparison? and, if he wanted bread, why did he not suffer in silence, rather than insinuate, he should like to receive it, through the medium of a benefit? A hundred years of refinement (the exact time since this author wrote) may have weakened the force of the dramatic pen; but it has, happily, elevated authors above the servile spirit of dedications, or the meaner practice, of taking public benefits. As the moral of this comedy has been mentioned as one of its highest recommendations, it must be added--that, herein, the author did not invent, but merely adopt, as his own, an occurrence which took place in Paris, about that period, just as he has represented it in his last act. The Chevalier de Chastillon was the man who is personated by young Mirabel, in this extraordinary event; and the Chevalier's friend, his betrothed wife, and his beautiful courtesan, are all exactly described in the characters of Duretete, Oriana, and Lamorce. Having justly abridged Farquhar of the honour of inventing a moral, it may be equally just, to make a slight apology for his chagrin at the slender receipts of his sixth night.--He once possessed the income, which arose from a captain's commission in the army; and having prudently conceived that this little revenue would not maintain a wife, he had resolved to live single, unless chance should bestow on him a woman of fortune. His person and address were so extremely alluring, that a woman of family, but of no fortune, conceiving the passion she felt for him to be love, pretended she possessed wealth, and deceived him into a marriage, which plunged them both into the utmost poverty. This admirable dramatist seems to have been born for a dupe. In his matrimonial distress, he applied to a nobleman, who had professed a friendship for him, and besought his advice how to surmount his difficulties: The counsel given, was--"Sell your commission, for present support, and, before the money for its sale is expended, I will procure you another." Farquhar complied--and his patron broke his word. DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. OLD MIRABEL _Mr. Dowton._ YOUNG MIRABEL _Mr. C. Kemble._ CAPTAIN DURETETE _Mr. Bannister._ DUGARD _Mr. Holland._ PETIT _Mr. De Camp._ BRAVOES--_Messrs. Maddocks, Webb, Evans and Sparks._ ORIANA _Mrs. Young._ BISARRE _Mrs. Jordan._ LAMORCE _Miss Tidswell._ THE INCONSTANT. ACT THE FIRST. SCENE I. _The Street._ _Enter_ DUGARD, _and his Man_, PETIT, _in Riding Habits_. _Dug._ Sirrah, what's o'clock? _Petit._ Turned of eleven, sir.