COMIC PIECES. 



BLIND-MAN'S BUFF.* 



Three Wags (whom some fastidious carpers 

 Might rather designate three sharpers) 



Enter'd at York the Cat and Fiddle, 

 And finding that the host was out 



On business for two hours or more, 



While Sum the rustic waiter wore 

 The visage of a simple lout, 



Whom they might safely try to diddle ; 

 They ordered dinner in a canter 



Cold or hot, it matter'd not, 

 Provided it was served instanter ; 

 And as the heat had made them very 



Dry and dusty in the throttles, 



They bade the waiter bring three bottles 

 Of PRIME OLD PORT, and one of SHERRY. 



Samf ran with ardour to the larder, 



Then to the kitchen ; 

 And as he briskly went to work, he 

 Drew from the spit a smoking turkey, 



With sausages embellish'd, which in 

 A trice upon the board was spread, 



Together with a nicel cold brisket, 



Nor did he even obliviscate 



Half a pig's head : 

 To these succeeded puddings, pies, 



Custards and jellies, 

 All doom'd to fall a sacrifice 



To their insatiable bellies ; 



* In this speech there are six different tones of voice required ; that 

 of the narrator of the three wags of Sam and his master. The tone 

 and manner of the narrator should be particularly lively and comic. 

 The three wags are affected and somewhat formal. Sam, being an 

 uneducated countryman, will naturally be supposed to use a braid, 

 rustic dialect : while the innkeeper is loud and a/i^n/. 



f This line should commence in an elevated tone, and gradually fall. 



J The rate of utterance should be here slow. 



