THEATRE AT PARIS. • 11 J 



which was the fhorter, was full of nature and life,, and 

 was. acted delightfully, and with fpirit. When I fay- 

 that it was replete with fentiment and nature, I mutt 

 .be underflood to mean french fentiment and french 

 nature. However, even thefe cannot be perfectly 

 fhocking, as my eyes were wet more than once during 

 the reprefentation. The fubjeet is as follows : 



Three excellent young men, a painter, an author, 

 .and a muiician, find themfelves in company with a 

 young lady no lefs excellent. They live extremely 

 happy, connected by participation and tender friend- 

 lhip, and the lady is the centre and fource of their 

 felicity. * They think fhe bears an equal love to them 

 all ; fhe thinks they all love her alike ; but the painter 

 loves her more than the others, and is more beloved by 

 her than the reft. Of this the other two know nothing. 



Beauty is a bait for the devil as well as for an angel 

 of light. A lawyer in the neighbourhood, a worthlefs 

 fellow, is enamoured of the lady, pays his addrefTes 

 to her, and is rejected. . He makes a pafquinade, an 

 immoral drawing and infamous verfes, in the name of 

 his rivals, and hides them in the painter's room ; an 

 hour afterwards the conftable comes with his attendants 

 to the painter's. They fearch the room, and find the 

 Jib el according to the information given them by the 

 lawyer. The three friends are to be put in prifon. 

 Unexpected deliverance appears. A great man, who 

 had interefted himfelf in behalf of this ingenious family, 

 takes it all upon himfelf; and the gouvernante of the 

 lawyer betrays the whole of the plot. The conftable 

 takes him away. 



Theie 



