SUSANNA CENTLIVRE,

Born .... died 1723,

Will be long remembered as the authoress of The Wonder, and The Busy Body.

Her maiden name was Freeman. Her third husband, Joseph Centlivre, was one of Queen Anne's cooks, and fell in love with her at Windsor, where she performed the part of Alexander the Great in Lee's Rival Queens.

Prologue to "A Bold Stroke for a Wife."
TO-NIGHT we come upon a bold design,
To try to please without one borrow'd line;
Our plot is new and regularly clear,
And not one single tittle from Moliere.
O'er buried poets we with caution tread,

And parish sextons leave to rob the dead.
For you, bright British fair, in hopes to charm ye,
We bring to-night a lover from the army;
You know the soldiers have the strangest arts,

Such a proportion of prevailing parts,

You'd think that they rid post to women's hearts. I wonder whence they draw their bold pretence; We do not chuse them sure for our defence:

That plea is both impolitic and wrong,
And only suits such dames as want a tongue.
Is it their eloquence and fine address?
The softness of their language?—Nothing less.
Is it their courage, that they bravely dare
To storm the sex at once?-Egad! 'tis there;
They act by us as in the rough campaign,
Unmindful of repulses, charge again :
They mine and countermine, resolv'd to win,
And, if a breach is made, they will come in.
You'll think, by what we have of soldiers said,
Our female wit was in the service bred:

But she is to the hardy toil a stranger,

She loves the cloth indeed, but hates the danger:
Yet to this circle of the brave and gay,
She bids one, for her good intentions say,
She hopes you'll not reduce her to half-pay.
As for our play, 'tis English humour all:
Then will you let our manufacture fall?
Would you the honour of our nation raise,
Keep English credit up, and English plays.

DE LA RIVIERE MANLY,

died 1724.

The father of this woman, Sir Roger Manly, was distinguished for his loyalty and bravery in the civil wars, as also for his literary talents. At an early age, she was drawn into a marriage with her cousin, Mr. Manly, to whose care her father, on his death-bed, had consigned her. This villain (who had another wife alive) dissipated her fortune, and, at the end of three years, abandoned her, and her child, to poverty and disgrace. Thus deserted, she became an authoress by profession, and wrote plays and novels with success; but, unfortunately, the applause and flattery, which she now received from the wits and fashionable gentlemen of the day, proved ruinous to her virtue. Her romance, the Atalantis, a satire on those who had effected the Revolution, caused a great sensation; and its printer and publisher were seized by a warrant from the Secretary of State's office. On this occasion, her friends advised her to retreat to France; but, determined that no innocent persons should suffer on her account, she presented herself before the Court of King's Bench, as the writer of the obnoxious volumes. A short confinement was the consequence of her generous conduct.

SONG

(In the First Act of The Lost Lover, or The Jealous Husband).

Ан, dangerous swain, tell me no more,
Thy happy nymph you worship and adore!
When thy fill'd eyes are sparkling at her name,
I raving wish that mine had caus'd the flame.

If by your fire to her you can impart
Diffusive heat to warm another's heart;
Ah, dangerous swain, what would the ruin be,
Should
you but once persuade you burn for me!

To J. Me, Esq. of Worcester College, Oxon.

OXFORD, for all thy fops and smarts
Let this prodigious youth atone,
Whilst others frisk and dress at hearts,
He makes thy better part his own.

Yet small addition canst thou give,
Nature gave all her wealth before;

How little can this son receive!

How full already is his store!

Others advance by slow degrees,

Long, long they feed, before they taste, Their letters but with years increase, And good digestion comes the last.

But his vast mind completely form'd Was thoroughly finish'd when begun; So all at once the world was warm'd

On the great birth-day of the sun.