July and August-the Lon. Mag. speaks much less favourably of their performances, and complains much of Mrs. Dancer for having contracted an Irish accent. The Orators was acted in the course of the season. = Lecturer Foote: Pupils Weston, Shuter, Quick, = Bannister, J. Palmer, &c. (Bills from Mr. Field.) PLAUTUS. The first 2 vols. of a translation of Plautus were published in 1767-of the 7 plays contained in these 2 vols. 5 were translated by Bonnell Thornton. 1. Amphitryon-see Dryden's Amphitryon T. R. 1690. 2. Braggard Captain-the scene lies at Ephesus— Pleusides and Philocomasium were mutually in love -Pleusides had gone to Naupactum on a public account during his absence Pyrgopolinices had carried off Philocomasium from Athens without her consent -Palæstrio, the servant of Pleusides, had set out for Naupactum to inform his master of what had happened he had been taken at sea by some pirates--they had given him to Pyrgopolinices-Palæstrio had sent word to Pleusides that Philocomasium was at Ephesus-Pleusides had come to Ephesus-he is on a visit to Periplectomenes, who was his father's friend, and whose house joins that of Pyrgopolinices-Pyrgopolinices had given Philocomasium an apartment entirely for her own usePalæstrio had made a hole in the wall between the two houses-Philocomasium is in the habit of passing from one house to the other through the holehere the play begins-Sceledrus, one of the servants of Pyrgopolinices, in following a monkey over the tiles, takes a peep into the house of Periplectomenes through a skylight-he there sees Pleusides caressing Philocomasium-Philocomasium enters from the house of Periplectomenes-she pretends, by the suggestion of Palæstrio, that she is not Philocomasium, but her twin-sister Glycere, who had yesterday come to Ephesus with her lover-Sceledrus goes into his master's house, and finds Philocomasium lying on a bed-Periplectomenes allows Sceledrus to go into his house-he finds Philocomasium there, but takes her to be Glycere-he again finds Philocomasium in his own house-so that he believes the story of the twinsister, and determines not to say any thing to his master about the matter-Palæstrio next forms a plan to enable Pleusides to carry of Philocomasium Periplectomenes, by the desire of Palæstrio, engages the assistance of a courtezan, called Acroteleutium-he dresses her up as his wife - she pretends to be desperately in love with Pyrgopolinices-Pyrgopolinices is not only a pretender to excessive valour, but has also a vast opinion of his own beauty-this makes him readily fall into the trap which Palæstrio had laid for him-Pyrgopolinices, on the supposition that Acroteleutium is in love with him, wishes to get rid of Philocomasium-Palæstrio advises him to let her return to Athens with her twin-sister-Pyrgopoli nices not only consents to this, but allows Palæstrio to attend her-Pleusides enters disguised as a sailor— he carries off Philocomasium-Philocomasium and Palæstrio affect a great reluctance to leave Pyrgopolinices-Pyrgopolinices goes into the house of Periplectomenes to visit Acroteleutium-Periplectomenes pretends to be in a great rage with Pyrgopolinices for attempting to debauch his wife-Pyrgopolinices pleads that Acroteleutium's maid had told him that her mistress was separated from her husband, and that the house was her own-the servants of Periplectomenes beat Pyrgopolinices-Sceledrus tells him that the pretended sailor was Philocomasium's loverthis is a very good C.-the main incident was borrowed by Poole in his Hole in the Wall-see D. L. June 23 1813. 3. Captives-the scene lies in Etolia-the Etolians and the Elians are at war-Philopolemus, the son of Hegio, had been taken prisoner by the Elians -Hegio purchases several Elian Captives in the hopes of recovering his son by exchange-among these Captives are Philocrates and his servant Tyndarus-Philocrates and Tyndarus change characters -Hegio allows the supposed Tyndarus to return home-he discovers, from another Elian Captive, that Tyndarus is not the master, but the servantHegio is enraged at the trick that had been put on him, and sends Tyndarus to work in the stone-quarries-Philocrates comes back to Etolia, and brings Philopolemus with him-Hegio is delighted at recovering his son-he acknowledges that Philocrates had behaved honourably - Philocrates intercedes with Hegio in favour of Tyndarus-his request is readily granted-Tyndarus proves to be the son of Hegio— he had been stolen when he was 4 years old-the father of Philocrates had bought him to wait upon his son, who was at that time a boy-this is a good C.-the whole of it is serious, except the character of a Parasite-at the conclusion, one of the actors requests the applause of the audience for a chaste play -this C. was translated by Warner-Ben Jonson has founded the greater part of his Case is Altered on this play-see the 6th vol. of Jonson's works at the end of 1815-1816. 4. Treasure. Charmides, on going abroad, had buried 3000 pieces of gold in his house-he had communicated the secret to Callicles--Lesbonicus, the son of Charmides, had dissipated his father's property he had sold the house - Callicles had bought it, that the hidden treasure might not fall into strange hands at the opening of the play, Megaronides reproaches Callicles for buying the house, and thereby supplying Lesbonicus with fresh means for his extravagance-Callicles, to vindicate himself, lets Megaronides into the secret-Lysiteles prevails on his father to consent to his union with the sister of Lesbonicus, tho' she has no fortune-Lesbonicus has too much spirit to let his sister be married without a portion-he offers to give his sister the only farm which he has still remaining-Lysiteles and his father refuse to accept it-Callicles thinks it a shame that his friend's daughter should be married without a portion-he consults Megaronides-they agree to hire a person, to pretend that he is just come from abroad, and that he has brought Callicles 1000 pieces of gold from Charmides as a portion for his daughter -Callicles takes the money from the treasure-Charmides returns-he falls into conversation with the impostor-says he is Charmides, and demands the money-the impostor will not give it to him-Callicles tells Charmides all that he had done--Charmides is grateful to his friend for his fidelity—he forgives Lesbonicus at the request of Callicles-Lesbonicus promises to reform, and to marry the daughter of Callicles-this is a good C.-it has been adapted to the French stage-Colman in his Man of Business (see C. G. Jan. 31 1774) has borrowed the scene beween the impostor and Charmides -Plautus calls his play Trinummus-that is the Three pieces of money-the sum given to the impostor for acting his part. 5. Merchant-Demipho had built a ship for his son Charinus, and had sent him to Rhodes with merchandise-Charinus had disposed of his merchandise to advantage-he had fallen in love with Pasicompsa, and had bought her of a friend to whom she was a slave-Charinus returns to Athens-in the 2d scene, his servant, Acanthio, tells him that Demipho had gone on board the ship, and had seen Pasicompsa-Acanthio pretended that Charinus meant Pasicompsa for an attendant on his mother-Demipho tells Charinus that Pasicompsa would not suit his mother, but that an old gentleman of his acquaintance had fallen in love with her, and would give a high price for her-Charinus is extremely averse to have Pasicompsa sold, but Demipho persists in his resolution-Lysimachus buys Pasicompsa for Demipho, and brings her to his house-Dorippa, the wife of Lysimachus, is in a rage—she supposes that Pasi |
