ell performed; he has seen it often, and approves it much....
'The Beggar's Opera' has done its task, _discedat uti conviva satur_"
(Scott's edition, xvii. 188-9). [T.S.]]

[Footnote 5: In his essay "Of Poetry," Sir William Temple, writing of
dramatic poetry, says: "Yet I am deceived, if our English has not in some
kind excelled both the modern and the ancient, which has been by force of
a vein natural perhaps to our country, and which with us is called
humour, a word peculiar to our language too, and hard to be expressed
in any other;" etc.--"Works," vol. i., p. 247 (1720). [T.S.]]

[Footnote 6: "Le Theatre Italian, ou le Recueil de toutes les Comedies et
Scenes Francoises, qui out ete jouees sur le Theatre Italian." The
collection was edited by Evariste Gherardi, and published in 1695. Two
further volumes were issued in 1698, the third containing complete
plays. The collection was afterwards extended to six volumes. [T.S.]]

[Footnote 7: A modern writer says of it: "It bristles with keen,
well-pointed satire on the corrupt and venal politicians and courtiers of
the day" (W.H. Husk in Grove's "Dict. of Music").[T.S.]]

[Footnote 8: In the character of Robin of Bagshot Gay intended Sir Robert
Walpole.[T.S.]]

[Footnote 9: Gay's "Fables" was first published in 1727, with a
dedication "To his Highness William Duke of Cumberland." The Fables are
said to have been "invented for his amusement." Cumberland was the second
son of George, Prince of Wales, and was afterwards known as "the
butcher."[T.S.]]

[Footnote 10: Dr. Thomas Herring, preacher at Lincoln's Inn, and
afterwards Archbishop of Canterbury, preached a sermon against "The
Beggar's Opera" in March, 1727-8. It is referred to in a letter to the
"Whitehall Evening Post," dated March 30th, 1728, reprinted in the
Appendix to "Letters from Dr. T. Herring to W. Duncombe," 1777. As
Archbishop of York, Herring interested himself greatly, during the
rebellion of 1745, in forming an association for the defence of the
liberties of the people and the constitution of the country. Writing to
Swift, under date May 16th, 1728, Gay remarks: "I suppose you must have
heard, that I had the honour to have had a sermon preached against my
works by a court-chaplain, which I look upon as no small addition to my
fame" (Scott, xvii. 194). [T.S.]]

[Footnote 11: The edition of 1729 has "those common robbers of the
public." [T.S.]]

[Footnote 12: Peachum says: "Can it be expected that