of
_Murthers & Rapes_, and _Fires_, and my _Obscurity_ to somebody that is
inclin'd to turn _Casuist in Divinity_.

'_Item_, I give my _Beauty_ to Mr. _Dennis_, because he had a Mind to steal
it from me while I was alive.

'_Item_, I give my _Wits_ to my Friends at _Button's_, my _Good Manners_ to
the _Deputy Governors_ of _Drury Lane_ Theatre; and my _Charity_ to the
_married_ and _unmarried Ladies_ of the said Theatre; and lest Disputes
should arise about the Distribution thereof, it being too little for them
All, my Desire is, that they be determin'd in their Shares by Lot.

'And I make and appoint Sir _John Falstaffe_, Knight, my full and whole
Executor, and residuary Legatee, desiring him to continue my Paper of the
_Theatre_, but after his own Stile and Method; and desiring likewise that
the Sum of Forty Shillings may be given to the Boys of the _Charity School_
of St. _Martin_ in the Fields, to write me an _Elegy_ any Time within
_Eighteen_ Years after my Decease.'

He left several other Legacies to the Theatrical _Viceroys_, whose Interest
he had always so much at Heart, such as, his _Humility_, his _Learning_ and
_Judgment_ in _Dramatick Poetry_; but these being Things _which they always
lived without_, and which we are assur'd, _they will never claim_, we
thought it needless to insert them.

* * * * *

Printed for W. BOREHAM, at the _Angel_ in _Pater-Noster-Row_, where
Advertisements and Letters from Correspondents are taken in.

Numb. XVII.

THE

THEATRE.

By Sir _JOHN FALSTAFFE_.

_To be Continued every_ Tuesday _and_ Saturday.

--_Animasque in vulnere ponunt._

Virg.

Tuesday, _April 12. 1720._

The Incident of a late _Prize_ fought at one of our Theatres, has given me
some Occasion to amuse myself with the Rise, and Antiquity of _Duelling_;
and to enquire what Considerations have given it such Credit, as to make it
practicable as well in all Countries, as in all Times. Religion and Civil
Policy have ever declar'd against the Custom of receiving _Challenges_, and
deny that any Man has a Right, by a Tryal at _Sharps_, to destroy his
Fellow-Creature. History, 'tis true; both sacred and prophane, is full of
Instances of these sort of Combats: but very few are recorded to have
happen'd between Friends, none on the light and idle Misconstruction of
Words, which has set most of our modern _Tilters_ at Work. The _Athenians_
made it penal by a Law