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arts dead of the night, the lover meets the fair one and, perfuadës her .to
'SND run awav with him : theconfequenc'e of this affair is the birth of a
i b m c k S 3
fine b o y ; the lady is in labour on the theatre and at laft a large
boy is exhibited, who immediately: runs about the ftage' with the
placenta and long funis umbilicalis; which* is' here mót couiideied
as indelicate, becaufè every body is acquainted with , the incident,
the children o f .four or five years not .exceptedi; ,and. the/oddity that
the 'new-born child funs' ahout and' efcapes the midwife; whofe
bufinefs it is to catch him, eaules. an. uhiyerfal rand loud peal. !of
laughter. T h e girls father upon feeing the-cleverdefs of his grand-
fon, is at laft reconciled to his foil-in-law.
O f this turn (though not in every particular) was the little
extetnpore farce feen by fome o f our friends'at Huaheirie; and
which feemed to be levelled'at a girl, a native o f O-RaieJea, who
came with us from Taheitee in.order to return to her parents,nfrom
whom fee had eloped fome. months before with a young Arreoy.
Though the piece was but rudely .performed, i t however put the
girl to fhame, and drew tears from her eyes, which naturally muft
have a good tendency, efpecially with fuch peribns o f her . fex
might be tempted to follow her example. Upon the whole,. this
circumftance gives us a. very good idea of thé nation in every refpect:
If, we conlider the poor girl, who was thus expofed, her.bathful behaviour
and her tears are certainly irrefragable proofs of her modefty
and repentance. In a genial climate, with a warm conftkation, a
feeling heart, and an education which made her acquainted with
all the myfterious parts o f love, even though the thould not chufe
to put them in pfadice, it was no wonder the yielded to the tender
'felicitations o f a youthful and vigorous lover, when her own age
and the natural levity o f the whole nation, contributed to M e n
th e crime o f her inconfiderate ftep, and thill more fo, the poftibility
mf obtaining a hutband without hurting her charader. On the
■ ether hand, there is fomething fo generous in her behaviour that
I cannot help taking notice -of it. She became the objed o f
indelicate, but fearp and fslutary fatire, and gave by her teats
ample teftimony o f the immorality of her behaviour, and that fee
fe lt herfelf aggrieved under felf-condemnation, and was not unwilling
to become a fair warning to a whole croud o f young perfons
o f her own fex. I f again we conftder the adors who took the
.■ opportunity o f expofing immorality for the inftradion o f the riling
generation; they muft be thought highly commendable for having
dared'to lay afide for fo falutary a purpofe, the relped due to a lady
■ and a ftranger. She was under the prote&ion of a fet of foreigners,
whofe fire-arms indeed commanded refped ; but thefe cenfors were
not to be brow-beaten by power, or awed to filence by wealth, as
is too often the cafe in Europe; they failed not to point the fhafts
.of their fatire at an objed deferving cenfure, without regarding the
p p p confequences
ARTS
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