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gainst my will, had it not given a fresh opportunity to Mr. Dibdin to display his admirable talents as a musical composer. And I will be bold to say, that his airs, serious and comic, in this opera, will appear to no disadvantage by being heard with those of some of the greatest masters.

The SCHOOL FOR FATHERS is added to the title, because the plot is evidently double; and that of Lionel and Clarissa alluded to but one part of it, as the readers and spectators will easily perceive.

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SCHOOL FOR FATHERS;

OR,

LIONEL AND CLARISSA.

ACT I. SCENE I.

A Chamber in Colonel OLDBOY's House: Colonel OLDBOY is discovered at breakfast reading a news-paper; at a little distance from the tea-table sits JENKINS; and on the opposite side, DIANA, who appears playing upon a harpsicord. A Girl attending.

AIR.

AH how delightful the morning,

How sweet are the prospects it yields;
Summer luxuriant adorning

The gardens, the groves, and the fields.

Be grateful to the season,

It's pleasures let's employ;
Kind Nature gives, and Reason
Permits us to enjoy.

?

Col. Well said Dy, thank you Dy. This, master Jenkins, is the way I make my daughter entertain me every morning at breakfast. Come here, and kiss me, you slut, come here, and kiss me, you baggage. Dian. Lord, papa, you call one such names-

Col. A fine girl, master Jenkins, a devilish fine girl! she has got my eye to a twinkle. There's fire for you -spirit!-I design to marry her to a Duke: how much money do you think a Duke would expect with

such a wench?

Jen. Why, Colonel, with submission, I think there is no occasion to go out of our own country here; we have never a Duke in it, I believe, but we have many an honest gentleman, who, in my opinion, might deserve the young lady.

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Col. So, you would have me marry Dy to a country 'squire, eh! How say you to this, Dy! would not you rather be married to a Duke ?

Dian. So my husband's a rake, papa, I don't care what he is.

Col. A rake! you damned confounded little baggage; why you wou'd not wish to marry a rake, wou'd you? So her husband is a rake, she does not care what he is! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!

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Dian. Well, but listen to me, papa-When you go out with your gun, do you take any pleasure in shooting the poor tame ducks, and chickens in your yard? No, the partridge, the pheasant, the woodcock are the game; there is some sport in bringing them down because they are wild; and it is just the same

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