386 
of Caricature 
and 
Grotchue 
1 
alluded to matters of a [till more ferious character. Ruth takes poffellion 
of all thefe, and thus laden, the two damfels hurry away, and reach 
Without interruption the houfe where they were to meet the colonels. 
The Days return home immediately after the departure of their wards, 
and at once fufpect the real {late of affairs, which is fully confirmed, 
when Mr. Day finds that his molt private drawer has been opened, and 
his moft important papersjcarried oil". They immediately proceed in 
fearch of the fugitives, havingifent orders for a detachment of foldiers to 
allift them, and the houfe in which the lovers have taken refuge is fur- 
rounded before they have_had time to efcape. Finding it ulelefs to 
attempt refittance by force, the___ betieged call for a parley, and then Ruth 
frightens Day by acquainting him with the contents of the private 
letters the has become poiI'eH'ed of, and his wife by the knowledge {he has 
obtained of the forged letter, which alfo the has in her poffethon. The 
Days are thus overreached, and the play ends with a general reconciliation. 
The ladies are left with the titles of their eftates, and with their lovers, 
and we are left to fuppofe that they afterwards married, and were happy. 
The plot of "The C0mmittee,". it will be feen, is not :1 very capital 
one, but the manner in which it is worked out is [lill worfe. The 
dialogue is extremely tame, and the incidents are badly interwoven. 
When I fay that the example of wit given above is the belt in the play, 
and that there are not, many attempts at wit in it, it will hardly be 
thought that it could be famuling, and we cannot but feel aitonilhed at 
the popularityl which it onceenjoyed. This popularity, indeed, is only 
explained by the fathion of ridiculing the Puritans, which then prevailed 
fo ftrongly; and it perhaps retained_ its place on the Rage during the laft 
century chieily from the circumttance of its wanting the objectionable 
qualities which characterifed the written plays of the latter half of the 
feventeenth century. 
"The Committee" is, after all, one of the very belt comedies of the 
fchool of dramatifts reprefented by the brothers Howard. Contemporary 
with this fchool of Hat comedies, there was a fchool of equally inflated 
tragedy, and both foon became objects of ridicule to the fatirifts of the day. 
Of thefe, one of the boldeft was George Villiers, duke of Buckingham, 
the