follows:--

My Dear,

In your last, you inform'd me, that the World treated me as a
_Plagiery_, and, I must confess, not with Injustice: But that Mr.
_Otway_ shou'd say, my Sex wou'd not prevent my being pull'd to
Pieces by the Criticks, is something odd, since whatever Mr. _Otway_
now declares, he may very well remember when last I saw him,
I receiv'd more than ordinary Encomiums on my _Abdelazer_, But every
one knows Mr. _Otway's_ good Nature, which will not permit him to
shock any one of our Sex to their Faces. But let that pass: For
being impeach'd of murdering my _Moor_, I am thankful, since, when
I shall let the World know, whenever I take the Pains next to appear
in Print, of the mighty Theft I have been guilty of; But however for
your own Satisfaction, I have sent you the Garden from whence I
gather'd, and I hope you will not think me vain, if I say, I have
weeded and improv'd it. I hope to prevail on the Printer to reprint
_The Lust's Dominion_, &c., that my theft may be the more publick.
But I detain you. I believe I sha'n't have the Happiness of seeing
my dear _Amillia_ 'till the middle of _September_: But be assur'd I
shall always remain as I am,

Yours, A. Behn.

[Footnote 30: Betterton's adaption of Marston's _The Dutch
Courtezan_, which the actor calls _The Revenge; or, A Match in
Newgate_, has sometimes been erroneously ascribed to Mrs. Behn by
careless writers. She has also been given _The Woman Turn'd Bully_,
a capital comedy with some clever characterization, which was
produced at Dorset Garden in June, 1675, and printed without
author's name the same year. Both Prologue and Epilogue, two pretty
songs, _Oh, the little Delights that a Lover takes_; and _Ah, how
charming is the shade_, together with a rollicking catch 'O
_London_, wicked _London_-Town!' which is 'to be sung _a l'yvronge_,
in a drunken humour', might all well be Mrs. Behn's, and the whole
conduct of the play is very like her early manner. Beyond this,
however, there is no evidence to suggest it is from her pen.]

[Footnote 31: The overture, act-tunes, incidental music, were
composed by Henry Purcell.]

[Footnote 32: _Familiar Letters of Love, Gallantry, etc._, Vol. I
(1718), pp. 31-2.]

_The Rover (I)_ is undoubtedly the best known of Aphra Behn's comedies.
It long remained a popular favourite in the theatre, its verve, bustle
and wit, utterly defiant of