His eternal smile was as smug as
ever and so also was it over the duet in the second act:
"When you censure the age
Be cautious and sage
Lest the courtiers offended should be;
If you mention vice or bribe,
'Tis so pat to all the tribe,
Each cries 'That was levelled at me.'"
The audience were somewhat timid in applauding this, though all felt how
apt it was, until they saw Walpole actually clapping his hands, and then
they followed suit right heartily.
Still success was not assured. True Polly captivated her hearers with
her sweet natural delivery of "Can love be controlled by advice?" and
afterwards with the tender pathos of "Oh ponder well," and there were
roars of laughter and half suppressed chuckles from the men and titters
from the women at the witty talk and the cynical hits at love and
matrimonial felicity, but it was not until Spiller led the rousing
choruses, "Fill every glass," and "Let us take the road," the latter
adapted to the march from Handel's opera of "Rinaldo," then all the
rage, that they were won over. The experienced Duke of Argyll cried out
aloud enough for Pope in the next box to hear him, "It'll do--it must
do--I see it in the eyes of 'em." And the duke was right.
When all was said and done pretty Polly Peachum was the pivot around
which success revolved. Within twenty-four hours all the town was
talking of her bewitching face, her artless manner, her sweet voice.
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