Excerpt from The Opera of Martha, or the Fair at RichmondLady Harriet, a. Lady of rank at the court of Queen Anne of England, tired of the amusements which court-life affords, forms a plan to visit the Servant's Fair at Richmond in the disguise of a. Servant girl In search of employment. She is accompanied by Nancy, her maid, and Sir Tristan, acousin and admirer of hers, years, all appropriately attired for the occasion.Hither also repair two young farmers, Lionel and Plunkett. Lionel is the adopted child of Plunkett's parents, now both deceased. His parentage is unknown. His father was found, one evening, at the door of the farm-house, where he had sank down from exhaustion. Lionel, then a small boy, was with him. Both were taken in and provided for, but the father soon died, leaving his son to the charity of Plunkett's parents. He left to his son nothing but a ring, with the injunction to present it to the Queen if he should ever be in distress. The two fos ter-brothers come to the Fair with the purpose of engaging help for their farm, which had been lett to their management by their mother, just deceased. Here they'are struck with the personal appearance of Lady Harriet and her maid, and odor to engage them. The Lady and Nancy, who relish this joke exceedingly, accept the offer and take the earnest-money, unaware that thereby they are bound in law to serve them for the space of one year. When they want to leave the Fair, the farmers detain them, Trietan's interference is useless, and as Lady Harriet does not wish to reveal her name and character, lest her reputa tion should sufi'erby it, she is obliged to mount with Nancy the farm er's wagon and drive od' with them.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.