EPILOGUE.

MARRY a Turk! a haughty tyrant king!
Who thinks us women born to dress and sing
To please his fancy! see no other man !
Let him persuade me to it—if he can :
Besides, he has fifty wives, and who can bear
To have the fiftieth part her paltry share ?

'Tis true, the fellow's handsome, strait, and tall, But how the devil should he please us all ! My swain is little-true-but, be it known, My pride’s to have that little all my own. Men will be ever to their errors blind, Where woman's not allow'd to speak her mind. I swear this Eastern pageantry is nonsense, And for one mau--one wife's enough of conscience.

In vain proud man usurps what's woman's due; For us alone, they honour's paths pursue : Inspir'd by us, they glory's heights ascend ; Woman the source, the object, and the end. Though wealth, and pow'r, and glory, they receive, These are all trifles to what we can give. For us the statesman labours, hero fights, Bears toilsome days, and wakes long tedious nights; And, when blest peace has silenc'd war’s alarms, Receives his full reward in beauty's arms.

PROLOGUE.

SPOKEN BY MR GARRICK APRIL 5, 1750,

BEFORE THE MASQUE OF COMUS.

Acted at DRURY-LANE THEATRE, for the Benefit of

Milion's Grand-daughter Y E patriot crowds, who burn for England's fame, Ye

nymphs, whose bosoms beat at Milton's name, Whose gen'rous zeal, unbought by flatt'ring rhymes, Shames the mean pensions of Augustan times, Immortal patrons of succeeding days, Attend this prelude of perpetual praise ; Let wit, condemn’d the feeble war to wage With close malevolence, or publick rage; Let study, worn with virtue's fruitless lore, Behold this theatre, and grieve no more. This night, distinguish'd by your smiles, shall tell That never Britain can in vain excel; The slighted arts futurity shall trust, And rising ages hasten to be just.

At length our mighty bard's victorious lays Fill the loud voice of universal praise ; And based spite, with hopeless anguish dumb, Yields to renown the centuries to come ; With ardent haste each candidate of fame, Ambitious, catches at his tow'ring name; He sees, and pitying sees, vain wealth bestow Those pageant honours which he scorn'd below, While crowds aloft the laureat bust behold, Or trace his form on circulating gold. VOL. I.

M

Unknown, unheeded, long his offspring lay,
And want hung threat'ning o'er her slow decay.
What though she shine with no Miltonian fire,
No fav’ring Muse her morning dreams inspire ;
Yet softer claims the melting heart engage,
Her youth laborious, and her blameless age ;
Hers the mild merits of domestick life,
The patient fufferer, and the faithful wife.
Thus, grac'd with humble virtue's native charms,
Her grandsire leaves her in Britannia's arms;
Secure with peace, with competence, to dwell,
While tutelary nations guard her cell.
Yours is the charge, ye

fair,
ye wise,

ye

brave ! 'Tis yours to crown desert—beyond the grave.

PROLOGUE

TO THE COMEDY OF

THE GOOD-NATUR'D MAN, 1769. PREST

by the load of life, the weary mind Surveys the gen’ral toil of human kind, With cool submission joins the lab'ring train, And social sorrow loses half its pain : Our anxious bard without complaint may share This bustling season's epidemick care ; Like Cæsar's pilot dignify'd by Fate, Tost in one common storm with all the great ; Distrest alike the satesman and the wit, When one a Borough courts, and one the Pit. The busy candidates for power and fame

Have hopes, and fears, and wishes, just the same;
Disabled both to combat or to fly,
Must hear all taunts, and hear without reply.
Uncheck'd on both loud rabbles vent their rage,
As mongrels bay the lion in a cage.
Th' offended burgess hoards his angry

tale,
For that blest year when all that vote may rail ;
Their schemes of spite the poet's foes dismiss,
Till that glad night when all that hate may hiss.

“ This day the powder'd curls and golden coat," Says swelling Crispin, “ begg'd a cobler's vote.” “ This night our wit," the pert apprentice cries, “ Lies at my feet; I hiss him, and he dies." The great, 'tis true, can charm th' electing tribe; The bard may supplicate, but cannot bribe. Yet, judg'd by those whose voices ne'er were sold, He feels no want of ill-persuading gold; But, confident of praise, if praise be due, Trusts without fear to merit and to you.

M 2

PROLOUGE

TO THE COMEDY OF

A WORD TO THE WISE *.

SPOKEN BY MR NULL.

THIS night presents a play with public rage,
Or right, or wrong, once hooted from the stage t.
From zeal or malice, now no more we dread,
For English vengeance wars not with the dead.
A gen'rous foe regards with pitying eye
The man whom fate has laid where all must lie.

To wit reviving from its author's dust,
Be kind, ye judges, or at least be just.
For no renew'd hostilities invade
Th' oblivious grave's inviolable shade.
Let one great payment ev'ry claim appease,
And him, who cannot hurt, allow to please ;
To please by scenes unconscious of offence,
By harmless merriment, or useful sense.
Where aught of bright or fair the piece displays,
Approve it only—'tis too late to praise.
If want of skill or want of care appear,
Forbear to hiss--the poet cannot hear.
By all like him must praise and blame be found,
At best a fleeting gleam, or empty sound.

* Performed at Covent-Garden theatre in 1777, for the benefit of Mrs Kelly, widow of Hugh Kelly, Esq. (the author of the play), and her children.

+ Upon the first representation of this play, 1770, a party assembled to damn it, and succeeded.