Well- now to the point-I’m sent here with ,

commission, To present this fair circle our humble petition : But conscious what hopes we should have of suc

ceeding, Without (as they phrase it) sufficiently bleeding; And convinced we've no funds, nor old gold we can rake up,

[Jacob; Like our good fathers-Abraham, Isaac, and We must frankly confess we have nought to pre

[tent ye. But Shakspeare's old sterling-pray let it con

This Shylock, the Jew, whom we mean to re

sent ye,

store ye,

Was naturalized oft by your fathers before

ye; Then take him to-night to your

kindest

compassion, Forto countenance Jews is the pink of the fashion.

FOR SOME COUNTRY LADS, PERFORMING

" THE DEVIL OF A WIFE,

IN THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS.

In days of yore, when round the jovial board,
With harmless mirth and social plenty stored, ,
Our parent Britons quaff'd their nut-brown ale,
And carols sung, or told the Christmas tale;
In struts St. George, Old England's champion

knight,
With hasty steps, impatient to recite-
How he had kill'd the dragon, once in fight.
From every side-from Troy-from ancient

Greece,
Princes pour in to swell the motley piece;

And while their deeds of prowess they rehearse, The flowing bowl rewards their hobbling verse.

Intent to raise this evening's cordial mirth, Like theirs, our simple stage-play comes to birth. Our want of art we candidly confess, But give you Nature in her homespun dress; No heroes here--no martial men might; A cobbler is the champion of to-night; His strap, more famed than George's lance of old, For it can tame that dragoness, a scold! Indulgent then support the cobbler's cause, And though he mayn't deserve it, smile applause.

TO THE RECRUITING OFFICER'.

SPOKEN AT SHREWSBURY, WHERE MR. FARQUHAR IS SAID

TO HAVE WRITTEN THAT COMEDY. FROM the fair mansions of illustrious shades, From groves of bliss, poetic painted meads, Should Farquhar, deck'd with deathless laurels, Obedient to his own recruiting drum; [come, Conscious to-night of the superior grace, The nobler beauties, that adorn this place, Here would he fix-enraptured, here abide, And change Elysium for the Severn's side.

Let boasting Rome of one Mæcenas tell, Countless are those that by the Severn dwell; Parnassus' Mount let future bards disclaim, Hark! how the Wrekin's 2 hospitable name Swells in the voice of Farquhar and of Fame.

Sabrina'! softest nymph that glides along, Winding and various as her Farquhar's song, Indulgent smiled, to bless the poet's toil, And straight bis bays bloom'd fresh, and own'd the generous soil.

[mix'd! Here-Beauty beams, with social sweetness Here-true politeness has her standard fix'd! Here- let the Muse her sacred numbers swell, And here let sportive wit and gay-dress'd humour

O, may our secondary labours find [dwell! The brave propitious, and the beauteous kind! So may Salopian plains, that bloom so gay, Ne'er know a blast, but wear perpetual May!

INTRODUCTION,

SPOKEN AT THE THEATRE IN SUNDERLAND,

TO A PLAY PERFORMED THERE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE

WIDOWS AND ORPHANS OF THAT PLACE.

ON widows--orphans-left, alas ! forlorn
(From the rack'd heart its every comfort torn),
Humanity to-night confers relief,
And softens though she can't remove their grief:
Blasted her hopes, her expectations killd,
The sons of sympathy (with sorrow chill’d)
Behold the wretched matron-madly weep,
And hear her cry-My joys are in the deep!
To the tremendous Power that rules mankind,
Lord of the seas—the calm and boisterous wind,
We bow obedient, and with awe resign'd.
His ways, inscrutable, we can't explore,
No-we may wonder, but we must adore!

Happy for ever be the generous breast
That feels compassion for the poor distress'd;
Happy the hand that stops the sufferer's tear!
Such hands there are, and such we find are here.

PETITION

TO THE WORSHIPFUL FREEMASONS,

DELIVERED FROM THE STAGE BY A LADY, AT A COMEDY

COUNTENANCED BY THAT FRATERNITY.

BROTHERS!— tis bold to interrupt your meeting, But from the female world I wait you-greeting:

[Courtesies. The ladies can advance a thousand reasons, That make them hope to be received as Masons: To keep a secret, -not one bint expressing, To rein the tongue-O husbands, there's a bless

ing! As virtue seems the Mason's sole foundation, Why should the fair be barr'd from-Installation ? If you suppose us weak, indeed you wrong us; Historians, Sapphos too, you'll find antong us; Think-brothers—think, and graciously admit us; Doubt it not, sirs, we'll gloriously acquit us: How to be wiser and more cautious, teach us ; Indeed 'tis time that your instructions reach us : The faults of late, and every foul miscarriage, Committed in the sphere of modern marriage, Were caused (if I've a grain of penetration), From each great lady's not being made a Mason, Accept us then, to brotherhood receive us, And virtue, we're convinced, will never leave us.

EPILOGUES.

SPOKEN AT EDINBURGH, BY MRS. BELLAMY, TO THE

Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra.

The flame our hero felt for his Egyptian
Is finely drawn; it glows in the description:
But modern love can ne'er maintain its station,
So many different goûts divide the nation.

The man of sense disdains the softening passion;
The coxcomb is enamour'd of—the fashion;
The bon vivant prefers the feast convivial;
And Phillis in a turtle finds a rival;
Besides the gentle race-the petits-maîtres !
The set insensible of happy cretures ;
So coy-so cold—that Beauty ne'er can warm
them;

[them; So nice, that nothing but themselves can charm

But hold—I run too fast, without reflection (Each general rule admits of some exception). Here' 'tis allow'd imperial beauty governs, And there the conquer'd sex adore their sove

reigns.

-to wave this bagatelle-declare
The grateful homage of a heart sincere :
I feel your favours with refined delight,
And glory in my patrons of to-night.