Here then at once I welcome every shame,
And cancel at threescore a life of fame;
No more my titles shall my children tell,
The old buffoon' will fit my name as well;
This day beyond its term my fate extends,
For life is ended when our honour ends.

PROLOGUE TO ZOBEIDE,

A TRAGEDY.

IN these bold times, when Learning's sons explore

The distant climates, and the savage shore;
When wise astronomers to India steer,

And quit for Venus many a brighter here;
While botanists, all cold to smiles and dimpling,
Forsake the fair, and patiently-go simpling;
Our bard into the general spirit enters,

And fits his little frigate for adventures.
With Scythian stores and trinkets deeply laden,
He this way steers his course, in hopes of trading:
Yet, ere he lands, has order'd me before,

To make an observation on the shore.

Where are we driven? our reckoning sure is lost!
This seems a rocky and a dangerous coast.
Lord, what a sultry climate am I under!
Yon ill-foreboding cloud seems big with thunder:

[Upper gallery.

There mangroves spread, and larger than I've seen

'em-

[Pit.

Here trees of stately size, and billing turtles in

'em

Here ill-condition'd oranges abound

[Balconies. [Stage.

And apples, bitter apples, strew the ground:

[Tasting them.

The inhabitants are cannibals, I fear :

I heard a hissing-there are serpents here!
O, there the people are-best keep my distance;
Our captain (gentle natives) craves assistance;
Our ship's well stor'd-in yonder creek we've laid
her,

His honour is no mercenary trader.

This is his first adventure, lend him aid :

And we may chance to drive a thriving trade. His goods, he hopes, are prime, and brought from far,

Equally fit for gallantry and war.

What, no reply to promises so ample?
-I'd best step back, and order up a sample.

EPILOGUE;

Spoken by

MR. LEE LEWES,

IN THE CHARACTER OF HARLEQUIN, AT HIS

BENEFIT.

O! prompter, hold! a word before your nonsense;

HOLD!

my

head;

I'd speak a word or two, to ease my conscience.
My pride forbids it ever should be said,
My heels eclips'd the honours of
That I found humour in a piebald vest,
Or ever thought that jumping was a jest.

[Takes off his mask. Whence and what art thou, visionary birth? Nature disowns, and reason scorns, thy mirth;

In thy black aspect every passion sleeps,
The joy that dimples, and the woe that weeps.
How hast thou fill'd the scene with all thy brood,
Of fools pursuing, and of fools pursu'd!"
Whose ins and outs no ray of sense discloses ;
Whose only plot it is to break our noses;
Whilst from below the trap-door demons rise,
And from above the dangling deities.
And shall I mix in this unhallow'd crew?
May rosin'd lightning blast me, if I do!
No-I will act, l'li vindicate the stage:
Shakspeare himself shall feel my tragic rage.
Off, off, vile trappings! a new passion reigns!
The madd'ning monarch revels in my veins.
Oh! for a Richard's voice to catch the theme:
'Give me another horse! bind up my wounds !'-
soft-'twas but a dream.

Aye, 'twas but a dream, for now there's no retreating:

If I cease Harlequin, I cease from eating.

'Twas thus that Esop's stag, a creature blameless, Yet something vain, like one that shall be nameless, Once on the margin of a fountain stood,

And cavill'd at his image in the flood.

The deuce confound,' he cries, these drum-stick shanks,

They neither have my gratitude nor thanks:
They're perfectly disgraceful! strike me dead!
But for a head,—yes, yes, I have a head.
How piercing is that eye! how sleek that brow!
My horns! I'm told, horns are the fashion now.'
Whilst thus he spoke, astonish'd, to his view,
Near, and more near, the hounds and huntsmen

He bounds aloft, outstrips the fleeting wind:

He quits the woods, and tries the beaten ways;
He starts, he pants, he takes the circling maze.
At length his silly head, so priz'd before,
Is taught his former folly to deplore;

Whilst his strong limbs conspire to set him free, And at one bound he saves himself, like me. [Taking a jump through the stage-door.

EPILOGUE

TO THE

COMEDY OF THE SISTERS.

WHAT! five long acts-and all to make us

wiser!

Our authoress sure has wanted an adviser.
Had she consulted me, she should have made
Her moral play a speaking masquerade;
Warm'd up each bustling scene, and in her rage
Have emptied all the green-room on the stage.
My life on't, this had kept her play from siuking;
Have pleas'd our eyes, and sav'd the pain of thinking.
Well, since she thus has shown her want of skill,
What if I give a masquerade?—I will.

But how? ay, there's the rub! [pausing]—I've got my cue:

you.

The world's a masquerade; the masquers, you, you, [To Boxes, Pit, and Gallery. Lud! what a group the motley scene discloses ! False wits, false wives, false virgins, and false

spouses!

Statesmen with bridles on; and, close beside 'em,
Patriots in party-coloured suits that ride 'em.
There Hebes, turn'd of fifty, try once more
To raise a flame in Cupids of threescore.
These in their turn, with appetites as keen,
Deserting fifty, fasten on fifteen,

Miss, not yet full fifteen, with fire uncommon,
Flings down her sampler, and takes up the woman;
The little urchin smiles, and spreads her lure,
And tries to kill, ere she's got power to cure.
Thus 'tis with all-their chief and constant care
Is, to seem every thing but what they are.
Yon broad, bold, angry spark, I fix my eye on,
Who seems t'have robb'd his vizor from the lion;
Who frowns, and talks, and swears, with round
parade,

Looking, as who should say, Dam'me! who's afraid? [Mimicking.

Strip but this vizor off, and sure I am
You'll find his lionship a very lamb.
Yon politician, famous in debate,
Perhaps, to vulgar eyes, bestrides the state;
Yet, when he deigns his real shape t'assume,
He turns old woman, and bestrides a broom.
You patriot too, who presses on your sight,
And seems, to every gazer, all in white,

If with a bribe his candour you attack,

He bows, turns round, and, whip-the man's in black!

Yon critic too-but whither do I run.?

If I proceed, our bard will be undone.

Well, then, a truce, since she requests it too :

Do you spare her, and I'll for once spare you,