EPITAPH ON DR. PARNELL. THIS tomb, inscribed to gentle Parnell's name, May speak our gratitude, but not his fame. What heart but feels his sweetly moral lay, That leads to truth through pleasure's flowery way! Celestial themes confess'd his tuneful aid; And Heaven, that lent him genius, was repaid, Needless to him the tribute we bestow, The transitory breath of fame below:

More lasting rapture from his works shall rise, While converts thank their poet in the skies.

EPITAPH ON EDWARD PURDON. HERE lies poor Ned Purdon, from misery freed, Who long was a bookseller's hack;

He led such a damnable life in this world—
I don't think he'll wish to come back,

PROLOGUE,

WRITTEN AND SPOKEN

BY THE POET LABERIUS,
A Roman Knight,

WHOM CÆSAR FORCED UPON THE STAGE.

PRESERVED BY MACROBIUS.

WHAT! no way
left to shun the' inglorious stage,
And save from infamy my sinking age!
Scarce half alive, oppress'd with many a year,
What in the name of dotage drives me here?
A time there was, when glory was my guide,
Nor force nor fraud could turn my steps aside;

Unawed by power, and unappal'd by fear,
With honest thrift I held my honour dear;
But this vile hour disperses all my store,
And all my hoard of honour is no more;
For, ah! too partial to my life's decline,
Cæsar persuades, submission must be mine;
Him I obey, whom Heaven himself obeys,
Hopeless of pleasing, yet inclined to please.
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

ΤΟ

THE TRAGEDY OF ZOBEIDE.

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

them

[Pit.

Here trees of stately size-and billing turtles in

them

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 stored-in yonder creek we've laid
His honour is no mercenary trader.

[her,

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
Equally fit for gallantry and war.

What, no reply to promises so ample?

[far,

-I'd best step back-and order up a sample.

EPILOGUE,

SPOKEN BY

Mr. Lee Lewes,

IN THE CHARACTER OF HARLEQUIN AT HIS BENEFIT.

HOLD! prompter, hold! a word before your non

sense;

I'd speak a word or two to ease my conscience. My pride forbids it ever should be said,

My heels eclipsed the honours of my head;

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 pursued!
Whose ins and outs no ray of sense discloses;
Whose only plot it is to break our noses;
Whilst from below the trapdoor 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, I'll vindicate the stage:
Shakspeare himself shall feel my tragic rage.
Off! off! vile trappings! a new passion reigns!
The maddening 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.

Ay, 'twas but a dream, for now there's no retreat-
If I cease Harlequin, I cease from eating. [ing;
'Twas thus that Æsop's stag, a creature blameless,
Yet something vain,like one that shall be nameless,
Once on the margin of a fountain stood,
And cavil'd at his image in the flood.

[shanks,

The deuce confound (he cries) these drumstick 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

drew. [hind, Hoicks! hark forward! came thundering from beHe 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 prized 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

ΤΟ

Mrs. Charlotte Lennor's

COMEDY OF THE SISTER.'

WHAT! five long acts—and all to make us wiser!
Our authoress sure has wanted an adviser.
Had she consulted me, she would 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 sinking;
Have pleased our eyes, and saved 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:

The world's a masquerade! the maskers, you, you, [To Boxes, Pit, and Gallery.

you.