Then from his closing eyes thy form shall part,

And the last pang

fhall tear thee from his heart.

Life's idle bufinefs at one gafp be o'er,

The Mufe forgot, and thou belov'd no more!

PRO

PROLOGUE

то

Mr. ADDISON's Tragedy

O F

САТО.

T

O wake the foul by tender ftrokes of art,

5

To raise the genius, and to mend the heart; To make mankind, in confcious virtue bold, Live o'er each scene, and be what they behold: For this the Tragic Muse first trod the stage, Commanding tears to stream thro' ev'ry age; Tyrants no more their favage nature kept, And foes to virtue wonder'd how they wept. Our author fhuns by vulgar fprings to move The hero's glory, or the virgin's love; In pitying Love, we but our weakness show, And wild Ambition well deserves its woe. Here tears shall flow from a more gen'rous cause, Such Tears as Patriots shed for dying Laws: He bids your breafts with ancient ardour rife, 15 And calls forth Roman drops from British eyes.

10

20

Virtue confefs'd in human fhape he draws,
What Plato thought, and godlike Cato was :
No common object to your fight displays,
But what with pleasure Heav'n itself surveys,
A brave man ftruggling in the ftorms of fate,
And greatly falling with a falling state.
While Cato gives his little Senate laws,
What bofom beats not in his Country's cause?
Who fees him act, but envies ev'ry deed?

25

Who hears him groan, and does not wish to bleed?

Ev'n when proud Cæfar, 'midft triumphal cars,

The fpoils of nations, and the pomp of wars,
Ignobly vain, and impotently great,

Show'd Rome her Cato's figure drawn in ftate; 30
As her dead Father's rev'rend image paft,
The pomp was darken'd, and the day o'ercaft;
The Triumph ceas'd, tears gufh'd from ev'ry eye;
The World's great Victor pass'd unheeded by;
Her last good man dejected Rome ador❜d,
And honour'd Cæfar's lefs than Cato's fword.
Britons, attend: be worth like this approv❜d,
And show, you have the virtue to be mov'd.
With honeft fcorn the firft fam'd Cato view'd
Rome learning arts from Greece, whom she subdu'd;

35

Your

VER. 20. But what with pleasure] This alludes to a famous paffage of Seneca, which Mr. Addison afterwards used as a motto to his play, when it was printed.

VER. 37. Britons, attend] Mr. Pope had written it arife, in the fpirit of Poetry and Liberty; but Mr. Addifon frightend at fo daring an expreffion, which, he thought, fquinted at rebellion, would have it alter'd, in the fpirit of Profe and Politics, to attend.

Your scene precariously fubfifts too long

On French tranflation, and Italian fong.
Dare to have sense yourselves; affert the stage,
Be juftly warm'd with your own native rage:
Such Plays alone should win a British ear,
As Cato's felf had not difdain'd to hear.

41

45

VER. 46. As Cato felf, etc.] This alludes to the famous ftory of his going into the Theatre, and imme diately coming out again.

EPILOGUE

то

Mr. RowE'S JANE SHORE.

PRO

Defigned for Mrs. OLDFIELD.

Rodigious this! the Frail-one of our Play From her own Sex fhould mercy find to-day! You might have held the pretty Head afide,

Peep'd in your fans, been serious, thus, and cry'd,
The Play may pass--but that strange creature, Shore,
I can't-indeed now-I fo hate a whore-
Juft as a blockhead rubs his thoughtless skull,
And thanks his ftars he was not born a fool;
So from a fifter finner you fhall hear,

"How ftrangely you expose yourself, my dear ?”
But let me die, all raillery apart,

Our sex are still forgiving at their heart;
And did not wicked custom so contrive,
We'd be the best, good-natur'd things alive.

There are, 'tis true, who tell another tale,
That virtuous ladies envy while they rail;
Such rage without betrays the fire within;
In fome close corner of the foul, they fin;
Still hoarding up, moft fcandaloufly nice,
Amidft their virtues a reserve of vice.

The godly dame, who fleshly failings damns,
Scolds with her maid, or with her chaplain crams.

15

20

Would