EPILOGUE

To the YOUNG QUAKER,

Spoken by Mifs FRODSHAM, in the Character of DINAH. Auguft, 1783.

N°

O more nam'd Primrofe, I'm my Reuben's wife,

And Dinah Sadboy I am call'd for life.

There will I reft. Though alter'd be my name,
My faith and manners fhall remain the fame.
Still fhall my cheek fhow Nature's white and red ;
No cap fhall rife, like Steeple from my head;
Powder, pomatum, ne'er my locks shall deck,
Nor curls, like Saufages, adorn my neck.
In leathern carriage though I fometimes go,
I'll mount no lofty chaise in Rotten-Row.
Me fhall the eye of Wonder ne'er behold
In varnish'd vehicle, all paint and gold,
With liveried flaves behind, in grand parade,
All sticks, bags, lace, brown powder, and cockade-
Drawn thro' the crowded Park-while at my fide
The booted nobles of the nation ride-
Showing at once in ftate and splendour vain,
Both Lazarus and Dives in my train.

Ye,

Ye, who in marriage, wealth and grandeur feek, Think what a bleffing is a wife that's meek!

A helpmate, true of heart, and full of Love,
Such as to Reuben Dinah means to prove!

-Much art thou chang'd, my Reuben!-But 'twere ftrange

To wish thy faithful Dinah too might change.
Wife of thy bofom, ne'er fhall I delight

To turn the night to day, the day to night;
The Vigils pale of Balls and Routes to keep,
Or at the Card-table to murther fleep.

My mind shall still be pure, my thoughts ferene,
My habit fimple, and my perfon clean.

No pomps and vanities will I purfue,

But love my home, and love my husband too.

VOL. III.

X

PROLOGUE

PROLOGUE

To the BIRTH-DAY, A COMEDY of Two Acts, Written by Mr. O'KEEFE,

First acted at the THEATRE ROYAL in the HAY-MARKET, Auguft 12, 1783.

Spoken by Mr. PALMER.

WHEN Fate on fome tremendous act seems

bent,

And Nature labours with the dread event,
Portents and Prodigies convulfe the earth,
That heaves and struggles with the fatal birth.
In happier hours are lavish Bleffings given,
And pour'd in floods, to mark the hand of Heaven.
In a long series of bright glories drest,
Britons muft hail This Day fupremely bleft.
First on This Day, in Liberty's great cause,
A BRUNSWICK came to guard our Rights and Laws
On this great Day, our glorious annals tell,
By British arms the pride of Cuba fell,
For then the Moro's gallant chief o'erthrown,
Th' Havannah faw his fate, and felt her own:
The self-fame Day, the same auspicious morn,
Our elder Hope, our Prince, our GEORGE, was born.

Upon

Upon his natal hour what triumphs wait!
What captive treasures croud the palace-gate!
What doubled joys the Royal Parent claim,
Of homefelt Happiness and Publick Fame!

Long, very long, great George, protect the land, Thy race, like arrows in a Giant's hand! For ftill, tho' blights may nip fome infant rofe, And kill the budding beauty, ere it blows, Indulgent Heav'n prolongs th' illustrious line, Branching like th' Olive, clustering like the Vine.

Long, very long, thy courfe of glory run, A bright example to thy Royal Son!

Forming that Son to grace, like Thee, the throne, And make his Father's Virtues all his own!

PROLOGUE,

TO THE ELECTION OF THE MANAGERS.

"C

Spoken by MR. PALMER.

June, 1784.

URST be the verfe, how well fo e'er it flow, That tends to make one worthy man my foe; Gives Virtue Scandal, Innocence a Fear!

Or from the foft-eyed virgin fteals a Tear!"
Thus fung sweet Pope, the vigorous Child of Satire;
Our Bayes lefs Genius boafts, not lefs Good-Nature.
No poison'd shaft he darts with partial aim-
Folly and Vice are fair and general game :
No Tale he echoes, on no Scandal dwells,
Nor plants on one Fool's head the Cap and Bells:
He paints the living Manners of the time,

But lays at no man's door Reproach or Crime.

Yet fome with Critick nofe, and eye too keen, Scent double-meanings out and blaft each Scene; While fquint Suspicion holds her treacherous lamp, Fear moulds bafe coin, and Malice gives the ftamp. Falfehood's vile glofs converts the very Bible To Scandalum Magnatum, and a Libel.

Thus once, when fick, Sir Gripus, as we're told, In grievous ufury grown rich and old,

Bought