PROLOGUE TO ZOBEIDE, A TRAGEDY. IN these bold times, when Learning's sons explore The distant climates, and the savage shore; And quit for Venus many a brighter here; 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. thunder: [Upper gallery. There mangroves spread, and larger than I've seen 'em [Pit. Here trees of stately size, and billing turtles in em [Balconies. Here ill-condition'd oranges abound- [Stage. And apples, bitter apples, strew the ground: [Tasting them. The inhabitants are cannibals, I fear : I heard a hissing-there are serpents here! His honour is no mercenary trader. This is his first adventure: lend him aid, Equally fit for gallantry and war. What, no reply to promises so ample? SONG. O MEMORY, thou fond deceiver, And turning all the past to pain! Thou, like the world, the opprest oppressing, EPILOGUE; SPOKEN BY MR. LEE LEWES, IN THE CHARACTER OF HARLEQUIN, AT HIS BENEFIT. HOLD! prompter, hold! a word before your nonsense; I'd speak a word or two, to ease my conscience. [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. H And shall I mix in this unhallow'd crew? Aye, 'twas but a dream, for now there's no retreating: If I cease Harlequin, I cease from eating. '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, 'The deuse confound,' he cries, these drumstick shanks, They neither have my gratitude nor thanks: 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. Hoicks! hark forward! came thundering from behind; He bounds aloft, outstrips the fleeting wind: SONG. FROM THE ORATORIO OF THE CAPTIVITY, THE wretch condemn'd with life to part, Still, still on hope relies; And every pang that rends the heart, Bids expectation rise. Hope, like the glimm'ring taper's light, And still, as darker grows the night, |