Since conjugal passion And marriage so blest on the throne is, Be fond and be fine, And Sir Trusty shall be my Adonis. SIR TRUSTY. And Sir Trusty shall be thy Adonis. KING. Who to forbidden joys wou'd rove,a BOTH. Who to forbidden joys wou'd rove, " to set * Who to forbidden joys] So careful was this excellent man, our passions on the side of truth," even in his gayest and slightest compositions. PROLOGUE TO THE TENDER HUSBAND. SPOKEN BY MR. WILKS. IN the first rise and infancy of Farce, When fools were many, and when plays were scarce, Drolls of all kinds, a vast unthinking host! Fruitful of folly and of vicc, it shows Cuckolds, and cits, and bawds, and pimps, and beaux; Rough country knights are found of every shire; Of every fashion gentle fops appear; And punks of different characters we meet, As frequent on the stage as in the pit. And here and there by chance glean up a fool: They search the town, and beat about the Park: And sometimes catch him taking snuff at White's. A comedy written by Sir Richard Steele. That scorn the paths their dull forefathers trod, And that there may be something gay and new, The first a damsel, travell'd in romance; The t'other more refin'd; she comes from France: Rescue, like courteous knights, the nymph from danger; And kindly treat, like well-bred men, the stranger. EPILOGUE TO THE BRITISH ENCHANTERS.* WHEN Orpheus tun'd his lyre with pleasing woe, While list❜ning forests cover'd, as he play'd, That this night's strains the same success may find, Where sounding strings and artful voices fail, • A dramatic poem written by the Lord Lansdown, A tedious pleasure on the mind bestow, But howsoe'er, to please your wand'ring eyes. HORACE, ODE III. BOOK III. Augustus had a design to rebuild Troy, and make it the Metropolis of the Roman Empire, having closeted several Senators on the project: Horace is supposed to have written the following Ode on this occasion. THE man resolv'd and steady to his trust, May the rude rabble's insolence despise, And the stern brow, and the harsh voice defies, Not the rough whirlwind, that deforms Adria's black gulf, and vexes it with storms, That flings the thunder from the sky, And gives it rage to roar, and strength to fly. Should the whole frame of nature round him break, In ruin and confusion hurl'd, * But HOWSOE'ER,] A word, which nobody would now use in verse, and not many, in good prose. He, unconcern'd, would hear the mighty crack,' He tam'd 'em to the lash, and bent 'em to the yoke. He shook off dull mortality, And lost the monarch in the god. Bright Juno then her awful silence broke, And thus th' assembled deities bespoke. Troy, says the goddess, perjur'd Troy has felt The dire effects of her proud tyrant's guilt; Wall'd by the hand of servile gods, Lay heavy on her head, and sink her to the dust. The guilty king and the whole people fell. Crack,] Plainly used here for the sake of the rhyme; for the poet knew very well that the word was low and vulgar. To ennoble it a little he adds the epithet "mighty," which yet, has only the effect to make it even ridiculous. |