EPILOGUE.

Spoken by Mrs. Bulkley in the character of MISS HARDCASTLE.

WELL, having stooped to conquer with success,
And gain'd a husband without aid from dress,
Still, as a bar-maid, I could wish it too,
As I have conquer'd him to conquer you :
And let me say, for all your resolution,
That pretty bar-maids have done execution.
Our life is all a play, compos'd to please,
"We have our exits and our entrances."
The first act shows the simple country maid,
Harmless and young, of everything afraid;
Blushes when hir'd, and with unmeaning action,
"I hopes as how to give you satisfaction."
Her second act displays a livelier scene-
The unblushing bar-maid of a country inn,
Who whisks about the house, at market caters,

Talks loud, coquets the guests, and scolds the waiters.
Next the scene shifts to town, and there she soars,
The chop-house toast of ogling connoisseurs.
On 'squires and cits she there displays her arts,
And on the gridiron broils her lovers' hearts-
And as she smiles, her triumphs to complete,
E'en common-councilmen forget to eat.
The fourth act shows her wedded to the 'squire,
And madam now begins to hold it higher;
Pretends to taste, at operas cries caro!
And quits her Nancy Dawson, for Che Faro:

Doats upon dancing, and in all her pride

Swims round the room, the Heinel of Cheapside:

1 Goldsmith wrote two other Epilogues to this Comedy, neither of which how

ever appear to have been spoken. See them at p. 127, and p. 131.

Ogles and leers with artificial skill,

Till, having lost in age the power to kill,

She sits all night at cards, and ogles at spadille.
Such, through our lives the eventful history—
The fifth and last act still remains for me.
The bar-maid now for your protection prays,
Turns female barrister, and pleads for Bayes.'

EPILOGUE.

To be spoken in the character of TONY LUMPKIN.
BY J. CRADOCK, ESQ.3

WELL-now all's ended-and my comrades gone,
Pray what becomes of "mother's nonly son?"
A hopeful blade!—in town I'll fix my station,
And try to make a bluster in the nation;
As for my cousin Neville, I renounce her,
Off-in a crack—I'll carry big Bet Bouncer.

Why should not I in the great world appear?
I soon shall have a thousand pounds a year!
No matter what a man may here inherit,
In London-'gad, they've some regard to spirit.
I see the horses prancing up the streets,
And big Bet Bouncer bobs to all she meets;
Then hoiks to jigs and pastimes ev'ry night--
Not to the plays-they say it aʼn't polite;

In the fourth volume of A Collection of Prologues and Epilogues, 4 vols. 12mo, 1779, there is a characteristic full-length portrait of Mrs. Bulkley in the dress she wore when she spoke this epilogue. Mrs. Bulkley (originally Miss Wilford) died in 1792. She was famous as Lady Racket.

2 This came too late to be spoken.-GOLDSMITH. See Goldsmith's Letter to Cradock, in vol. iv.

3 Joseph Cradock, Esq., of Gumley in Leicestershire. He was among the last survivors of Goldsmith's circle, and is now favourably remembered by his Memoirs, 5 vols. 8vo, 1828. He died, 15th Dec., 1826, in his 85th year.

To Sadler's-Well perhaps, or operas go,
And once by chance, to the roratorio.
Thus here and there, for ever up and down,
We'll set the fashions too to half the town;
And then at auctions-money ne'er regard,
Buy pictures like the great, ten pounds a yard :
Zounds, we shall make these London gentry say,
We know what's damn'd genteel as well as they.

First printed in the edition of Goldsmith's Works edited by Mr. Wright in 1837.

"The Grumbler" (a scene from which is here printed from the Licenser's MS. copy in the possession of John Payne Collier, Esq.) is an adaptation of Sir Charles Sedley's translation of Bruey's comedy of "Le Grondeur," and was played at Covent Garden Theatre on the 8th of May, 1773, for the benefit of Quick, the original Tony Lumpkin in "She Stoops to Conquer." It was only played once, and was never printed. It answered, however, the good-natured purpose for which Goldsmith wrote it. The following is an outline of the plot. Sourby, an ill-tempered, discontented man, is the torment of his family, neighbours, and servants. In the opening of the piece his son is on the point of being married to Clarissa, the consent of Sourby being chiefly obtained by the lady, who believes he has a design upon her himself, relinquishing her naturally mild character for that of a termagant. The character thus assumed agrees however so well with his own, that, in defiance of previous arrangements, he determines to marry her himself, a design favoured by her fortune being in his power. No other remedy occurs to the lovers to avoid his tyranny than further deception: the lady therefore assume the character of an extravagant, giddy woman of fashion, who is determined to have "habits, feasts, fiddles, hautboys, masquerades, concerts, and especially a ball for fifteen days after their nuptials." Above all, her intended husband must learn to dance; and she will admit of no excuse on the plea of years. In a change of scene the dancing-master arrives; Sourby, as soon as he knows his errand, orders him off and threatens chastisement: but the former having his cue, declares he has positive orders from Clarissa to make him dance, and drawing his sword compels him to do so by force. In the midst of this scene Wentworth arrives, and Sourby, in a fit of rage, renounces the lady.