Well-now to the point-I'm sent here with. commission, To present this fair circle our humble petition : But conscious what hopes we should have of succeeding, Without (as they phrase it) sufficiently bleeding; And convinced we've no funds, nor old gold we can rake up, [Jacob; Like our good fathers-Abraham, Isaac, and We must frankly confess we have nought to present ye, [tent ye. But Shakspeare's old sterling-pray let it conThis Shylock, the Jew, whom we mean to re store ye, Was naturalized oft by your fathers before ye; Then take him to-night to your kindest compas sion, For to countenance Jews is the pink of the fashion. FOR SOME COUNTRY LADS, PERFORMING THE DEVIL OF A WIFE,' IN THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAYS. IN days of yore, when round the jovial board, With hasty steps, impatient to recite How he had kill'd the dragon, once in fight. From every side-from Troy-from ancient Greece, Princes pour in to swell the motley piece; And while their deeds of prowess they rehearse, But give you Nature in her homespun dress; TO THE RECRUITING OFFICER'. SPOKEN AT SHREWSBURY, WHERE MR. FARQUHAR IS SAID FROM the fair mansions of illustrious shades, Let boasting Rome of one Mæcenas tell, 1 Mr. Farquhar dedicated his play of the Recruiting Officer to his friends. 2 The Wrekin, a remarkable mountain in the county of Salop, not far from Shrewsbury. Sabrina3! softest nymph that glides along, Winding and various as her Farquhar's song, Indulgent smiled, to bless the poet's toil, And straight his bays bloom'd fresh, and own'd the generous soil. [mix'd! Here-Beauty beams, with social sweetness Here-true politeness has her standard fix'd! Here-let the Muse her sacred numbers swell, And here let sportive wit and gay-dress'd humour O, may our secondary labours find [dwell! The brave propitious, and the beauteous kind! So may Salopian plains, that bloom so gay, Ne'er know a blast, but wear perpetual May! INTRODUCTION, SPOKEN AT THE THEATRE IN SUNDERLAND, TO A PLAY PERFORMED THERE FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE WIDOWS AND ORPHANS OF THAT PLACE. ON widows-orphans-left, alas! forlorn And softens though she can't remove their grief: 3 The poetical name for the river Severn. Happy for ever be the generous breast PETITION TO THE WORSHIPFUL FREEMASONS, DELIVERED FROM THE STAGE BY A LADY, AT A COMEDY COUNTENANCED BY THAT FRATERNITY. BROTHERS!-'tis bold to interrupt your meeting, But from the female world I wait you-greeting: [Courtesies. The ladies can advance a thousand reasons, As virtue seems the Mason's sole foundation, EPILOGUES. SPOKEN AT Edinburgh, BY MRS. BELLAMY, TO THE Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra. THE flame our hero felt for his Egyptian The man of sense disdains the softening passion; So coy-so cold-that Beauty ne'er can warm them; [them; So nice, that nothing but themselves can charm But hold-I run too fast, without reflection (Each general rule admits of some exception). Here' 'tis allow'd imperial beauty governs, 2 And there the conquer'd sex adore their sovereigns. Let me to wave this bagatelle-declare |