EPILOGUE.
WRITTEN BY THOMAS PALMER, ESQ.
OF THE TEMPLE.
SPOKEN BY MR. MUNDEN.
OUR Drama now ended, I’ll take up your time
Juſt a moment or two, in defence of my rhime—
[1]“Tho’ I hope that among you are ſome who admir’d
“What I’ve hitherto ſaid, dare I hope none are tir’d?
“But whether ye have, or have not heard enough,
“Or whether nice critics will think it all ſluff;
“To myſelf rhime has ever appear’d, I muſt own,
“In its nature a ſort of philoſopher’s ſtone;
“And if Chymiſts wou’d uſe it, they’d not make a pother,
“And puzzle their brains to find out any other.”
Indeed ’tis moſt ſtrange and ſurpriſing to me
That all folks in rhiming their int’reſt can’t ſee;
For I’m ſure if its uſe were quite common with men,
The world would roll on juſt as pleaſant again.
“ ’Tis ſaid, that while Orpheus was ſtriking his lyre,
“Trees and brutes danc’d along to the ſound of the wire;
“That Amphion to walls ſoon converted the glebes,
“And they roſe, as he ſung, to a city call’d Thebes;
“I ſuppofe they were Butlers (like me) of that time,
“And the tale ſhows our ſires knew the wonders of rhime”
From time immemorial, your lovers, we find,
When their miſtreſſes’ hearts have been proud and unkind,
Have reſorted to rhime; and indeed it appears
That a rhime would do more than a bucket of tears.
Of love, from experience, I ſpeak—odds my life!
I ſhall never forget how I courted my wife:
She had offers in plenty; but always ſtood neuter,
’Till I, with my pen, ſtarted forth as a ſuitor;
Yet I made no mean preſent of ribband or bonnet,
My preſent was caught from the ſtars—’twas a ſonnet.
“And now you know this, ſure ’tis needleſs to ſay,
“That proſe was neglected, and rhime won the day—
“But its potent effects you as well may diſcover
“In the huſband and wife, as in miſtreſs and lover;
- ↑ The lines between inverted commas are not ſpoken.
