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Page 17
* * * * *
AN OCCASIONAL PROLOGUE DELIVERED BY THE AUTHOR, PREVIOUS TO THE
PERFORMANCE OF THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE, AT A PRIVATE THEATRE.
Since the refinement of this polish'd age,
Has swept immoral raillery from the stage;
Since taste has now expung'd licentious wit,
Which stamp'd disgrace on all an author writ;
Since now to please with purer scenes we seek,
Nor dare to call the blush from beauty's cheek;
Oh! let the modest muse some pity claim,
And meet indulgence--though she find not fame.
But not for _her_ alone, we wish respect,
_Others_ appear more conscious of defect;
To night, no _Veteran Roscii_ you behold,
In all the arts of scenic action old;
No COOKE, no KEMBLE, can salute you here,
No SIDDONS draw the sympathetic tear,
To night, you thong to witness the debut,
Of embryo actors to the drama new;
Here then, our almost unfledg'd wings we try,
Clip not our _pinions_, ere the _birds can fly_;
Failing in this our first attempt to soar,
Drooping, alas, we fall to rise no more.
Not one poor trembler only, fear betrays,
Who hopes, yet almost dreads to meet your praise;
But all our Dramatis Person� wait,
In fond suspense, this crisis of their fate;
No venal views our progress can retard,
Your generous plaudits are our sole reward;
For them each _Hero_ all his power displays,
Each timid _Heroine_ shrinks before your gaze:
Surely these last will some protection find,
None to the softer sex can prove unkind;
Whilst youth and beauty form the female shield,
The sternest critic to the fair must yield.
But should our feeble efforts nought avail,
Should, _after all_, our best endeavours fail;
Still let some mercy in your bosoms live,
And if you can't applaud, at least _forgive_.
* * * * *
TO MISS E.P.
1.
Eliza! what fools are the Mussulman sect,
Who to woman deny the soul's future existence,
Could they see thee, Eliza! they'd own their defect,
And this doctrine would meet with a general resistance.
2.
Had their Prophet possess'd but an atom of sense,
He ne'er would have _woman_ from Paradise driven,
But instead of his _Houris_ a flimsy pretence,
With _woman alone_, he had peopled his Heaven.
3.
But still to increase your calamities more,
Not content with depriving your bodies of spirit,
He allots but _one husband_ to share amongst four,
With _souls_ you'd dispense--but this last who could bear it.
4.
His religion to please neither _party_ is made,
On _husbands_ 'tis _hard_, to the wives most uncivil;
But I can't contradict what so oft has been said,
"Though women are angels, yet wedlock's the devil."
5.
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