Bought a good book, that on a Chriftian plan
Inculcates the whole Duty of a Man,

To every fin a finner's name he tack'd,

And through the parish all the vices track'd;
And thus, the comment and the text enlarging,
Crouds all his friends and neighbours in the margin.
Pride, was my Lord; and Drunkenness, the 'Squire;
My Lady, Vanity and loose Defire;

Hardness of Heart, no mifery regarding,

Was Overseer-Luxury, Churchwarden.
All, all he damn'd; and carrying the farce on,
Made Fraud, the Lawyer-Gluttony, the Parfon.

'Tis faid, when winds the troubled deep deform, Pour copious streams of oil, 'twill lay the ftorm: Thus here, let Mirth and frank Good-humour's balm Make cenfure mild, fcorn kind, and anger calm! Some wholesome Bitters if the Bard produces, 'Tis only Wormwood to correct the juices.

In this day's conteft, where, in colours new, Three Play-Houfe Candidates are brought to view, Our little Bayes encounters fome Disgrace: Should You reject him too, I mourn his CafeHe can be chosen for no other Place.

}

PROLOGUE

To TWO TO ONE, a COMEDY, written by G. COLMAN, Jun.

Spoken by Mr. PALMER.

June, 1785.

'O-NIGHT, as Heralds tell, a Virgin Muse,

TO-NIGHT,

An untrain❜d youth, a new advent❜rer sues ; Green in his one-and-twenty, fcarce of age, Takes his firft Flight, half-fledg'd, upon the Stage. Within this little Round, the Parent Bird Hath warbled oft; oft patiently you heard; And as he ftrove to raise his eager throat, Your kind Applaufe made Musick of his note. But now, with beating Heart, and anxious Eye, He fees his vent'rous Youngling strive to fly; Like Dædalus, a Father's fears he brings,

A Father's hopes, and fain would plume his Wings.

How vain, alas, his Hopes! his Fears how vain! 'Tis You must hear, and hearing judge the ftrain, Your equal Juftice finks or lifts his name, Your Frown's a Sentence, your Applaufe is Fame.

If

If Humour warms his scenes with genial fire,
They'll e'en redeem the errors of his Sire;
Nor fhall his lead-dead! to the bottom drop,
By youth's enliv'ning cork buoy'd up at top.
If characters are mark'd with ease and truth,
Pleas'd with his Spirit you'll forgive his Youth.
Should Sire and Son be both with Dulnefs curft,
"And Dunce the fecond follow Dunce the firfst,”
The fhallow ftripling's vain attempt you'll mock,
And damn him for a Chip of the Old Block.

OCCASIONAL PROLOGUE,

To the TRAGEDY of TANCRED and SIGISMUNDA, and the COMEDY of the GUARDIAN, revived at the THEATRE ROYAL, HAY-MARKET, July 12, 1784.

Spoken by Mr. BANNISTER, Jun.

F anxious for his Sigifmunda's fate, Your Tancred for awhile foregoes his ftate; If, like Prince Prettyman, he rifques your fcoff, Half-bufkin'd-one boot on, and t'other off; You, who can judge a young advent'rer's fears, You, who've oft felt a female's fighs and tears, Will hear a fuppliant, who for mercy fues, Courting your favour through the Tragick Mufe.

Acrofs the vaft Atlantick fhe was led,

With blank-verse, blood-bowls, daggers, in her head!
And as the paft in ftorms the Western Ocean,
Felt her rapt foul, like that, in wild commotion !
But now an awful calm fucceeds; and draws,
In this dread interval, a folemn pause.
Within these feas, what various peril fhocks!
Dire Critick fhoals, and Actor-marring rocks!

Alas!

Alas! no chart or compass she can boast;
Yet runs her veffel on a dangerous coast-

That coaft, where late, in fpite of ev'ry fand,
A greater Sigifmunda gain'd the land.

Yet Britain ever hails the cloth unfurl'd,
And opens her free ports to all the world:
Majestick navies in her harbours ride,

Skiffs, fnows, and frigates anchor by their fide: And oh! may now, with no unprofp'rous gale, -The Sigifmunda fpread her little fail!

And while the Kemble follows faft behind,
A Guardian in her Sifter's fame fhe'll find.

PROLOGUE