PROLOGU E.

NIL DICTU FŒDUM VISUQUE HÆC LIMINA TANGAT.

JUVEN.

LONG since indignant Learning hath complain'd
That this her seat unhallow'd steps profan'd,
That elephants here march, and horses prance,
And here perhaps in time the dogs may dance.
With justice she complains, nor is it fit
Such actors should invade the realms of wit;
But sooner these should charm a trifling age,
And elephants and horses fill the stage,
Sooner amongst our classic scenes to range

Should come the beasts from Exeter Exchange,

Did I the kingdoms of Thalia rule,

Than moral monsters from the German school:
-Right trusty tutors,a who, when sent t' expound
What good in marriage, and what ills are found,
Read learned lectures to the fair, and plead
Another's cause-but for themselves succeed:
-Ingenuous maidens, who their passion speak,
Nor let concealment feed upon the cheek,

Break through the rules, which vulgar souls restrain,
Claim nature's rights, and woo themselves the swain:
-A pious son, who for his mother's sake
Tries, as in duty bound, a purse to take,
And finding, 'twas his sire, his arm assail'd,
Puts on the bully, since the robber fail'd:
-Women, in whom detraction's self could spy
No single fault-but want of chastity:

Shame! shame! to teach the age, that matrons wh-'d
To a fond husband's arms can be restor❜d,

a See Lovers Vows.

b See Translations from German Plays in general.

c See the Stranger.

And at each parent's neck suspend a child,
To make them both forget the bed defil'd.
Such is the German school:-to ours I turn-
Here too we find a lesson to unlearn;

As Harlequin's slight wand before our eyes
Bids on some barren shore tall forests rise,
So in our plays doth beauty in a trice

Call full-grown virtues from the soil of vice.
-Tis fiction all-But no one to the truth
Is blinded by the party-colour'd youth,

None yet e'er thought, that woods at his command
Would rear their heads in air from rocks and sand;
Not innocent like this the authors cheat,

Where vanity assists the foul deceit;

And Flavia, while the glass reflects her charms,
Thinks none can be a villain in her arms;

d

-See Charles (his fortune spent or sunk in play),

Insensible to shame-in ruin gay;

Who sends his purse to one he scarcely knows,
But will not pay a tradesman what he owes;

d School for Scandal.

Who impudently boasts, your praise to gain,
That justice hobbles after him in vain;

And tells you, if a married dame should choose
With him to share her bed, he'd not refuse,

E'en were the man, 'gainst whom he must offend,
His uncle, and his guardian, and his friend.
Yet this is he, who, rescu'd from distress,
Is from this stage dismiss'd to happiness:

'Tis true, while gazing on Maria's eyes,
He half resolves in future to be wise,

Makes haste to wish, he virtue's path may tread,
Just as the curtain drops upon his head,

Alarm'd, lest from his speech its fall should take

Six lines, and he at last be left a rake.
-'Tis false morality-unless confin'd,

Soon rule the tyrant passions o'er the mind;

e Charles. Be just before you are generous;'-why so I would, if I could; but justice is an old, lame, hobbling beldam, and I can't get her to keep pace with generosity for the soul of me.'-School for Scandal, act iv. scene 1.

f See dialogue between Charles and Joseph Surface, School for Scandal, act iv.