ΤΟ

THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

Francis Seymour Conway,

EARL OF HERTFORD,

LORD CHAMBERLAIN OF

HIS MAJESTY's HOUSHOLD,
TO WHOSE

POLITENESS AND CANDOUR

PROLOGU E.

Written and Spoken by Mr. GENTLEMAN.

PROLO

DROLOGUES, like cards of compliment, we find,
Molt as unmeaning as politely kind ;

To beg a favour, or to plead excufe,
Of both appears to be the gen❜ral ufe.
Shall my words, tipt with flattery, prepare
A kind exertion of your tend'rest care?
Shall I prefent our author to your fight,
All pale and trembling for his fate this night?
Shall I follicit the most pow'rful arms

To aid his caufe-the force of beauty's charms ?
Or tell each critic, his approving tafte

Muft give the fterling ftamp, wherever plac'd è
This might be done but fo to seek applause
Argues a confcious weakness in the caufe.
No let the Muse in fimple truth appear,
REASON and NATURE are the judges here :
If by their ftrict and felf-defcribing laws,
The fev'ral characters to-night she draws ;:
If from the whole a pleafing piece is made,
On the true principles of light and shade ;.
Struck with the harmony of just design,

Your eyes-your ears-your hearts, will all combine
To grant applaufe :-but if an erring hand
Grofs difproportion marks in motley band.
If the group'd figures falfe connections show,,
And glaring colours without meaning glow,
Your wounded feelings, turn'd a diff'rent way,
Will juftly damn-th' abortion of a play.

As

As Farquhar has obferv'd, our English law,
Like a fair fpreading oak, the Mufe thould draw,
By Providence defign'd, and wifdom made
For honefty to thrive beneath its fhade ;
Yet from its boughs fome infects fhelter find,
Dead to each nobler feeling of the mind,
Who thrive, alas! too well, and never cease
Το prey on juftice, property, and peace.
At fuch to-night, with other legal game,
Our vent'rous author takes fatiric aim;
And brings, he hopes, originals to view,
Nor pilfers from th' Old Magpie, nor the New*.
But will to Candour chearfully fubmit

She reigns in boxes, galleries, and pit.

;

* Alluding to Mr. Garrick's Prologue to the Jubilee.