University of Virginia Library

PROLOGUE. SPOKEN BY MR. CONNOR.

Hail, holy friendship, generous attribute!
Howe'er the frozen sceptic may dispute
Thy unaffected power within the heart;
Yet there, despite philosophy, thou art,
There's thy dominion—witness the sublime,
And beauteous story of the elder time.—
Fitly, to night, all reverend with its age,
The chronicle or Britain's manly stage,
A fine reality, to-night for you,
In such a theme, the Drama dares be true,
And paints a pure and lofty sentiment,
In an old tale's majestic precedent.
Respect the theme, if not the Muse, nor here
Indulge the critic's cold sardonic sneer;
But to some faults, and we have many, blind;
To any merits, if we have them, kind.
And though we shrink before the sacred page
Of the great poet of Eliza's age,
When rose that mighty and gigantic band,
Ere France's letters delug'd all the land—
Of such surpassing excellence, that men,
Despair to look upon their like again;
Yet may some humbler spirit, though so high
He ne'er may soar, like to the passing fly,
Child of the summer, borrow from your smile
A bright existence, and disport a while.
But whatsoe'er our fate, who tries to raise
An altar unto virtue has some praise.
Husbands and fathers, here you stand secure,
Our Muse, however uninspir'd, is pure.
No fulsome blush, shall o'er the matron's cheek,
Diffuse its hot, dishonourable streak,
Nor the wise parent tremble, lest the child,
Bear from the scene, his youthful heart defil'd,
With the vile softness of that damned art,
That, to enchant the fancy, soils the heart.
A lofty pattern on the stage we show,
Should make the soul of every Briton glow
With all the force of friendship.—You should be
Propitious to that fine fidelity—
Men of the sea's first Island, tell me who
Should prize the noble feelings more than you,
By nature, and by freedom's habit wrought
In all capacity of lofty thought!
Then to pure friendship's glorious instance lend
Your audience, and the sacred theme befriend.