A collection of poems on various subjects including the theatre, a didactic essay; in the course of which are pointed out, the rocks and shoals to which deluded adventurers are inevitably exposed. Ornamented with cuts and illustrated with notes, original letters and curious incidental anecdotes [by Samuel Whyte] |
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PROLOGUE TO THE TRAGEDY OF OROONOKO,
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 | A collection of poems on various subjects |  |
PROLOGUE TO THE TRAGEDY OF OROONOKO,
ON THE APPEARANCE OF A NEW IMOINDA, MONDAY, NOVEMBER VIIITH, MDCCLXXXIV. SPOKEN BY MR. YOUNG.
When tight and trim the freighted bark appears,
And just a-port with wind and current steers,
Some adverse blast oft her due course defeats,
And on the shoals the founder'd vessel beats:
Vain is the pilot's skill, his courage vain,
He struggles—faints—is buried in the main.
So fares it on the stage! sad truths attest,
And recent some your memory may suggest.
And just a-port with wind and current steers,
Some adverse blast oft her due course defeats,
And on the shoals the founder'd vessel beats:
Vain is the pilot's skill, his courage vain,
He struggles—faints—is buried in the main.
So fares it on the stage! sad truths attest,
And recent some your memory may suggest.
Here, rest and peace to his respected shade!
Mossop his vast energic powers display'd;
But, shame to tell! consummate in his art,
Stung with neglect, it broke his noble heart.
Harmonious Barry, on whose silver tongue
Emotion glow'd, and charm'd attention hung,
Deserted, hence fair nature's standard bore,
While all the loves stood weeping on the shore!
And last came Ryder; many a hard campaign
He fought, ill-starr'd! his station to maintain;
Forc'd by dear-bought experience to confess,
“'Tis not in mortals to command success.”—
Upon this sea of troubles, tempest toss'd,
How oft too have the softer sex been lost!
Here, lur'd from far, in youth and beauty's pride,
Imperial Yates her dawning genius tried,
And here, even here, 'twas solemnly decreed,
Preposterous sentence! she could ne'er succeed.
Brent too, another damning proof to give,
As here 'twere doom'd no nightingales should live,
Driven by the frenzy of a Gothic age,
Long reign'd the idol of a juster stage.
But pass we these ungracious subjects o'er,
And look to brighter prospects now in store.
Mossop his vast energic powers display'd;
But, shame to tell! consummate in his art,
Stung with neglect, it broke his noble heart.
Harmonious Barry, on whose silver tongue
Emotion glow'd, and charm'd attention hung,
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While all the loves stood weeping on the shore!
And last came Ryder; many a hard campaign
He fought, ill-starr'd! his station to maintain;
Forc'd by dear-bought experience to confess,
“'Tis not in mortals to command success.”—
Upon this sea of troubles, tempest toss'd,
How oft too have the softer sex been lost!
Here, lur'd from far, in youth and beauty's pride,
Imperial Yates her dawning genius tried,
And here, even here, 'twas solemnly decreed,
Preposterous sentence! she could ne'er succeed.
Brent too, another damning proof to give,
As here 'twere doom'd no nightingales should live,
Driven by the frenzy of a Gothic age,
Long reign'd the idol of a juster stage.
But pass we these ungracious subjects o'er,
And look to brighter prospects now in store.
Loudly 'tis rumour'd, and I fear too true,
Tho' prone to novelty, yet nothing new
Can make its way in this fastidious town,
Unless our neighbours first its merit crown;
But once it gains the imprimatur there,
We are sure to echo and applaud it here:
Hence we are aspers'd for poverty of taste,
Our judgment flouted, and our name disgrac'd.
'Tis yours the imputation to remove—
Think for yourselves, and for yourselves approve.
Too long inthrall'd, emancipated now,
No more to foreign influence meanly bow;
In arts as arms, let your traducers see
You are, and justly merit to be free.
Tho' prone to novelty, yet nothing new
Can make its way in this fastidious town,
Unless our neighbours first its merit crown;
But once it gains the imprimatur there,
We are sure to echo and applaud it here:
Hence we are aspers'd for poverty of taste,
Our judgment flouted, and our name disgrac'd.
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Think for yourselves, and for yourselves approve.
Too long inthrall'd, emancipated now,
No more to foreign influence meanly bow;
In arts as arms, let your traducers see
You are, and justly merit to be free.
If youth and beauty can afford delight,
We trust you'll prove unanimous to-night;
For who, solicited by youth and beauty,
Would not declare for the protecting duty?
To doubt in such a case, were much to wrong ye,
Then cheer our Heroine, she was born among ye,
And with a firm patriotic association,
Support the spirit of non-importation.
Oppress'd, dismay'd, she views the awful scene,
Really her first attempt, and not eighteen,
Trembling to tread, and anxious for her fate,
Where towering genius plum'd her wings so late:
Yet while due tribute to desert is paid,
Shall native talents languish in the shade?
Forbid it, sirs! and you, ye matchless fair!
Candid as beauteous, take her to your care,
And for her youth her imperfections spare.
There she desponding stands, drooping and pale,
Like the pearl'd rose-bud shivering at the gale;
But in the beams of your auspicious eyes,
May bloom a Crawford, or a Siddons rise!
We trust you'll prove unanimous to-night;
For who, solicited by youth and beauty,
Would not declare for the protecting duty?
To doubt in such a case, were much to wrong ye,
Then cheer our Heroine, she was born among ye,
And with a firm patriotic association,
Support the spirit of non-importation.
Oppress'd, dismay'd, she views the awful scene,
Really her first attempt, and not eighteen,
Trembling to tread, and anxious for her fate,
Where towering genius plum'd her wings so late:
Yet while due tribute to desert is paid,
Shall native talents languish in the shade?
Forbid it, sirs! and you, ye matchless fair!
Candid as beauteous, take her to your care,
And for her youth her imperfections spare.
There she desponding stands, drooping and pale,
Like the pearl'd rose-bud shivering at the gale;
But in the beams of your auspicious eyes,
May bloom a Crawford, or a Siddons rise!
| A collection of poems on various subjects | |