 | The choice spirits feast |  |
12
EPILOGUE.
When first on the Stage a new Tragedy's shown,
With Prologue and Pageant 'tis palm'd on the Town,
All be buskin'd the Hero, by Licence poetic,
Shews Attitude, Emphasis, Passion Theatric,
According to Law, Magna Charta Dramatic.
With Prologue and Pageant 'tis palm'd on the Town,
All be buskin'd the Hero, by Licence poetic,
Shews Attitude, Emphasis, Passion Theatric,
According to Law, Magna Charta Dramatic.
To read what is wrote in that Law I advise ye,
Vide Shakespear's Reports, Primus Actus Elizæ.
Vide Shakespear's Reports, Primus Actus Elizæ.
Then enters the Epilogue Lady to show forth,
Makes a Curtsy all round, cry's your Servant, and so forth.
For the Town must have Farce after Tragedy follow;
As Children take Sugar when Physic they swallow.
The Curtain then drops, and the Lady Trips off.
The Moral is this, All the World's but a Laugh.
For the Space Time has fill'd 'twixt the Cradle and Coffin,
Let us think as we please, is fit only to laugh in.
Makes a Curtsy all round, cry's your Servant, and so forth.
For the Town must have Farce after Tragedy follow;
As Children take Sugar when Physic they swallow.
The Curtain then drops, and the Lady Trips off.
The Moral is this, All the World's but a Laugh.
For the Space Time has fill'd 'twixt the Cradle and Coffin,
Let us think as we please, is fit only to laugh in.
But here is the Riddle, tho' Laughing's the Test,
The Touchstone distinguishing Man from a Beast:
Yet to know how to laugh, and to laugh in right Season,
Is an Art that can only be taught by right Reason.
Some fancy they laugh, tho' they don't know for what;
Some Men we laugh with, and some Men we laugh at.
The self-fancy'd Wisemen, in Consequence great,
Wou'd not laugh for the World—it takes off from their State.
While Romp-loving Virgins are loud in their Mirth,
And Squires and Aldermen roar the Laugh forth.
Old Maids who to Chastity Martyrs become,
And Canker-like gnaw the sweet Bud of Mirth's Bloom.
Like long-lain-by Armour, they're rusty with Scorn;
As Wine too long kept, will to Vinegar turn.
In Men 'tis the same; they may set up for Science,
And Cynical dare to set laugh at Defiance:
Their Learning, their Reason, their Wisdom they show,
Yet one half Hour's Laugh's beyond all that they know.
The Touchstone distinguishing Man from a Beast:
Yet to know how to laugh, and to laugh in right Season,
Is an Art that can only be taught by right Reason.
Some fancy they laugh, tho' they don't know for what;
Some Men we laugh with, and some Men we laugh at.
The self-fancy'd Wisemen, in Consequence great,
Wou'd not laugh for the World—it takes off from their State.
While Romp-loving Virgins are loud in their Mirth,
And Squires and Aldermen roar the Laugh forth.
Old Maids who to Chastity Martyrs become,
And Canker-like gnaw the sweet Bud of Mirth's Bloom.
Like long-lain-by Armour, they're rusty with Scorn;
As Wine too long kept, will to Vinegar turn.
In Men 'tis the same; they may set up for Science,
And Cynical dare to set laugh at Defiance:
Their Learning, their Reason, their Wisdom they show,
Yet one half Hour's Laugh's beyond all that they know.
To help that laugh on we've open'd our Feast,
If we've pleas'd, or if not, on this we must rest:
But if you laugh with us you then crown the Jest.
If we've pleas'd, or if not, on this we must rest:
But if you laugh with us you then crown the Jest.
| The choice spirits feast | |