 | The Gamesters |  |
EPILOGUE, Written by a FRIEND, AND Spoken by Mrs. CIBBER.
My
conduct now will every mind employ,
And all my friends, I'm sure, will wish me joy:
'Tis joy indeed, and fairly worth the cost,
To've gain'd the wand'ring heart I once had lost.
Hold, says the prudish dame with scornful sneer,
I must, sweet madam, stop your high career;
Where was your pride, your decency, your sense,
To keep your husband in that strange suspense?
For my part, I abominate these scenes—
No ends compensate for such odious means:
To me, I'm sure—but 'tis not fit to utter—
The very thought has put me in a flutter!
And all my friends, I'm sure, will wish me joy:
'Tis joy indeed, and fairly worth the cost,
To've gain'd the wand'ring heart I once had lost.
Hold, says the prudish dame with scornful sneer,
I must, sweet madam, stop your high career;
Where was your pride, your decency, your sense,
To keep your husband in that strange suspense?
For my part, I abominate these scenes—
No ends compensate for such odious means:
To me, I'm sure—but 'tis not fit to utter—
The very thought has put me in a flutter!
Odious says miss, of quick and forward parts;
Had she done more, she'd given him his deserts:
O, had the wretch but been a spark of mine,
By Jove, I shou'd have paid him in his coin.
Had she done more, she'd given him his deserts:
O, had the wretch but been a spark of mine,
By Jove, I shou'd have paid him in his coin.
Another critic ventures to declare,
She thinks that cousin Pen has gone too far:
Nay, surely, she has play'd a generous part;
A fair dissembler, with an honest heart.
Wou'd any courtly dame in such a case,
Sollicit, get, and then RESIGN the place?
She knew, good girl, my husband's reformation,
Was (what you'll scarce believe) my only passion:
And when your scheme is good, and smart, and clever,
Cousins have been convenient persons ever.
With all your wisdom, madam, cries a wit,
Had Pen been false, you had been fairly bit:
'Twas dangerous, sure, to tempt her youth with sin;
The knowing-ones are often taken in:
The truly good ne'er treat with indignation,
A natural, unaffected, generous passion;
But with an open, liberal praise, commend
Those means which gain'd the honourable end.
She thinks that cousin Pen has gone too far:
Nay, surely, she has play'd a generous part;
A fair dissembler, with an honest heart.
Wou'd any courtly dame in such a case,
Sollicit, get, and then RESIGN the place?
She knew, good girl, my husband's reformation,
Was (what you'll scarce believe) my only passion:
And when your scheme is good, and smart, and clever,
Cousins have been convenient persons ever.
With all your wisdom, madam, cries a wit,
Had Pen been false, you had been fairly bit:
'Twas dangerous, sure, to tempt her youth with sin;
The knowing-ones are often taken in:
A natural, unaffected, generous passion;
But with an open, liberal praise, commend
Those means which gain'd the honourable end.
Ye beauteous, happy fair, who know to bless,
Warm'd by a mutual flame, this truth confess;
That should we every various pleasure prove,
There's nothing like the heart of him we love.
Warm'd by a mutual flame, this truth confess;
That should we every various pleasure prove,
There's nothing like the heart of him we love.
| The Gamesters | |