 | Poor Vulcan |  |
SCENE the last.
Changes to Olympus, where all the Gods and Goddesses are discovered.CRUMP.
My rib again, by all the gods!
GODS AND GODDESSES.
Ha, ha, ha, ha!—
43
—I smell a rat,
A pretty game they have been at!
JUPITER.
How, master Crump! What don't you know,
Your old friends, Serjeant Pike, and Joe?
Squire Stud, Ned Gauge, and Master Drub,
And all the good folks of the club?
VULCAN.
I've nothing for't, but brazen't it out!
[Aside.
MARS.
Come, come, old boy, you must not pout;
'Tis over now; but, pr'ythee, tell us,
Was not you most confounded jealous?
Did we not finely fret and stew you?
VULCAN.
Ha, ha, ha, by the lord I knew you!
JUPITER.
Well done, old Vulcan, not to flatter,
You put a good face on the matter:
Then what was meant well, well receive,
To men, through you, advice we give;
This little frolic was design'd,
A wholesome lesson for mankind.
44
Cho.
Then be content, ye mortal race,
Nor wish to change, nor fate, nor place;
You must of good and ill have share,
And nature's nature every where.
Jup.
Once on a time, when men complain'd
They were with ills too tightly stain'd;
I publish'd in a certain town,
That each might lay his burden down,
And take up that, more to his mind,
Some other mortals left behind.
When soon (to see the ways of men)
Each begg'd to have his own again.
Cho.
Then be content, &c.
Mars.
I heard you once the tale relate,
A son took up his dad's estate;
But when the youngster had found out
The packet held old age, the gout,
The rheumatism and the stone,
He quickly begg'd to have his own;
And swore he'd never ask for wealth,
So he might have again his health.
Cho.
Then be content, &c.
Venus.
A lady too, who at a rout,
(Dire chance!) had dropp'd her false teeth out,
O'erwhelm'd with shame, soon chang'd her lot,
With the poor inmate of a cot;
45
She must repose, and eat brown bread,
Wear a plain coif, and russet gown,
She wanted false teeth, and the town.
CHORUS.
Then be content, ye mortal race,
Nor wish to change, nor fate, nor place;
You must of good and ill have share,
And nature's nature every where.
| Poor Vulcan | |