University of Virginia Library

EPILOGUE. Spoken by Miss Porter.

Who worse than Poets in their Tryals fare,
There's no appealing if you Cast 'em here;
And none before you's sure to gain his Cause,
For as your humours change, you change your Laws.
Nay, oft to be as cruel as you can,
You Damn the Cause if you dislike the Man:
But for some darling Wit, like Molere's Fop,
You cry 'tis fine before the Curtain's up.
Our Author dares not to his Merit trust,
Yet hopes you may be kind and not unjust;
To please Ambitious, by the fairest way,
He tryes not her Intrest, but his Play.
Vain as he is to fancy that will do,
Without caressing and engaging you.
No Faction flatter'd, and no Party made,
He well may of his fortune be afraid.
For as in business to be good and wise,
Is found a most uncertain way to vise.
So in Apollo's Court without a Friend,
A Muse can little on her self depend.
Exceptions to our Jury might we make
Perhaps it wou'd not be so hard to take.
But whither by your Votes they stand or fall,
Poor Poets are oblig'd to take you all.
When for themselves they've any thing to say,
You stop their mouths by telling 'em you pay.
A short and weighty Argument, we own,
Yes pray consider, Sirs, when all is done,
'Tis hard to Damn a Man for half a Crown.