University of Virginia Library

EPILOGUE. Written by the same Author: Spoken by Mrs. Cooke.

Much Time and Trouble this poor Play has cost;
And, Faith, I doubted once the Cause was lost.
Yet no one Man was meant; nor Great, nor Small;
Our Poets, like frank Gamesters, threw at All.
They took no single Aim:—
But, like bold Boys, true to their Prince and hearty,
Huzza'd, and fir'd Broad-sides at the whole Party.
Duels are Crimes; but when the Cause is right,
In Battel, every Man is bound to fight.
For what shou'd hinder Me to sell my Skin
Dear as I cou'd, if once my hand were in?
Se Defendendo never was a Sin.
'Tis a fine World, my Masters, right or wrong,
The Whiggs must talk, and Tories hold their Tongue.
They must do all they can—
But We, Forsooth, must bear a Christian mind,
And fight, like Boys, with One Hand ty'd behind;
Nay, and when one Boy's down, 'twere wond'rous wise,
To cry, Box fair, and give him time to rise.
When Fortune favours, none but Fools will dally:
Wou'd any of you Sparks, if Nan, or Mally
Tipt you th'inviting Wink, stand shall I, shall I?
A Trimmer cry'd, (that heard me tell this Story)
Fie, Mistress Cooke! Faith you're too rank a Tory!
Wish not Whiggs hang'd, but pity their hard Cases;
You Women love to see Men make wry Faces.
Pray, Sir, said I, don't think me such a Jew
I say no more, but give the Dev'l his due.
Lenitives, says he, suit best with our Condition.
Jack Ketch, says I, 's an excellent Physician.
I love no Bloud—Nor I, Sir, as I breath,
But hanging is a fine dry kind of Death.
We Trimmers are for holding all things even:
Yes—just like him that hung 'twixt Hell and Heaven.
Have we not had Mens Lives enow already?
Yes sure:—but you're for holding all things steddy:
Now since the Weight hangs all on one side, Brother,
You Trimmers shou'd, to poize it, hang on t'other.
Damn'd Neuters, in their middle way of steering,
Are neither Fish, nor Flesh, nor good Red-Herring:
Not Whiggs, nor Tories they; nor this, nor that;
Not Birds, nor Beasts; but just a kind of Bat:
A Twilight Animal; true to neither Cause,
With Tory Wings, but Whiggish Teeth and Claws.