EPILOGUE

Written by the Author, and spoken by Miss Smith in the character of Teresa.

[As printed in The Morning Chronicle, Jan. 28, 1813.]

Oh! the procrastinating idle rogue,
The Poet has just sent his Epilogue;
Ay, 'tis just like him!—and the hand!
[Poring over the manuscript.
The stick!
I could as soon decipher Arabic!
But, hark! my wizard's own poetic elf 5
Bids me take courage, and make one myself!
An heiress, and with sighing swains in plenty
From blooming nineteen to full-blown five-and-twenty,
Life beating high, and youth upon the wing,
'A six years' absence was a heavy thing!' 10
Heavy!—nay, let's describe things as they are,
With sense and nature 'twas at open war—
Mere affectation to be singular.
Yet ere you overflow in condemnation,
Think first of poor Teresa's education; 15
'Mid mountains wild, near billow-beaten rocks,
[[818]] Where sea-gales play'd with her dishevel'd locks,
Bred in the spot where first to light she sprung,
With no Academies for ladies young—
Academies—(sweet phrase!) that well may claim 20
From Plato's sacred grove th' appropriate name!
No morning visits, no sweet waltzing dances—
And then for reading—what but huge romances,
With as stiff morals, leaving earth behind 'em,
As the brass-clasp'd, brass-corner'd boards that bind 'em. 25
Knights, chaste as brave, who strange adventures seek,
And faithful loves of ladies, fair as meek;
Or saintly hermits' wonder-raising acts,
Instead of—novels founded upon facts!
Which, decently immoral, have the art 30
To spare the blush, and undersap the heart!
Oh, think of these, and hundreds worse than these,
Dire disimproving disadvantages,
And grounds for pity, not for blame, you'll see,
E'en in Teresa's six years' constancy. 35
[Looking at the manuscript.
But stop! what's this?—Our Poet bids me say,
That he has woo'd your feelings in this Play
By no too real woes, that make you groan,
Recalling kindred griefs, perhaps your own,
Yet with no image compensate the mind, 40
Nor leave one joy for memory behind.
He'd wish no loud laugh, from the sly, shrewd sneer,
To unsettle from your eyes the quiet tear
That Pity had brought, and Wisdom would leave there.
Now calm he waits your judgment! (win or miss), 45
By no loud plaudits saved, damn'd by no factious hiss.

[S. T. C.]

REMORSE[819:1]

A TRAGEDY IN FIVE ACTS[819:2]

DRAMATIS PERSONAE

1797. 1813-1834.
Velez=Marquis Valdez, Father to the two brothers, and Doña Teresa's Guardian.
Albert=Don Alvar, the eldest son.
Osorio=Don Ordonio, the youngest son.
Francesco=Monviedro, a Dominican and Inquisitor.
Maurice=Zulimez, the faithful attendant on Alvar.
Ferdinand=Isidore, a Moresco Chieftain, ostensibly a Christian.
Naomi=Naomi.
Moors, Servants, &c.
Maria=Doña Teresa, an Orphan Heiress.
Alhadra, wife of Ferdinand=Alhadra, Wife of Isidore.
Familiars of the Inquisition.
Moors, Servants, &c.

Time. The reign of Philip II., just at the close of the civil wars against the Moors, and during the heat of the persecution which raged against them, shortly after the edict which forbade the wearing of Moresco apparel under pain of death.

FOOTNOTES:

[819:1] Remorse, a recast of Osorio, was first played at Drury Lane Theatre, January 23, 1813, and had a run of twenty nights. It was first published as a pamphlet of seventy-two pages in 1813, and ran through three editions. The Second Edition, which numbered seventy-eight pages, was enlarged by an Appendix consisting of a passage which formed part of Act IV, Scene 2 of Osorio, and had been published in the Lyrical Ballads (1798, 1800, 1802, and 1805) as a separate poem entitled 'The Foster-Mother's Tale' (vide ante, pp. [182-4], [571-4]), and of a second passage numbering twenty-eight lines, which was afterwards printed as a footnote to Remorse, Act II, Scene 2, line 42 (vide post, p. [842]) 'You are a painter, &c.' The Third Edition was a reissue of the Second. In the Athenæum, April 1, 1896, J. D. Campbell points out that there were three issues of the First Edition, of which he had only seen the first; viz. (1) the normal text [Edition I]; (2) a second issue [Edition I (b)] quoted by the Editor (R. H. Shepherd) of Osorio, 1877, as a variant of Act V, line 252; (3) a third issue quoted by the same writer in his edition of P. W., 1877-80, iii. 154, 155 [Edition I (c)]. There is a copy of Edition I (b) in the British Museum: save in respect of Act V, line 252, it does not vary from Edition I. I have not seen a copy of Edition I (c). Two copies of Remorse annotated by S. T. Coleridge have passed through my hands, (1) a copy of the First Edition presented to the Manager of the Theatre, J. G. Raymond (MS. R.), and (2) a copy of the Second Edition presented to Miss Sarah Hutchinson (MS. H.). Remorse is included in 1828, 1829, and 1834.

[819:2] This Tragedy has a particular advantage—it has the first scene, in which Prologue plays Dialogue with Dumby. (MS. H.)