[Frederick throws himself on his knees by the other side of his mother—She clasps him in her arms.—Amelia is placed on the side of her father attentively viewing Agatha—Anhalt stands on the side of Frederick with his hands gratefully raised to Heaven.]——The curtain slowly drops.
END.
EPILOGUE.
WRITTEN BY THOMAS PALMER, ESQ.
OF THE TEMPLE.
SPOKEN BY MR. MUNDEN.
Our drama now ended, I’ll take up your time
Just a moment or two in defence of my rhime—
* “Tho’ I hope that among you are some who admir’d
“What I’ve hitherto said, dare I hope none are tir’d?
“But whether ye have, or have not heard enough,
“Or whether nice critics will think it all stuff;
“To myself rhime has ever appear’d, I must own,
“In its nature a sort of philosopher’s stone;
“And if Chymists wou’d use it, they’d not make a pother,
“And puzzle their brains to find out any other.”
Indeed ’tis most strange and surprising to me
That all folks in rhiming their int’rest can’t see;
For I’m sure if its use were quite common with men,
The world would roll on just as pleasant again.
“’Tis said, that while ORPHEUS was striking his lyre,
“Trees and brutes danc’d along to the sound of the wire;
“That AMPHION to walls soon converted the glebes,
“And they rose, as he sung, to a city call’d Thebes;
“I suppose they were Butlers (like me) of that time,
“And the tale shows our sires knew the wonders of rhime.”
From time immemorial, your lovers, we find,
When their mistresses’ hearts have been proud and unkind,
Have resorted to rhime; and indeed it appears
That a rhime would do more than a bucket of tears.
Of love, from experience, I speak—odds my life!
I shall never forget how I courted my wife:
She had offers in plenty; but always stood neuter,
Till I, with my pen, started forth as a suitor;
Yet I made no mean present of ribband or bonnet,
My present was caught from the stars—’twas a sonnet.
“And now you know this, sure ’tis needless to say,
“That prose was neglected, and rhime won the day—
“But its potent effects you as well may discover
“In the husband and wife, as in mistress and lover;
“There are some of ye here, who, like me, I conjecture.
“Have been lull’d into sleep by a good curtain lecture.
“But that’s a mere trifle; you’ll ne’er come to blows,
“If you’ll only avoid that dull enemy, prose.
“Adopt, then, my plan, and the very next time,
“That in words you fall out, let them fall into rhime;
“Thus your sharpest disputes will conclude very soon,
“And from jangling to jingling you’ll chime into tune.
“If my wife were to call me a drunken old sot,
“I shou’d merely just ask her, what Butler is not?
“And bid her take care that she don’t go to pot.
“So our squabbles continue a very short season,
“If she yields to my rhime—I allow she has reason.”
Independent of this I conceive rhime has weight
In the higher employments of church and of state,
And would in my mind such advantages draw,
’Tis a pity that rhime is not sanctioned by law;
“For ’twould really be serving us all, to impose
“A capital fine on a man who spoke prose.”
Mark the pleader who clacks, in his client’s behalf,
His technical stuff for three hours and a half;
Or the fellow who tells you a long stupid story,
And over and over the same lays before ye;
Or the member who raves till the whole house are dosing
What d’ye say of such men? Why you say they are prosing.
So, of course, then, if prose is so tedious a crime,
It of consequence follows, there’s virtue in rhime.
The best piece of prose that I’ve heard a long while,
Is what gallant Nelson has sent from THE NILE.
And had he but told us the story in rhime,
What a thing ’twou’d be; but, perhaps, he’d no time.
So, I’ll do it myself—Oh! ’tis glorious news!
Nine sail of the line! Just a ship for each Muse.
As I live, there’s an end of the French and their navy—
Sir John Warren has sent the Brest fleet to Old Davy.
’Tis in the Gazette, and that, every one knows,
Is sure to be truth, tho’ ’tis written in prose.
* The lines between inverted commas are not spoken.