Hard either task! The most abandon’d own,
That others, if abandon’d, are undone:
Then, for themselves, the moment Reason wakes
(And Providence denies it long repose),
O how laborious is their gaiety!
They scarce can swallow their ebullient spleen, 1320
Scarce muster patience to support the farce,
And pump sad laughter till the curtain falls.
Scarce, did I say? Some cannot sit it out;
Oft their own daring hands the curtain draw,