PROLOGUE.

What flocks of critics hover here to-day,

As vultures wait on armies for their prey,

All gaping for the carcase of a play!

With croaking notes they bode some dire event,

And follow dying poets by the scent.

Ours gives himself for gone; you've watched your time:

He fights this day unarmed,—without his rhyme;—

And brings a tale which often has been told;