To raise the genius and to mend the heart;
To make mankind in conscious virtue bold,
Live o’er each scene and be what they behold.’
No—with deep reverence for these nobler views,
We seek not to instruct you, but amuse;
To make you wiser, better, we don’t claim—
To make you laugh, our only end and aim.
And as the test of everything, men say,
Is just this simple question—does it pay?
Well, then (I speak for self and comrades present),