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PROLOGUE,

WRITTEN AND SPOKEN BY

THE POET LABERIUS,

A ROMAN KNIGHT, WHOM CÆSAR FORCED
UPON THE STAGE.

PRESERVED BY MACROBIUS. *

WHAT! no way left to shun th' inglorious stage,.

And fave from infamy my finking age!
Scarce half-alive, oppress'd with many a year,
What in the name of dotage drives me here?
A time there was, when glory was my guide,
Nor force nor fraud could turn my steps afide;
Unaw'd by power, and unappal'd by fear,
With honeft thrift I held my honour dear:

* This translation was first printed in one of our Author's earliest works, "The Present State of Learning in "Europe." 12m0. 1759.

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But this vile hour disperses all my store,
And all my hoard of honour is no more;
For ah! too partial to my life's decline,
Cæfar perfuades, submission must be mine;
Him I obey, whom Heaven itself obeys,
Hopeless of pleasing, yet inclin'd to please.
Here then at once I welcome every shame,
And cancel at threescore a life of fame;
No more my titles shall my children tell
The old buffoon will fit my name as well;
This day beyond its term my fate extends,
For life is ended when our honour ends.

THE THE

DOUBLE TRANSFORMAΤΙΟΝ.

AT

A

L E.

SECLUDED from domestic strife,

Jack Book-worm led a college life;
A fellowship at twenty-five,
Made him the happiest man alive ;
He drank his glass, and crack'd his joke,
And freshmen wonder'd as he spoke.

Such pleasures, unallay'd with care,
Could any accident impair ?
Could Cupid's shaft at length transfix
Our swain arriv'd at thirty-fix?
O had the archer ne'er come down
To ravage in a country town!
Or Flavia been content to stop
At triumphs in a Fleet-street shop.
O had her eyes forgot to blaze!
Or Jack had wanted eyes to gaze.

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O!But let exclamation cease,
Her prefence banish'd all his peace.

So with decorum all things carry'd;

Miss frown'd, and blush'd, and then was-married.

Need we expose to vulgar fight
The raptures of the bridal night?
Need we intrude on hallow'd ground,
Or draw the curtains clos'd around ?
Let it fuffice, that each had charms;
He clasp'd a goddess in his arms;
And, though she felt his usage rough,
Yet in a man 'twas well enough.

The honey-moon like light'ning flew,
The second brought its transports too.
A third, a fourth, were not amiss,
The fifth was friendship mix'd with bliss:
But, when a twelvemonth pass'd away,
Jack found his goddess made of clay;
Found half the charms that deck'd her face
Arofe from powder, shreds, or lace;
But ftill the worst remain'd behind,
That very face had robb'd her mind.

Skill'd in no other arts was she,
But dressing, patching, repartee;
And, just as humour rose or fell,
By turns a flattern or a belle;

'Tis

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