To tender sympathy t' awake the soul.
To raise the genius and the will controul;
To shew the tendency of guilty love
And from the face of vice the most remove;
To guide the steps of youth in virtue's way
And bar the paths in which they're apt to stray;
For this, when poets exercise the pen,
They claim the plaudits of the best of men:
Virtue resplendent, sheds her brilliant rays,
And vice, her tedious native form displays.
Long has the stage, in regal pomp arroy'd,
Grand scenes of suffering majesty display'd:
The deep distress of royalty made known,
Which scarcely bear the likeness of our own;
The gazing crowd with admiration view
The gaudy trapings of the pompous shew:
While scarce a sentiment the scenes impart
To raise the genius or amend the heart.
Our post of to-night presents a play,
Form'd on the occurrence of a recent day;
A scene of sorrow acted in our land,
Which scarce a child can sail to understand:
He brings the troubles of a youthful maid,
Her virtue lost; Her innocence betray'd:
A scene ye fair, which for your use is pen'd,
By a (perhaps too bold, but) real friend:
Whose only aim was simply to pourtray,
The lad effects, when artful men betray;
To shew whereto such guilty pleasures lead,
How strict a guard the inclinations need,
And what sad scenes from rashness may proceed.
Critics be dumb, he wishes not applause,
He wrote but to subserve fair virtues cause
But should you snarl, he hopes the fair will deign;
To grace with pearly drops the tragic scene:
'Tis they must form his shield to night:
By virtue's power imprest;
And bid the [illeg.] turf lie light,
On poor Sophia's breast.
Ladies and Gentlemen, with leave, I'd say,
A word or two, to Epilogue the play.
Our Poet, (I beseech his worship's grace,
Perhaps I'm blaming him before his face):
But to my youthful fancy it appears,
Tho' his sad scenes may leave the house in tears.
He in the plot, or execution, errs.
For instance, does a single scene disclose
The stratagems produc'd Sophia's woes?
Or does the Poet paint Lysander's wiles,
By which, at length, her virtue he beguiles;
Or show the noble struglings of her soul,
While gentle virtue bore supreme controul,
Ere vice had cast its shade upon the whole?
Had he done this, it might have taught the fair
Of projects similar to have been aware:
And when, in future, artful men had strove
To urge them on to scenes of lawless love,
Forewarn'd, they likewise might have been forearm'd,
Vice dropt its mask, and virtue stood alarm'd.
But, stop — methinks I bear the scribler say —
Softly young miss, — let reason have fair play,
I've shown Lysander was a man of parts,
Form'd, (if inclin'd) to endanger female hearts:
Handsome, engaging, artful, debonaire,
The very thing the incautious to ensnare; [Source text incomplete]