Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub
[blocks in formation]

(a) At that period the Celibacy Act was in force.

(b) Dr. Pratt was a constant attendant at the levees at St. James's.

(c) The see of Killaloe then vacant. Dr. George Carr, Chaplain to the Irish House of Commons, was appointed to it.

168

PARODY UPON PROVOST PRATT'S SPEECH.

Taught e'er the Deel himself could dream on't,
That of their illustrious house a stem on't
Should rise the best of kings.

VII.

The glad presages, with our eyes
Behold a king, chaste, valiant, wise,
In foreign fields victorious;

Who in his youth the Turks attacks,
And made them still to turn their backs;

Was ever king so glorious?

VIII.

Since Ormond, like a traitor gone,
We scorn to do what some have done,
For learning much more famous(a).
Fools may pursue their adverse fate,
And stick to the unfortunate;

We laugh while they condemn us.

IX.

For being of that generous mind,
To success we are still inclined,

And quit the suffering side.

If on our friends cross planets frown,
We joyn the cry, and hunt them down,

And sail with wind and tide.

X.

Hence 'twas this choice so long delayed,
Till our rash foes, the rebels, fled,

Whilst Fortune held the scale;

But since they're driven like mist before you,

Or rising sun, we now adore you,

Because you now prevail.

(a) "Alluding to the sullen silence of Oxford upon the accession."-Scott.

[blocks in formation]

It will be remembered that the scholars of Dr. Sheridan were in the habit of acting plays immediately before each va

(a) Scott adds, "this is spelled Chloe, but evidently should be Clio; indeed many errors appear in the transcription, which, probably, were mistakes of the transcriber."—Vol. xii. p. 357.

170

THE MISSING PROLOGUE.

cation, and that prologues and epilogues, some of considerable merit, were written for these occasions by Swift, Sheridan, and Delany. It is related that on one occasion Dr. Helsham wrote a prologue of rather a ludicrous character, and got the boy— Master Putland-who was to have spoken the original one, to recite this instead of that arranged by Sheridan. The trick succeeded to perfection, to the great annoyance of the schoolmaster, and to the infinite delight of Swift and his friends. What became of this prologue has not been related by any of Swift's biographers, nor is it to be found in any of his works. Among the broadsides in the volume before us we find the following poem, which evidently could not have been composed by Sheridan, or spoken by his permission. May it not have been that very prologue alluded to(a)?

A PROLOGUE,

DESIGNED FOR THE PLAY OF CEDIPUS, WRITTEN IN GREEK, AND PERFORMED BY MR. SHERIDAN'S SCHOLARS AT THE KING'S INNS HALL, ON TUESDAY, THE 10TH OF DECEMBER, 1723.

To-day before a learned audience comes

A play we know too well, witness our thumbs,
Where deep indenting rule such tragick staines
Has drawn to life, as wou'd amaze your brains:
Believe me, Sirs, I'd many an aking heart,
And many a stripe, to make me get my part;
And, after all, a tyrannizing rogue,
Imposes on my memory this curs'd prologue.
Well, faith, if I am fated e'er to squeek
In hollow scenes, it shall not be in Greek;
There's such a peal of hard words to be rung,
As spoils the brain, and after cracks the lung.
Had he adapted for our waxen age

A barring-out to play upon this stage,

(a) In the note to Scott's Swift, vol. xv. p. 79, it is said that the play fixed on was Hippolytus, and the year 1720. See also a note of Deane Swift at page 364 of Faulkner's Swift; Dublin, 1772.

THE MISSING PROLOGUE.

Especially consider'd time of year,

He need not its success, or our performance, fear.
Each boy his part so hero-like had done,

So well employ'd his powder, pease, and gun,

So bravely his assaults repuls'd, as you
Could not but be engaged our leave to sue.

The fair, for certain, wou'd have stood our friend,
Charm'd that our fortress we'd so well defend;
In hopes one day that the young cavaliers
Wou'd show with better grace in red and bandaliers.
And you, as well as they, will this confess,

That this same red has a damn'd taking grace;

For tho' black coats as potent be and able,

They're better pleas'd with gules than they're with sable.
But now I recollect, if more I speak

In English (my performance lies at stake)

The Deel a word I'll have just now in Greek.

}

171

Our collection contains "Punch's Petition to the Ladies," and underneath the heading, in the Dean's hand-writing, we find this sentence, "Written upon Secretary Hopkins refusing to let Stretch act without a large sum of money." This broadside was, in all probability, the original publication. We have compared it with that printed by Scott(a), but do not find alterations of sufficient importance in it to induce us to republish it. It does not bear the motto attached to it in modern times, but concludes with the signature," Punch cum Sociis."

On two broadsides we find the Petition and Answer of Dean Smedley, both printed in Dublin in the year 1724; the former is headed, "A Petition to His Ge the De of G―n." They do not bear a printer's name, but both of them are noted in the handwriting of Swift. There are a few trivial variations in both poems from those already published; a portion, however, of the petition has been so much altered from the

(a) Swift's Works, vol. xii. p. 497.

« ПредишнаНапред »