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Had I been froward, skittish, or unkind,
Or to thy person or thy passion blind;
Had I refused, when 'twas thy part to pray,
Or put thee off with promise and delay;
Thou might'st in justice and in conscience fly,
Denying her who taught thee to deny :
But, James, with me thou hadst an easier task,
Bonds and conditions I forbore to ask;
I laid no traps for thee, no plots or plans,
Nor marriage named by licence or by banns;
Nor would I now the parson's aid employ,
But for this cause,'-and up she held her boy.
Motives like these could heart of flesh resist?
James took the infant and in triumph kiss'd;

Then to his mother's arms the child restored,

Made his proud speech, and pledged his worthy word.

'Three times at church our banns shall publish'd be,

Thy health be drunk in bumpers three times three;

And thou shalt grace (bedeck'd in garments gay)

The christening-dinner on the wedding day.' James at my door then made his parting

bow,

Took the Green-Man, and is a master now.

LETTER XII. PLAYERS

These are monarchs none respect,
Heroes, yet an humbled crew,
Nobles, whom the crowd correct,
Wealthy men, whom duns pursue;
Beauties, shrinking from the view
Of the day's detecting eye;
Lovers, who with much ado
Long-forsaken damsels woo,
And heave the ill-feign'd sigh.
These are misers, craving means
Of existence through the day,
Famous scholars, conning scenes
Of dull bewildering play;
Ragged beaux and misses grey,

Whom the rabble praise and blame;
Proud and mean, and sad and gay,
Toiling after ease, are they,

Infamous, and boasting fame. Players arrive in the Borough-Welcomed by their former Friends-Are better fitted for Comic than Tragic Scenes: yet better approved in the latter by one Part of their Audience Their general Character and Pleasantry-Particular Distresses and Labcurs-Their Fortitude and PatienceA private Rehearsal-The Vanity of the aged Actress-A Heroine from the Milliner's Shop-A deluded Tradesman-Of what Persons the Company is composed-Character and Adventures of Frederick Thompson. DRAWN by the annual call, we now behold Our troop dramatic, heroes known of old, And those, since last they march'd, inlisted and enroll'd:

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do,

Behold! the prince, the slave, the monk, the
Jew;

Change but the garment, and they'll all engage
To take each part, and act in every age :
Cull'd from all houses, what a house are they!
Swept from all barns, our borough-critics say;
But with some portion of a critic's ire,
We all endure them; there are some admire :
They might have praise, confined to farce
alone;

Full well they grin, they should not try to groan;

But then our servants' and our seamen's wives Love all that rant and rapture as their lives; He who 'Squire Richard's part could well sustain,

* Strolling players are thus held in a legal Finds as King Richard he must roar amain—

sense.

Thus to conclusions from examples led,
The heart resigns all judgment to the head;
Law, law alone for ever kept in view,

So much he's seen of baseness in the mind, That, while a friend to man, he scorns mankind;

His measures guides, and rules his conscience He knows the human heart, and sees with

too;

Of ten commandments, he confesses three
Are yet in force, and tells you which they be,
As law instructs him, thus: Your neigh-
bour's wife

You must not take, his chattels, nor his life;
Break these decrees, for damage you must
pay;

These you must reverence, and the rest-
you may.'

Law was design'd to keep a state in peace;
To punish robbery, that wrong might cease;
To be impregnable; a constant fort,
To which the weak and injured might resort:
But these perverted minds its force employ,
Not to protect mankind, but to annoy ;
And long as ammunition can be found,
Its lightning flashes and its thunders sound.
Or law with lawyers is an ample still,
Wrought by the passions' heat with chymic
skill;

dread,

By slight temptation, how the strong are led;
He knows how interest can asunder rend
The bond of parent, master, guardian, friend,
To form a new and a degrading tie
Twixt needy vice and tempting villany.
Sound in himself, yet when such flaws appear,
He doubts of all, and learns that self to fear:
For where so dark the moral view is grown,
A timid conscience trembles for her own;
The pitchy taint of general vice is such
As daubs the fancy, and you dread the touch.
Far unlike him was one in former times,
Famed for the spoil he gather'd by his crimes;
Who, while his brethren nibbling held their
prey,

He like an eagle seized and bore the whole
away.

Swallow, a poor attorney, brought his boy Up at his desk, and gave him his employ ; He would have bound him to an honest trade,

While the fire burns, the gains are quickly Could preparations have been duly made.

made,

And freely flow the profits of the trade;
Nay, when the fierceness fails, these artists
blow

The dying fire, and make the embers glow,
As long as they can make the smaller profits
flow;

At length the process of itself will stop,
When they perceive they've drawn out every
drop.

Yet I repeat, there are, who nobly strive
To keep the sense of moral worth alive;
Men who would starve, ere meanly deign to live
On what deception and chican'ry give;
And these at length succeed; they have their
strife,

Their apprehensions, stops, and rubs in life;
But honour, application, care, and skill,
Shall bend opposing fortune to their will.

Of such is Archer, he who keeps in awe
Contending parties by his threats of law :
He, roughly honest, has been long a guide
In Borough-business, on the conquering side;
And seen so much of both sides, and so long,
He thinks the bias of man's mind goes wrong:
Thus, though he 's friendly, he is still severe
Surly though kind, suspiciously sincere:

The clerkship ended, both the sire and son
Together did what business could be done;
Sometimes they'd luck to stir up small dis-
putes

Among their friends, and raise them into suits:
Though close and hard, the father was content
With this resource, now old and indolent :
But his young Swallow, gaping and alive
To fiercer feelings, was resolved to thrive :-
'Father,' he said, 'but little can they win,
Who hunt in couples where the game is thin;
Let's part in peace, and each pursue his gain
Where it may start our love may yet
remain.'

The parent growl'd, he couldn't think that
love

Made the young cockatrice his den remove;
But, taught by habit, he the truth suppress'd,
Forced a frank look, and said he thought it
best.'

Not long they'd parted ere dispute arose;
The game they hunted quickly made them

foes:

Some house, the father by his art had won,
Seem'd a fit cause of contest to the son,
Who raised a claimant, and then found a way
By a stanch witness to secure his prey.

Old as she is, she smiles at every speech,
And thinks no youthful part beyond her reach;
But as the mist of vanity again

Is blown away, by press of present pain,
Sad and in doubt she to her purse applies
For cause of comfort, where no comfort lies;
Then to her task she sighing turns again,-
'Oh! Hamlet, thou hast cleft my heart in
twain !'

Connected thus, he heard in way polite,-
'Come, Master Nottage, see us play to-night.'
At first 'twas folly, nonsense, idle stuff,
But seen for nothing it grew well enough;
And better now-now best, and every night,
In this fool's paradise he drank delight;
And as he felt the bliss, he wish'd to know
Whence all this rapture and these joys could
flow;

And who that poor, consumptive, wither'd For if the seeing could such pleasure bring,
thing,
What must the feeling ?-feeling like a king?
In vain his wife, his uncle, and his friend,
Cried Peter! Peter! let such follies end;

Who strains her slender throat and strives to
sing?

Panting for breath, and forced her voice to 'Tis well enough these vagabonds to see,

drop,

But would you partner with a showman be?' Showman!' said Peter, 'did not Quin and Clive,

And far unlike the inmate of the shop,
Where she, in youth and health, alert and gay,
Laugh'd off at night the labours of the day; | And Roscius-Garrick, by the science thrive?
With novels, verses, fancy's fertile powers, Showman!-'tis scandal; I'm by genius led
And sister-converse pass'd the evening-hours; To join a class who've Shakspeare at their
But Cynthia's soul was soft, her wishes strong,
head.'
He judgment weak, and her conclusions

wrong:

The morning-call and counter were her dread,
And her contempt the needle and the thread:
But when she read a gentle damsel's part,
Her wo, her wish!-she had them all by heart.
At length the hero of the boards drew nigh,
Who spake of love till sigh re-echo'd sigh;
He told in honey'd words his deathless flame,
And she his own by tender vows became ;
Nor ring nor licence needed souls so fond,
Alphonso's passion was his Cynthia's bond:
And thus the simple girl, to shame betray'd,
Sinks to the grave forsaken and dismay'd.

Sick without pity, sorrowing without hope,
See her! the grief and scandal of the troop;
A wretched martyr to a childish pride,
Her wo insulted, and her praise denied:
Her humble talents, though derided, used,
Her prospects lost, her confidence abused;
All that remains-for she not long can brave
Increase of evils-is an early grave.

Ye gentle Cynthias of the shop, take heed What dreams ye cherish and what books ye read.

A decent sum had Peter Nottage made,
By joining bricks-to him a thriving trade:
Of his employment master and his wife,
This humble tradesman led a lordly life;
The house of kings and heroes lack'd repairs,
And Peter, though reluctant, served the
players:

Poor Peter thus by easy steps became
A dreaming candidate for scenic fame,
And, after years consumed, infirm and poor,
He sits and takes the tickets at the door.

Of various men these marching troops are

made,

Pen-spurning clerks, and lads contemning
trade;

Waiters and servants by confinement teased,
And youths of wealth by dissipation eased;
With feeling nymphs, who, such resource at
hand,

Scorn to obey the rigour of command;
Some, who from higher views by vice are won,
And some of either sex by love undone ;
The greater part lamenting as their fall,
What some an honour and advancement call.
There are who names in shame or fear

assume,

And hence our Bevilles and our Savilles come;
It honours him, from tailor's board kick'd

down,

As Mister Dormer to amuse the town;
Falling, he rises: but a kind there are
Who dwell on former prospects, and despair;
Justly but vainly they their fate deplore,
And mourn their fall who fell to rise no more.
Our merchant Thompson, with his sons

around,

Most mind and talent in his Frederick found:
He was so lively, that his mother knew,
If he were taught, that honour must ensue;

The father's views were in a different line,
But if at college he were sure to shine,
Then should he go-to prosper who could
doubt ?

When school-boy stigmas would be all wash'd out;

For there were marks upon his youthful face, "Twixt vice and error-a neglected caseThese would submit to skill; a little time, And none could trace the error or the crime; Then let him go, and once at college, he Might choose his station-what would Frederick be?

'Twas soon determined-He could not
descend

To pedant-laws and lectures without end;
And then the chapel-night and morn to pray,
Or mulet and threaten'd if he kept away;
No! not to be a bishop-so he swore,
And at his college he was seen no more.
His debts all paid, the father, with a sigh,
Placed him in office-Do, my Frederick, try;
Confine thyself a few short months, and
then-

He tried a fortnight, and threw down the pen. Again demands were hush'd: 'My son, you're free,

Th' indulgent parents knelt beside the youth,
They heard his promise and believed his truth;
And when the danger lessen'd on their view,
They cast off doubt, and hope assurance
grew ;-

Nursed by his sisters, cherish'd by his sire,
Begg'd to be glad, encouraged to aspire,
His life, they said, would now all care repay,
And he might date his prospects from that
day;

A son, a brother to his home received,
They hoped for all things, and in all believed.
And now will pardon, comfort, kindness,

draw

The youth from vice? will honour, duty, law?
Alas! not all the more the trials lent,
The less he seem'd to ponder and repent;
Headstrong, determined in his own career,
He thought reproof unjust and truth severe ;
The soul's disease was to its crisis come,
He first abused and then abjured his home;
And when he chose a vagabond to be,
He made his shame his glory-' I'll be free.'
Friends, parents, relatives, hope, reason,

love,

With anxious ardour for that empire strove ; In vain their strife, in vain the means applied,

But you're unsettled; take your chance at They had no comfort, but that all were tried;

sea: '

So in few days the midshipman equipp'd, Received the mother's blessing and was

shipp'd.

Hard was her fortune; soon compell'd to meet

The wretched stripling staggering through the street;

For, rash, impetuous, insolent and vain,
The captain sent him to his friends again :
About the borough roved th' unhappy boy,
And ate the bread of every chance-employ;
Of friends he borrow'd, and the parents yet
In secret fondness authorised the debt;
The younger sister, still a child, was taught
To give with feign'd affright the pittance
sought;

For now the father cried-' It is too late
For trial more-I leave him to his fate,'-
Yet left him not; and with a kind of joy
The mother heard of her desponding boy :
At length he sicken'd, and he found, when sick,
All aid was ready, all attendance quick;
A fever seized him, and at once was lost

One strong vain trial made, the mind to move, Was the last effort of parental love.

Ev'n then he watch'd his father from his

home,

And to his mother would for pity come, Where, as he made her tender terrors rise, He talk'd of death, and threaten'd for supplies.

Against a youth so vicious and undone, All hearts were closed, and every door but one: The players received him, they with open heart

Gave him his portion and assign'd his part; And ere three days were added to his life, He found a home, a duty, and a wife.

His present friends, though they were

nothing nice,

Nor ask'd how vicious he, or what his vice,
Still they expected he should now attend
To the joint duty as an useful friend;
The leader too declared, with frown severe,
That none should pawn a robe that kings
might wear;

And much it moved him, when he Hamlet play'd,

The thought of trespass, error, crime and cost; To see his Father's Ghost so drunken made :

Then too the temper, the unbending pride
Of this ally would no reproof abide :-
So leaving these, he march'd away and join'd
Another troop, and other goods purloin'd;
And other characters, both gay and sage,
Sober and sad, made stagger on the stage;
Then to rebuke, with arrogant disdain,
He gave abuse and sought a home again."
Thus changing scenes, but with unchanging
vice,

Engaged by many, but with no one twice:
Of this, a last and poor resource, bereft,
He to himself, unhappy guide: was left-
And who shall say where guided? to what
seats

Of starving villany? of thieves and cheats?
In that sad time of many a dismal scene
Had he a witness (not inactive) been;
Had leagued with petty pilferers, and had crept
Where of each sex degraded numbers slept :
With such associates he was long allied,
Where his capacity for ill was tried,
And that once lost, the wretch was cast aside:
For now, though willing with the worst to act,
He wanted powers for an important fact;
And while he felt as lawless spirits feel,
His hand was palsied, and he couldn't steal.
By these rejected, is there lot so strange,
So low! that he could suffer by the change?
Yes! the new station as a fall we judge,-—
He now became the harlots' humble drudge,
Their drudge in common: they combined to

save

Awhile from starving their submissive slave;
For now his spirit left him, and his pride,
His scorn, his rancour, and resentment died;
Few were his feelings-but the keenest these,
The rage of hunger, and the sigh for ease;
He who abused indulgence, now became
By want subservient and by misery tame;
A slave, he begg'd forbearance; bent with
pain,

He shunn'd the blow,-Ah! strike me not again.'

Thus was he found the master of a hoy Saw the sad wretch, whom he had known a

boy;

At first in doubt, but Frederick laid aside All shame, and humbly for his aid applied:

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In state so loathsome and in dress so mean?'So thought the seaman as he bade adieu, And, when in port, related all he knew.

But time was lost, inquiry came too late, Those whom he served knew nothing of his fate;

No! they had seized on what the sailor gave, Nor bore resistance from their abject slave; The spoil obtain'd, they cast him from the door,

Robb'd, beaten, hungry, pain'd, diseased and poor.

Then nature (pointing to the only spot Which still had comfort for so dire a lot,) Although so feeble, led him on the way, And hope look'd forward to a happier day: He thought, poor prodigal! a father yet His woes would pity and his crimes forget; Nor had he brother who with speech severe Would check the pity or refrain the tear: A lighter spirit in his bosom rose, As near the road he sought an hour's repose. And there he found it: he had left the

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