SONG.

66 AH ME! WHEN SHALL I MARRY ME?''(1)

Intended to have been sung in the Comedy of" She Stoops to Conquer."

Ан me! when shall I marry me?

Lovers are plenty; but fail to relieve me.
He, fond youth, that could carry me,

Offers to love, but means to deceive me.
But I will rally, and combat the ruiner :

Not a look, nor a smile shall my passion discover.
She that gives all to the false one pursuing her,
Makes but a penitent, and loses a lover.(2)

(1) [Preserved by Mr. Boswell, and communicated by him to the editor of the London Magazine, with the following note:

66 'SIR,-I send you a small production of the late Dr. Goldsmith, which has never been published, and which might perhaps have been totally lost, had I not secured it. He intended it as a song in the character of Miss Hardcastle, in his admirable comedy of She Stoops to Conquer,' but it was left out, as Mrs. Bulkley, who played the part, did not sing. He sung it himself in private companies very agreeably. The tune is a pretty Irish air, called The Humours of Balamagairy,' to which, he told me, he found it very difficult to adapt words; but he has succeeded very happily in these few lines. As I could sing the tune, and was fond of them, he was so good as to give me them, about a year ago, just as I was leaving London, and bidding him adieu for that season, little apprehending that it was a last farewell. I preserve this little relic, in his own hand-writing, with an affectionate care. I am, Sir, your humble servant, JAMES BOSWELL."]

(2) [This air was revived and vulgarized in a song sung by the late Mr. Johnstone in Colman's farce of " The Wags of Windsor." Mr. Moore has brought it back into good company: it is to be found in the ninth number of his "Irish Melodies."-CROKER, Boswell, vol. ii. p. 207.]

EPILOGUE,

SPOKEN BY MR. LEE LEWES, IN THE CHARACTER OF

HOLD! Prompter, hold! a word before your nonsense:

I'd speak a word or two, to ease my consciense.

My pride forbids it ever should be said,

My heels eclips'd the honours of my head;
That I found humour in a pyebald vest,
Or ever thought that jumping was a jest.

[Takes off his mask.

Whence, and what art thou, visionary birth?
Nature disowns, and reason scorns thy mirth;
In thy black aspect every passion sleeps,

The joy that dimples, and the woe that weeps.
How hast thou fill'd the scene with all thy brood
Of fools pursuing, and of fools pursued !
Whose ins and outs no ray of sense discloses,
Whose only plot it is to break our noses;
Whilst from below the trap-door demons rise,
And from above the dangling deities.
And shall I mix in this unhallow'd crew?
May rosin'd lightning blast me if I do!
No-I will act, I'll vindicate the stage:
Shakspeare himself shall feel my tragic rage.
Off! off! vile trappings! a new passion reigns!
The madd'ning monarch revels in my veins.
Oh! for a Richard's voice to catch the theme:
"Give me another horse! bind

up my

wounds!-soft—

'twas but a dream."

(1) [These were probably the last verses written by Goldsmith. They were spoken on the 28th of April 1774, twenty-four days after his death.]

Ay, 'twas but a dream, for now there's no retreating,
If I cease Harlequin, I cease from eating.

Twas thus that Esop's stag, a creature blameless,
Yet something vain, like one that shall be nameless,

Once on the margin of a fountain stood,

And cavill'd at his image in the flood.

"The deuce confound," he cries, "these drumstick shanks,

They never have my gratitude nor thanks;

They're perfectly disgraceful! strike me dead !
But for a head, yes, yes, I have a head.
How piercing is that eye! how sleek that brow!
My horns!-I'm told horns are the fashion now.”
Whilst thus he spoke, astonish'd, to his view,
Near, and more near, the hounds and huntsmen drew
Hoicks! hark forward! came thund'ring from behind,
He bounds aloft, outstrips the fleeting wind:
He quits the woods, and tries the beaten ways;
He starts, he pants, he takes the circling maze.
At length, his silly head, so priz'd before,
Is taught his former folly to deplore;
Whilst his strong limbs conspire to set him free,
And at one bound he saves himself, like me.

;

[Taking a jump through the stage door.

DRAMA S.

VOL. IV.

M