Mark where the sly directors creep, Nor to the shore approach too nigh! The monsters nestle in the deep, To seize you in your passing by. Then, like the dogs of Nile, be wise, Who, taught by instinct how to shun The crocodile, that lurking lies, Run as they drink, and drink and run. Antæus could, by magic charms, Recover strength whene'er he fell; Alcides held him in his arms, And sent him up in air to Hell. Directors, thrown into the sea, Recover strength and vigour there; But may be tamed another way, Suspended for a while in air. Directors! for 'tis you I warn, By long experience we have found What planet ruled when you were born; We see you never can be drown'd. Beware, nor overbulky grow, Nor come within your cully's reach; For, if the sea should sink so low To leave you dry upon the beach, You'll owe your ruin to your bulk: Your foes already waiting stand, To tear you like a founder'd hulk, While you lie helpless on the sand. Thus, when a whale has lost the tide, The coasters crowd to seize the spoil: The monster into parts divide, And strip the bones, and melt the oil. Oh! may some western tempest sweep These locusts whom our fruits have fed, That plague, directors, to the deep, Driven from the South Sea to the Red! May he, whom Nature's laws obey, Who lifts the poor, and sinks the proud, "Quiet the raging of the sea, And still the madness of the crowd!" But never shall our isle have rest, Till those devouring swine run down, (The devils leaving the possest) And headlong in the waters drown. The nation then too late will find, Computing all their cost and trouble, Directors' promises but wind, South Sea, at best, a mighty bubble. [Footnote 1: Phaëthon. Ovid, "Metam.," lib. ii.--_W. E. B._] [Footnote 2: See the fable of Midas. Ovid, "Metam.," lib. xi.--_W. E. B._] [Footnote 3: Ecclesiastes, xi, I.] [Footnote 4: Psalm cvii, 26, 27.] [Footnote 5: Garraway's auction room and coffee-house, closed in 1866.--_W. E. B._] FABULA CANIS ET UMBRAE ORE cibum portans catulus dum spectat in undis, Apparet liquido praedae melioris imago: Dum speciosa diu damna admiratur, et altè Ad latices inhiat, cadit imo vortice praeceps Ore cibus, nee non simulacrum corripit una. Occupat ille avidus deceptis faucibus umbram; Illudit species, ac dentibus aëra mordet. A PROLOGUE BILLET TO A COMPANY OF PLAYERS SENT WITH THE PROLOGUE The enclosed prologue is formed upon the story of the secretary's not allowing you to act, unless you would pay him £300 per annum; upon which you got a license from the Lord Mayor to act as strollers. The prologue supposes, that upon your being forbidden to act, a company of country strollers came and hired the playhouse, and your clothes, etc. to act in.