"Prologue and epilogues--to speak the phrase-- Which suits the warlike spirit of these days-- Are cannons charged, or should be charged, with wit, Which, pointed well, each rising folly hit." Garrick, however, only wrote according to the humour of the hour, for elsewhere he describes prologues as "the mere ghosts of wit;" and proposes their abolition. Their alleged falseness of promise he illustrates, in a "Prologue upon Prologues," spoken when none at all was needed, by a story:-- "To turn a penny, once, a wit, Upon a curious fancy hit, Hung out a board on which he boasted, 'Dinner for threepence, boiled and roasted! The hungry read, and in they trip With eager eye and smacking lip: 'Here bring this boiled and roasted, pray!' Enter potatoes, _drest each way_! All stared and rose, the house forsook, Cursed the dinner, and kicked the cook." It is a singular thing that authors had little or no control over the prologues or epilogues attached to their plays. In this respect, the manager acted as he pleased, licensed such sentiments as _he_ approved of, and was irresponsible. Thus, the refined Dr. Young was insulted by an unclean epilogue attached to his "Brothers," which was played for the benefit of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and Dr. Browne, one of the vainest of authors, was horrified by hearing Garrick, in the epilogue to "Barbarossa," make Woodward ask the public--referring to the doctor, to "Let the poor devil eat! allow him that!" Home, however, seems to have exercised, in some respect, his own judgment, when "Douglas" was played. That is, he refused to tag a satirical address to so solemn a tragedy; but another poet laughed at him, through Barry, who came on exclaiming-- "An epilogue I asked! but not one word Our bard would write! He vows 'tis most absurd With comic wit, to contradict the strain Of tragedy, and make your sorrows vain." But Shenstone, in his epilogue to Dodsley's "Cleone," a few years later, followed a double course. After that tragedy of anguish, the address began with, "Well, ladies, so much for the tragic style-- And now the custom is--to make you smile." Then came hints that had the absent husband Lefroy lived in modern times, his Cleone would have proved a different damsel to her depicted by the poet; but Shenstone adds, in his moral strain:-- "'Tis yours, ye fair, to bring those days again, And form anew the hearts of thoughtless men. Make beauty's lustre amiable as bright, And give the soul, as well as sense, delight; Reclaim from folly a fantastic age, That scorns the press, the pulpit, and the stage." This was a good attempt to raise the character of women by pointing to a duty which they might perform; and a similar moral strain was adopted long after by Sheridan. In the epilogue to his "Rivals," spoken by Mrs. Bulkley, he says:--