| Citation |
MG-A(G.771.035
12 Sep 1771:5701,5702 (1357)
On Monday last, the new Theatre in West-Street was opened
with the Roman Father and Mayor of Garrat, to a numerous and
brilliant audience, who expressed the greatest satisfaction
not only at the performance, but with the House, which is
thought to be as elegant and commodious, for its size, as
any theatre in America.
The following Prologue and Epilogue were spoken by Mr.
Douglass and Mrs. Henry.
OCCASIONAL PROLOGUE.
To call forth Genius, bid fair science bloom,
Whilom[!] invelop'd in Cimmerian gloom;
The mind, by ignorance enthrall'd, to free
From the hard bonds of rude barbarity;
For this, at first, was form'd, for this, the Stage
Still claims th' indulgence of a polish'd age.
. . . [50 lines]
OCCASIONAL PROLOGUE.
Well, now 'tis over-- the ice fairly broken,
The Epilogue must be, by me, they say, spoken;
At a loss, I must own, I am for a beginning;
Which divines say but seldom the case is in sinning;
And a sinner I am, for no woman ere breathing
Turn'd actress, but strait she was reckon'd a heathen:
And now then, in conscience, can I, a forlorn one,
Be thought any other, for i' faith, I was born one.
. . . [32 lines]
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