PROLOGUE WRITTEN AND SPOKEN BY THE POET LABERIUS, A ROMAN KNIGHT, WHOM CÆSAR FORCED UPON THE STAGE. PRESERVED BY MACROBIUS. * WHAT! no way left to shun th' inglorious stage, This translation was first printed in one of our Author's earliest works, The Present State of Learning in Europe, 12mo. 1759; but was omitted in the second edition, which appeared in 1774. Here then at once I welcome every shame, And cancel at threescore a life of fame; No more my titles shall my children tell, The old buffoon will fit my name as well; This day beyond its term my fate extends, For life is ended when our honour ends. THE DOUBLE TRANSFORMATION; A TALE.* SECLUDED from domestic strife. Made him the happiest man alive; Such pleasures, unallay'd with care, Could Cupid's shaft at length transfix Miss frown'd, and blush'd, and then was married. . Need we expose to vulgar sight The raptures of the bridal night? This and the following Poem were published by DR GOLDSMITH in his Volume of Essays, which appeared in 1765. |