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For thou hast been my son-Oh, gracious Heav'n!

Thou that hast endless blessings still in store

For virtue, and for filial piety,

Let grief, disgrace, and want be far away;

But multiply thy mercies on his head.

Let honour, greatness, goodness, still be with him,

And peace in all his ways

Alt. Take, take it all:

To thee, Horatio, I resign the gift,

While I pursue my father, and my love,
And find my only portion in the grave.

[He dies.

Hor. The storm of grief bears hard upon his youth,
And bends him, like a drooping flower, to earth. 300
By such examples are we taught to prove
The sorrows that attend unlawful love.

Death, or some worse misfortune, soon divide,
The injur'd bridegroom from his guilty bride.
If you would have the nuptial union last,
Let virtue be the bond that ties it fast.

[Exeunt omnes.

EPILOGUE.

Υου see the tripping dame could find no favour;
Dearly she paid for breach of good behaviour;
Nor could her loving husband's fondness save her.
Italian ladies lead but scurvy lives,

There's dreadful dealings with eloping wives:
Thus 'tis, because these husbands are obey'd
By force of laws, which for themselves they made.
With tales of old prescriptions, they confine
The right of marriage-rules to their male line,
And huff, and domineer by right divine.
Had we the pow'r, we'd make the tyrants know,
What 'tis to fail in duties which they owe;
We'd teach the saunt'ring squire, who loves to roam,
Forgetful of his own dear spouse at home;
Who snores, at night, supinely by her side;
'Twas not for this the nuptial knot was ty’d.
The plodding petty-fogger, and the cit,
Have learn'd, at least, this modern way of wit.
Each ill-bred, senseless rogue, tho' ne'er so dull,
Has th' impudence to think his wife a fool;
He spends the night, where merry wags resort,
With joking clubs, and eighteen-penny port;
While she, poor soul, 's contented to regale,
By a sad sea-coal fire, with wigs and ale.

Well may the cuckold-making tribe find grace,
And fill an absent husband's empty place.
If you wou'd e'er bring constancy in fashion,
You men must first begin the reformation.
Then shall the golden age of love return,
No turtle for her wand'ring mate shall mourn;
No foreign charms shall cause domestic strife,
But every married man shall toast his wife;
Phillis shall not be to the country sent,

For carnivals in town to keep a tedious Lent;
Lampoons shall cease, and envious scandal die,
And all shall live in peace, like my good man and I.

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