spoken by Mr. Garrick

As heroes, states and kingdoms rise and fall,
So, with the mighty to compare the small,
Through interest, whim, or, if you please, through fate,
We fee! commotions in our mimic state.
The sock and buskin fly from stage to stage —
A year's alliance is with us an age.
And where's the wonder? All surprise must cease
When we reflect how interest or caprice
Makes real kings break articles of peace.

Strengthened with new allies, our foes prepare,
Cry " Havoc! " and let slip the dogs of war.
To shake our souls the papers of the day
Drew forth the adverse power in dread array —
A power might strike the boldest with dismay.
Yet fearless still we take the field with spirit,
Armed cap-a-pie in self-sufficient merit.
Our ladies, too, with souls and tongues untamed,
Fire up like Britons when the battle's named.
Each female heart pants for the glorious strife,
From Hamlet's mother to the Cobbler's wife.
Some few there are whom paltry passions guide,
Desert each day and fly from side to side.
Others, like Swiss, love fighting as their trade,
For, beat or beating, they must all be paid.

Sacred to Shakespeare was this spot designed,
To pierce the heart and humanize the mind.
But if an empty house, the actor's curse,
Shows us our Lears and Hamlets lose their force,
Unwilling, we must change the nobler scene,
And in our turn present you Harlequin;
Quit poets and set carpenters to work,
Show gaudy scenes or mount the vaulting Turk.
For though we actors, one and all, agree
Boldly to struggle for our vanity,
If want comes on, importance must retreat;
Our first great ruling passion is to eat.
To keep the field all methods we'll pursue,
The conflict glorious, for we fight for you.
And should we fail to gain the wished applause,
At least we're vanquished in a noble cause.