PROLOGUE To the BIRTH-DAY, A COMEDY of Two ACTS, Written by Mr. O'KEEFE, First acted at the THEATRE ROYAL in…

When Fate on some tremendous act seems bent, And Nature labours with the dread event, Portents and Prodigies convulse the earth, That heaves and struggles with the fatal birth. In happier hours are lavish Blessings given, And pour'd in floods, to mark the hand of Heaven. In a long series of bright glories drest, Britons must hail This Day supremely blest. First on This Day, in Liberty's great cause, A BRUNSWICK came to guard our Rights and Laws On this great Day, our glorious annals tell, By British arms the pride of Cuba fell, For then the Moro's gallant chief o'erthrown, Th' Havannah saw his fate, and felt her own: The self-same Day, the same auspicious morn, Our elder Hope, our Prince, our GEORGE, was born. Upon his natal hour what triumphs wait! What captive treasures croud the palace-gate! What doubled joys the Royal Parent claim, Of homefelt Happiness and Publick Fame!

Long, very long, great George, protect the land, Thy race, like arrows in a Giant's hand! For still, tho' blights may nip some infant rose, And kill the budding beauty, ere it blows, Indulgent Heav'n prolongs th' illustrious line, Branching like th' Olive, clustering like the Vine.

Long, very long, thy course of glory run, A bright example to thy Royal Son! Forming that Son to grace, like Thee, the throne, And make his Father's Virtues all his own!