OCCASIONAL EPILOGUE.

SPOKEN BY MR. CORRY, IN THE CHARACTER of VAPID, AFTER THE PLAY OF THE DRAMATIST, AT THE KILKENNY THEATRE.

(Entering as if to announce the Play.) LADIES and Gentlemen, on Monday night, For the ninth time- oh accents of delight To the poor author's ear, when three times three

With a full bumper crowns his Comedy! When, long by money, and the muse, forsaken,

He finds at length his jokes and boxes taken,

And sees his play-bill circulate — alas, The only bill on which his name will pass! Thus, Vapid, thus shall Thespian scrolls of fame

Thro' box and gallery waft your wellknown name,

While critic eyes the happy cast shall con, And learned ladies spell your Dram. Per

MY BIRTH-DAY.

"My birth-day - what a different

sound

That word had in my youthful ears! And how, each time the day comes round,

Less and less white its mark appears!

When first our scanty years are told,
It seems like pastime to grow old;
And as Youth counts the shining links
That Time around him binds so fast,
Pleased with the task, he little thinks
How hard that chain will press at
last.

Vain was the man, and false as vain,
Who said1- 66
- were he ordained to

run

"His long career of life again,
"He would do all that he had
done."

Ah, 't is not thus the voice that dwells
In sober birth-days speaks to me;
Far otherwise of time it tells,
Lavished unwisely, carelessly;
Of counsel mockt; of talents made
Haply for high and pure designs,
But oft, like Israel's incense, laid

Upon unholy, earthly shrines;
Of nursing many a wrong desire,

Of wandering after Love too far, And taking every meteor fire

That crost my pathway, for his star.All this it tells, and, could I trace The imperfect picture o'er again, With power to add, retouch, efface The lights and shades, the joy and pain,

How little of the past would stay!
How quickly all should melt away-
All -
- but that Freedom of the Mind
Which hath been more than wealth to
me;

Those friendships, in my boyhood twined,
And kept till now unchangingly;
And that dear home, that saving ark,
Where Love's true light at last I 've
found,

Cheering within, when all grows dark
And comfortless and stormy round!

1 FONTENElle. "Si je recommençais ma carrière, je ferais tout ce que j'ai fait."