Chimes and Rhymes Author:John Cotton Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: On the occasion of Dramatic Performances to promote the establishment of a Hospital at Bromsgrove, when the burlesque of "Ivauhoe," and the comedies "A Plighted ... more »Being," "A Fish out of Water," and " Mad as a Hatter " were performed in the old Corn Hxchange. ()H Charity, thou most benignant maid ! To thee we cry—solicitous for aid ; Incline thine ear and, answering our appeal, Some signs of gracious interest reveal. Descend at this auspicious hour, and pour Thy generous nature through the inmost core Of every bosom, and with shame involve Each selfish tendency and mean resolve. Like vivifying wine so stir the heart, And such a tone of sympathy impart, That, warmly glowing with fraternal zeal And filled with ardour for the common weal, All present may their kind assistance lend To comfort the afflicted, and befriend— By means of our new-founded Hospital— Those stricken ones Misfortune holds in thrall. For them, for it, our present prayers accrue, Who unto thee importunately sue ; For them, for it, for thee, for love, to-day The actor's part we now propose to play ; And while an over-flowing ' house' we court, We seek most its material support; Wherefore, O Charity, our object bless By giving us full seats and rich success. I pause from my apostrophe, perplexed ; As might a preacher who has lost his text. That slow-discerning prompter my dull brain Suggests, now, that the invocation's vain, Or needless, rather,—and the throng seen here Confirms the fact and makes it plainly clear. The Spirit I conjured within, without Has been already busily about Persuading you, for so it seems to me, To first bestow the charitable fee And then support us with your company ; Wherefore I thank and welcome you, and so Would ask you now attention to bestow What time our champions of the drama ...« less