Is it not given to Este's unmeaning dash,
To Topham's fustian, Colman's flippant trash,
To Andrews' doggerel, when three wits combine,
To Morton's catchword, Greathead's idiot line,
And Holcroft's Shug Lane cant, and Merry's Moorfields whine, &c.
Criticism was not mealy-mouthed in Gifford's day.
The "tag" appears to be following the epilogue to oblivion; for though
it is difficult to differentiate them, the tag must not be confused
with the epilogue, or viewed as merely an abbreviated form of it. As a
rule, the epilogue was divided from the play by the fall of the
curtain, although this could hardly have been the case in regard to
the epilogue mentioned above, delivered by "Mrs. Ellen," as Dryden
calls her, after the tragedy of "Tyrannic Love." But the tag is
usually the few parting words addressed by the leading character in a
play, before the curtain descends upon it, to "our kind friends in
front," entreating their applause. The final _couplets_ of a French
vaudeville, it may be noted, usually contained an appeal of this kind;
otherwise, tags, and epilogues are alike eschewed upon the French
stage.
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