The Works of the Late Aaron Hill ... In Four Volumes. Consisting of Letters on Various Subjects, And of Original Poems, Moral and Facetious. With An Essay on the Art of Acting |
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PROLOGUE to the Tuscan Treaty.
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 | The Works of the Late Aaron Hill |  |
PROLOGUE to the Tuscan Treaty.
Now, mercy on our poet:—for the pit
Will ne'er judge, kindly, of so rash a wit;
Who, 'twixt two fairs, untimely, makes pretence,
To please, by Tragedy, and Common sense.
Troth, 'tis a wild adventure! tho' his play
Were double-arm'd, and guarded every way.
What! tho' our scene does tyrants disapprove;
And smiles on vertue, liberty, and love?
What, tho' a minion meets with ill success,
While a good statesman helps his King, to bless?
Still, 'tis but labour lost, to hope succeeding:
Where the court's empty, what avails fine pleading?
We reap no summer harvests,—player and printer,
Bloom, like your Glassonbury thorn, in winter.
And you, yourselves, (thank heaven!) have ne'er sound reason,
To bear with good instruction, out of season.
Will ne'er judge, kindly, of so rash a wit;
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To please, by Tragedy, and Common sense.
Troth, 'tis a wild adventure! tho' his play
Were double-arm'd, and guarded every way.
What! tho' our scene does tyrants disapprove;
And smiles on vertue, liberty, and love?
What, tho' a minion meets with ill success,
While a good statesman helps his King, to bless?
Still, 'tis but labour lost, to hope succeeding:
Where the court's empty, what avails fine pleading?
We reap no summer harvests,—player and printer,
Bloom, like your Glassonbury thorn, in winter.
And you, yourselves, (thank heaven!) have ne'er sound reason,
To bear with good instruction, out of season.
All this I told him, plainly—but he hears not:
He knows your tastes, it seems—and, therefore, fears not:
Tho' half the world runs mad, (says he)—depend on't,
Good sense has some friends left—and there's an end on't.
He knows your tastes, it seems—and, therefore, fears not:
Tho' half the world runs mad, (says he)—depend on't,
Good sense has some friends left—and there's an end on't.
| The Works of the Late Aaron Hill | |