 | The Injured Princess, or the Fatal Wager |  |
THE PROLOGUE.
Old Plays like Mistresses, long since enjoy'd,Long after please, whom they before had cloy'd;
For Fancy chews the Cudd on past delight,
And cheats it self to a new Appetite.
But then this second Fit comes not so strong,
Like second Agues, neither fierce nor long:
What you have known before, grows sooner stale,
And less provokes you, than an untold Tale.
That but refreshes what before you knew,
But this discovers something that is new;
Hence 'tis, that at new Plays you come so soon,
Like Bride-grooms, hot to go to Bed ere noon!
Or, if you are detain'd some little space,
The stinking Footman's sent to keep your place.
But, when a Play's reviv'd, you stay and dine,
And drink till three, and then come dropping in;
As Husband after absence, wait all day,
And decently for Spouse, till Bed-time stay!
So, ere the Brethren's liberal Fit was spent,
The first wise Nonconformist, underwent
With ease, and batten'd in Imprisonment.
For greater gains, his zeal refus'd the less;
Each day to him was worth a Diocess.
But he who now, in hopes of equal gain,
Will needs be Pris'ner, tryes the Trick in vain;
He melts in durance half his Grease away,
To get, like us, poor twenty Pounds a day.
| The Injured Princess, or the Fatal Wager | |