 | Lucius, the First Christian King of Britain |  |
PROLOGUE, By Sir RICHARD STEELE.
Nat
Lee, for Buskins fam'd, would often say,
To Stage-Success He had a certain Way;
Something for all the People must be done,
And with some Circumstance each Order won;
This He thought easy, as to make a Treat,
And, for a Tragedy, gave this Receipt.
To Stage-Success He had a certain Way;
Something for all the People must be done,
And with some Circumstance each Order won;
This He thought easy, as to make a Treat,
And, for a Tragedy, gave this Receipt.
Take me, said He, a Princess Young and Fair,
Then take a Blooming Victor flush'd with War;
Let Him not owe, to vain Report, Renown,
But in the Ladies Sight cut Squadrons down;
Let Him, whom they themselves saw win the Field,
Him to whose Sword they saw whole Armies yield,
Approach the Heroin with dread Surprise,
And own no Valour Proof against bright Eyes:
The Boxes are Your own—the Thing is hit,
And Ladies, as they near each other sit,
Cry, oh! How movingly that Scene is writ?
For all the Rest, with Ease, Delights you'll shape,
Write for the Heroes in the Pit, a Rape:
Give the First Gallery a Ghost; on th'Upper,
Bestow, tho' at that distance, a good Supper.
Thus all their Fancies, working their own Way,
They're Pleas'd, and think they owe it to the Play.
Then take a Blooming Victor flush'd with War;
Let Him not owe, to vain Report, Renown,
But in the Ladies Sight cut Squadrons down;
Let Him, whom they themselves saw win the Field,
Him to whose Sword they saw whole Armies yield,
Approach the Heroin with dread Surprise,
And own no Valour Proof against bright Eyes:
And Ladies, as they near each other sit,
Cry, oh! How movingly that Scene is writ?
For all the Rest, with Ease, Delights you'll shape,
Write for the Heroes in the Pit, a Rape:
Give the First Gallery a Ghost; on th'Upper,
Bestow, tho' at that distance, a good Supper.
Thus all their Fancies, working their own Way,
They're Pleas'd, and think they owe it to the Play.
But the Ambitious Author of these Scenes,
With no low Arts, to court your Favour means;
With Her Success, and Disappointment, move,
On the just Laws of Empire, and of Love!
With no low Arts, to court your Favour means;
With Her Success, and Disappointment, move,
On the just Laws of Empire, and of Love!
| Lucius, the First Christian King of Britain | |