 | Poems and Translations |  |
92
A PROLOGUE For the STROLLERS.
Genteels, of old pert Prologues led the way,
To guide, defend, and usher in the Play
As powder'd Footmen run before the Coach,
And thunder at the Door my Lord's Approach.
But tho' they speak your Entertainment near,
Most Prologues speed like other Bills of Fare;
Seldom the languid Stomach they excite,
And oftner pall, than raise the Appetite.
To guide, defend, and usher in the Play
As powder'd Footmen run before the Coach,
And thunder at the Door my Lord's Approach.
But tho' they speak your Entertainment near,
Most Prologues speed like other Bills of Fare;
Seldom the languid Stomach they excite,
And oftner pall, than raise the Appetite.
93
As for the Play—'tis hardly worth our Care,
The Prologue craves your Mercy for the Play'r;
That is, your Money—for by Jove I swear,
White-Gloves and Lodging are confounded dear.
Since here are none but Friends the Truth to own,
Hasp'd in a Coach our Company came down,
But I most shrewdly fear we shall depart,
Ev'n in our old Original, a Cart.
The Prologue craves your Mercy for the Play'r;
That is, your Money—for by Jove I swear,
White-Gloves and Lodging are confounded dear.
Since here are none but Friends the Truth to own,
Hasp'd in a Coach our Company came down,
But I most shrewdly fear we shall depart,
Ev'n in our old Original, a Cart.
With Pride inverted, and Fantastick Pow'r,
We strut the fancy'd Monarchs of an Hour;
While Duns our Emperors and Heroes fear,
And Cleomenes starves in earnest here:
The mightiest Kings and Queens we keep in Pay,
Support their Pomp on Eighteen-pence a Day.
Great Cyrus for a Dram has pawn'd his Coat,
And all our Cæsars can't command a Groat;
Our Scipio's, Hannibals, and Pompeys break,
And Cleopatra shifts but once a Week.
We strut the fancy'd Monarchs of an Hour;
While Duns our Emperors and Heroes fear,
And Cleomenes starves in earnest here:
The mightiest Kings and Queens we keep in Pay,
Support their Pomp on Eighteen-pence a Day.
94
And all our Cæsars can't command a Groat;
Our Scipio's, Hannibals, and Pompeys break,
And Cleopatra shifts but once a Week.
To aggravate the Case, we have not One,
Of all the new Refinements of the Town:
No moving Statues, no lewd Harlequins,
No Pastboard-Play'rs, no Heroes in Machines;
No Rosin to flash Lightning—'twould exhaust us,
To buy a Devil and a Doctor Faustus.
No Windmills, Dragons, Millers, Conjurers,
To exercise your Eyes, and spare your Ears;
No Paper-Seas, no Thunder from the Skies,
No Witches to descend, no Stage to rise;
Scarce One for us the Actors—We can set
Nothing before you but meer Sense and Wit.
A bare downright old-fashion'd English Feast,
Such as true Britons only can digest;
Such as your homely Fathers us'd to love,
Who only came to hear and to improve:
Humbly content and pleas'd with what was drest,
When Otway, Lee, and Shakespear rang'd the Feast.
Of all the new Refinements of the Town:
No moving Statues, no lewd Harlequins,
No Pastboard-Play'rs, no Heroes in Machines;
No Rosin to flash Lightning—'twould exhaust us,
To buy a Devil and a Doctor Faustus.
No Windmills, Dragons, Millers, Conjurers,
To exercise your Eyes, and spare your Ears;
No Paper-Seas, no Thunder from the Skies,
No Witches to descend, no Stage to rise;
Scarce One for us the Actors—We can set
Nothing before you but meer Sense and Wit.
95
Such as true Britons only can digest;
Such as your homely Fathers us'd to love,
Who only came to hear and to improve:
Humbly content and pleas'd with what was drest,
When Otway, Lee, and Shakespear rang'd the Feast.
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