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, for a Friend. |
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 | The Works of the Late Aaron Hill |  |
PROLOGUE, for a Friend.
Prologues were look'd upon, in former days,But as the porches, not the props, of plays!
At first, confin'd, in humble tone, to pray,
They beg'd their hearers smile, upon the play:
Favour'd, in that, they climb'd, still higher, and higher,
As rising fortune much inflames desire:
'Till now, our poets teach their judges sense,
And damn the audience, in the play's defence.
Our author, less presumptuous, bids me say,
He courts your favour, in a gentler way:
The untam'd genius of the British nation,
Disdains constraint, but smiles on resignation:
And when, in love, or wit, we take the field,
The surest way to conquer, is to yield.
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And might, perhaps, claim kin, with some of you,
But he believes, he says, that, when we've shown him,
The nearest to his blood, will, first, disown him.
| The Works of the Late Aaron Hill | |