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. |
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 | The Works of the Late Aaron Hill |  |
38
PROLOGUE.
When
love's taught dangers animate the stage,
Let the soft scenes your hearts, ye fair! engage:
Let each bright list'ner mark the wiles, we show,
And catch dumb caution, from the pictur'd woe,
Guiltless of farce, to night, the meaning player
Courts not your laughter, but alarms your care.
Let the soft scenes your hearts, ye fair! engage:
Let each bright list'ner mark the wiles, we show,
And catch dumb caution, from the pictur'd woe,
Guiltless of farce, to night, the meaning player
Courts not your laughter, but alarms your care.
Man, the deceiver, veils his cruel art,
And skreens himself within th' attempted heart;
There, to ungen'rous empire, climbs, e'er long,
Help'd by the confidence he means to wrong:
This to detect, we act his falshood o'er,
And the deluder known, betrays no more.
And skreens himself within th' attempted heart;
There, to ungen'rous empire, climbs, e'er long,
Help'd by the confidence he means to wrong:
This to detect, we act his falshood o'er,
And the deluder known, betrays no more.
SUCH the best business of the comic muse:
Love has a thousand lessons to infuse,
Not always lightness should ungrace the scene;
To laugh at folly, but indulges spleen:
Coxcombs and Fops, in harmless error, stray,
And trip, undangerous, out of passion's way:
Misers and Sots, less mirth than pity move,
And dulness brings an antidote, for love.
But there's a Traitor, arm'd in amorous mail,
Born to attempt, and fashion'd to prevail:
Disguis'd in softness, by deep arts endear'd,
And always dangerous, because never fear'd;
Him in our glass of life, to night we show,
Nor stoop the condescending scene, too low.
Love has a thousand lessons to infuse,
Not always lightness should ungrace the scene;
To laugh at folly, but indulges spleen:
Coxcombs and Fops, in harmless error, stray,
And trip, undangerous, out of passion's way:
Misers and Sots, less mirth than pity move,
And dulness brings an antidote, for love.
39
Born to attempt, and fashion'd to prevail:
Disguis'd in softness, by deep arts endear'd,
And always dangerous, because never fear'd;
Him in our glass of life, to night we show,
Nor stoop the condescending scene, too low.
Hence, if too grave, for Comedy, we seem,
Think us but suited to our serious theme;
'Tis no light loss, when charming woman falls,
On our defence the sex's merit calls;
We, who the picture's of a world impart,
Neglect not, what concerns its fairest part;
All danger to that sex, thus frankly shown,
At the same time, does honour to our own.
Nor let neglect of laughter move the pit,
To dread, in consequence, a dearth of wit:
Unmeaning mirth may live, in empty noise,
But solid converse swells our softer joys.
Once, in an age of tumbling, dance, and song,
Suppose not two short hours of sense, too long:
Not e'en the fashion, change of taste denies;
Oft merry here, let us be, sometimes, wise.
Think us but suited to our serious theme;
'Tis no light loss, when charming woman falls,
On our defence the sex's merit calls;
We, who the picture's of a world impart,
Neglect not, what concerns its fairest part;
All danger to that sex, thus frankly shown,
At the same time, does honour to our own.
Nor let neglect of laughter move the pit,
To dread, in consequence, a dearth of wit:
Unmeaning mirth may live, in empty noise,
But solid converse swells our softer joys.
Once, in an age of tumbling, dance, and song,
Suppose not two short hours of sense, too long:
Not e'en the fashion, change of taste denies;
Oft merry here, let us be, sometimes, wise.
| The Works of the Late Aaron Hill | |