 | The Genuine Works in Verse and Prose, Of the Right Honourable George Granville, Lord Lansdowne |  |
134
Prologue to the British Enchanters.
Poets by Observation find it true,
'Tis harder much to please themselves than you;
To weave a Plot, to work and to refine
A labour'd Scene; to polish ev'ry Line
Judgment must sweat, and feel a Mother's Pains:
Vain Fools! thus to disturb and rack their Brains,
When more indulgent to the Writer's Ease,
You are too good to be so hard to please;
No such convulsive Pangs it will require
To write the pretty things which you admire.
'Tis harder much to please themselves than you;
To weave a Plot, to work and to refine
A labour'd Scene; to polish ev'ry Line
Judgment must sweat, and feel a Mother's Pains:
Vain Fools! thus to disturb and rack their Brains,
When more indulgent to the Writer's Ease,
You are too good to be so hard to please;
No such convulsive Pangs it will require
To write the pretty things which you admire.
Our Author then, to please you, in your way,
Presents you now a Bauble of a Play;
In jingling Rhyme, well fortify'd and strong,
He fights entrench'd o'er Head and Ears in Song.
If here and there some evil-fated Line,
Should chance thro' Inadvertancy to shine,
Forgive him, Beaux, he means you no Offence,
But begs you for the love of Song and Dance,
To pardon all the Poetry and Sense.
Presents you now a Bauble of a Play;
In jingling Rhyme, well fortify'd and strong,
He fights entrench'd o'er Head and Ears in Song.
If here and there some evil-fated Line,
Should chance thro' Inadvertancy to shine,
Forgive him, Beaux, he means you no Offence,
But begs you for the love of Song and Dance,
To pardon all the Poetry and Sense.
| The Genuine Works in Verse and Prose, Of the Right Honourable George Granville, Lord Lansdowne | |