 | The Humorous Lieutenant |  |
Prologue.
VVould some man would instruct me what to say:For this same Prologue, usuall to a play,
Is tied to such an old forme of Petition;
Men must say nothing now beyond commission:
The cloakes we weare, the leggs we make, the place
We stand in, must be one; and one the face.
Nor alter'd, nor exceeded; if it be,
A generall hisse, hangs on our levitie:
We have a Play, a new Play to play now,
And thus low in our Plaies behalfe we bow;
We bow to beg your suffrage, and kind eare;
If it were naught, or that it might appeare
A thing boy'd up by prayer, Gentlemen,
Beleeve my faith, you should not see me then.
Let them speake then have power to stop a storme,
I never lov'd to feele a house so warme:
But for the Play, if you dare credit me,
I thinke it well: All new things you shall see,
And those dispos'd to all the mirth that may;
And short enough we hope: and such a Play
You were wont to like: sit nobly then, and see:
If it miscarrie, pray looke not for me.
| The Humorous Lieutenant | |