 | The Play-House to be Let |  |
67
PROLOGUE.
Since
you affect things new, what I'm to say,
Shall be as great a Novel as our Play,
Custom would have me speak a Prologue now,
But that we may intire adherence show
To Novelty (which in the Mode of Plays
Like soveraign Nature over Custom sways)
I mean my Prologue shall a Riddle be;
And thus propound it to the Company.
Shall be as great a Novel as our Play,
Custom would have me speak a Prologue now,
But that we may intire adherence show
To Novelty (which in the Mode of Plays
Like soveraign Nature over Custom sways)
I mean my Prologue shall a Riddle be;
And thus propound it to the Company.
A teeming Muse big with imagination,
Conceiv'd a Monster of so new a fashion
That of the hasty birth, b'ing brought to Bed,
We found it neither had a Tail or Head.
The Limbs are such, as no proportion bear,
No correspondence have, and yet cohere:
Of several use, and several forms they be,
Yet in the whole contexture they agree:
They are disjoyn'd and yet united too,
Which cannot but a Monster seem to you;
Yet such a Monster 'tis, as you'l admit
For Pleasure, and still pay for Nursing it.
Conceiv'd a Monster of so new a fashion
That of the hasty birth, b'ing brought to Bed,
We found it neither had a Tail or Head.
The Limbs are such, as no proportion bear,
No correspondence have, and yet cohere:
Of several use, and several forms they be,
Yet in the whole contexture they agree:
They are disjoyn'd and yet united too,
Which cannot but a Monster seem to you;
Yet such a Monster 'tis, as you'l admit
For Pleasure, and still pay for Nursing it.
I see y'are puzl'd; but we so dispise
Th'advantage we might make by a surprise,
That to unridle this, you here may come
And joyn your Heads together in one Room,
Where, for your Money, you shall sit at ease,
Two hours a day, till Christmas if you please.
Th'advantage we might make by a surprise,
That to unridle this, you here may come
And joyn your Heads together in one Room,
Where, for your Money, you shall sit at ease,
Two hours a day, till Christmas if you please.
| The Play-House to be Let | |