 | The Tragedy of Orestes |  |
The Prologue.
The hush'd contentment of two silent howres,Breath pleasing ayres on these attentiue eares;
And since wee see in this well furnish'd roome,
All our best neighbours are so kindely met,
Wee would deuise some pleasing talke to spend:
The lazie howres of the tedious night:
But for our owne inuention, 'twas too weake,
Whereon our young Muse durst wholly leane.
We heere present for to reuiue a tale,
Which once in Athens great Eurypedes
In better phrase at such a meeting told
The learn'd Athenians with much applause:
The same we will retell vnto your eares,
Whose Atticke iudgement is no lesse then theirs:
We here as builders which doe oft take stones,
From out old buildings, then must hew and cut,
To make them square, and fitting for a new;
So from an old foundation we haue ta'n,
Stones ready squar'd for our new ædifice,
Which if in pleasing our weake skill offends
In making corners disproportionate,
Some roome too narrow or some loft too high;
Yet we will hope, if the whole structure fall,
Your bands like props will serue to beare vp all. Spoken by the Authour himselfe.
| The Tragedy of Orestes | |