 | Ghismonda |  |
115
THE PROLOGUE
If't be a fault to shew you how a storyMay be preseru'd longer in memory
Then if one tong alone had tould a tale,
Our expectation's crost, and we shall fayle
Of haueing courteous censure. Yet ne'rtheles
All that haue cleare-ei'd iudgmentes will confesse
Hee merits more that shewes accutely how
Ghismonda di'd for Guiscard, to keepe the vowe
Which she soo brauely made, then to heare this
Absurdly tould. But 't may be, you will hisse
At our kind of expression. Take heede!
They that doe soe, will cause his head to bleede
That's Priscian to them. Yet if a man,
Able and well-discerning, please to scan
Our lines like verses, foote by foote, we will
To such an artist gladly submitt our skill
And prostrate all our labours at his feete,
Whose patience shewes himselfe to be discreete.
| Ghismonda | |