University of Virginia Library

When first this Toy was publique, 'twas unknown
To th' Author, and before 'twas feather'd flown;
He now consents, that you should see't once more,
'Cause he hath more faults, then it had before.
He knows there is a snarling Sect i'th' Town,
That do condemn all wit except their own;
Were this Play ne're so good, it should not take,
Nothing must passe that Gentlemen do make.
Whilst I did sit i'th' Pit, I heard one say
There n'ere was poorer language in a Play;
And told his Neighbour, he did fear the vile
Composure would go neer to spoil his stile.
Another damn'd the Scene with full-mouth'd oaths,
Because it was not dress'd in better cloaths;
And rather wish'd each Actor might be mute,
Then he should loose the fight of a fine suit.

O Wit and Judgement both! what they do raise
To prejudice, is here the chiefest praise:
Would it be proper, think you, for a Swain,
To put on Buskins, and a lofty strain?
Or should a Shepherdess such phrases vent,
As the Spring-Garden Ladies complement;
Should a rough Satyre, who did never know,
The thing we call a Taylor Lord-like go
In Silks and Sattins? Or a Country Lasse
Wear by her side a Watch or Looking-Glasse:
Faith Gentlemen, such Solecismes as these
Might have done well in the Antipodes:
It argues a strange ignorance to call
Every thing foolish, that is naturall:
If only Monsters please you, you must go
Not to the Stage, but to a Bartholomew Show.
The Author aims not to show wit, but Art,
Nor did he strive to pen the Speech, but Part;
He could have writ high lines, and I do know
His pains were double to descend so low:
Nor does he think it infamy, to confess
His stile as Careless as the Shepherdess.
Good voices fall, and rise, and Virgil, who
Did Georgicks make, did write the Æneids too:
Laurell in woods doth grow, and there may be
Some wit in Shepherds plain simplicity:
The pictures of a Beggar and a King
Do equall praises to a Painter bring;
Meadows and Groves in Landskips please the eye
As much as all the City bravery:
May your ears too accept this rurall sport,
And think your selves in Salisbury Plain, not Court.