University of Virginia Library

PROLOGUE.

Spoken by Mr. Powell.
I can but think how many here are come,
Prepar'd to give the Insuing Play i'ts Doom:
But like the Gordian-Knot this Play was made,
By one who Brought it us in Masquerade;
Plays were at first design'd to Lash the age,
By shewing all its Vices on the Stage,
As in a Glass there each might see his own,
And being Conscious blusht at what he'd done;
The Fool, the Knave, the Villain they expos'd
And the Blood-thirsty Polititian nooz'd;
But Virtue, tho' she suffer'd long at last,
Was Crown'd with a reward for what was past;
The honest-thinking Heathen shew'd the way,
And handed Down the Moral call'd a Play:
Old Ben, and Shakespear copied what they writ,
Then Downright Satyr was accounted wit;
The Fox, and Alchymist expos'd the Times,
The Persons then was loaded with their Crimes;
But for the space of Twenty years and more,
You've hiss'd this way of Writing out of door,
And kick and winch when we but touch the sore.
But as some Fashions long since useless grown,
Are now Reviv'd and all the Mode o'th' Town.
Why mayn't the Antient way of Writing please,
And in its turn meet with the same Success?
The Story's true if you'l believe Record,
Edward the Third has stampt it on his word:
Here English-Men with pleasure may behold,
How much their Liberties were priz'd of old.
How hard this Prince for's Countrys freedom strove,
And how both Prosper'd in each others Love.