 | The sequel of Henry the Fourth |  |
PROLOGUE
Design'd to be Spoke.
WRITTEN By G. ROUSSILLON.
To
touch the ungenerous Breast with conscious Shame.
To warm the Heart with Love of virtuous Fame,
To check the raging Passions of the Mind,
To move the Soul, and civilize Mankind,
To lash the Crimes of a degenerate Age,
Were the first Labours of the infant Stage:
For this the ancient buskin'd Heroes fought,
And Terence, and immortal Shakespear wrote.
To warm the Heart with Love of virtuous Fame,
To check the raging Passions of the Mind,
To move the Soul, and civilize Mankind,
To lash the Crimes of a degenerate Age,
Were the first Labours of the infant Stage:
For this the ancient buskin'd Heroes fought,
And Terence, and immortal Shakespear wrote.
To Night our Author on the Stage will bring
A just, a wise, a prudent, pious King;
Who here invited came to free the State,
And save the People from a cruel Fate.
His Priests indeed soon left him in the Lurch,
And talk'd about the Danger of the Church;
Rail'd, threatned, and rebell'd, but as for fighting
Their leading Bishop never took delight in,
But Prelate like, first battl'd with his Tongue,
Gave up his Cause, and then devoutly swung.
A just, a wise, a prudent, pious King;
Who here invited came to free the State,
And save the People from a cruel Fate.
And talk'd about the Danger of the Church;
Rail'd, threatned, and rebell'd, but as for fighting
Their leading Bishop never took delight in,
But Prelate like, first battl'd with his Tongue,
Gave up his Cause, and then devoutly swung.
A Prince of Wales does next ascend the Throne,
Whose God-like Acts thro' all the World are known;
Tho' now to Pleasure he devotes his Time,
And seems in Indolence to wast his Prime.
Soon will the Heroe try his Sword and Lance,
And win the Daughter and the Crown of France.
Whose God-like Acts thro' all the World are known;
Tho' now to Pleasure he devotes his Time,
And seems in Indolence to wast his Prime.
Soon will the Heroe try his Sword and Lance,
And win the Daughter and the Crown of France.
With something Comical to entertain
Here's Falstaffe too, a very Rogue in grain.
A Rogue! For what? He'll bully, swear, and roar,
Loves Sack and Sugar, and a pretty Whore.
If these must be accounted heinous Crimes,
The Lord have mercy on these wicked Times.
When cheating, lying, cozening are in Fashion,
And each one strives to bubble all the Nation,
When Men all thoughts of Honesty forsake:
And grave Directors their Engagements break.
Here's Falstaffe too, a very Rogue in grain.
A Rogue! For what? He'll bully, swear, and roar,
Loves Sack and Sugar, and a pretty Whore.
If these must be accounted heinous Crimes,
The Lord have mercy on these wicked Times.
When cheating, lying, cozening are in Fashion,
And each one strives to bubble all the Nation,
When Men all thoughts of Honesty forsake:
And grave Directors their Engagements break.
Oh! let our Entertainment find the Praise
It always met with in your Father's Days,
Be tempted hence by no perswasive Note,
Or Quavers warbled thro' an Eunuch's Throat:
Spite of the Fasbion let some few be found
Who value Sense above an empty Sound.
It always met with in your Father's Days,
Be tempted hence by no perswasive Note,
Or Quavers warbled thro' an Eunuch's Throat:
Spite of the Fasbion let some few be found
Who value Sense above an empty Sound.
| The sequel of Henry the Fourth | |