 | The Fair Captive |  |
xiii
PROLOGUE: Spoken by Mr. Boheme.
Long has it been the Clamour of the Age,That Party-Feuds have rent both State and Stage;
But, (thank the Foresight of our South-Sea Masters!)
Faction is quite o'erwhelm'd by worse Disasters:
Nor This, nor That, can we a Grievance call,
For One great Discontent has swallow'd all.
Yet you expect, howe'er the Stocks are low,
No Damp of Care should cloud the Muses Brow:
Tho Poet's Tickets, Times are now so nice,
Like Third and Fourth Subscriptions, bear no Price.
The Bays, 'tis true, with which the Bards are crown'd,
Flourish, tho fiercest Lightnings play around:
Conscious of This, our Author dares engage
'Gainst all the Hardships of this stormy Age.
xiv
Save what from your Displeasure may arise:
Not but her Sex to Favour pleads some Right,
A Female Pencil draws the Lines to-night.
Ladies, 'tis your Concern to interpose,
Who hurt a Woman, are your Sex's Foes;
And, Sirs, consider 'tis a Lover's Cause,
Sure, a Fair Captive some Compassion draws:
Think Her the Muse, and learn to pity then
A Woman's Sufferings, from a Woman's Pen.
| The Fair Captive | |