 | The Fatal Constancy |  |
277
EPILOGUE,
Spoken by Mrs. PORTER.
If in th' Attempt you've found our Author fail,
Yet cease, severer Criticks, cease to rail!
Too well be knew, he could but faintly show,
How Poets pleas'd two thousand Years ago;
Nor vainly did presume to rival those
Whose Fame has ever liv'd, and ever grows.
Let abler Bards to such great Aims aspire,
And equal what he only can admire;
Contented if he shows the arduous Height,
And calls forth others to maintain the Flight,
Far better pleas'd in Search of Truth to stray,
Than gain false Glory by a surer Way.
Think, he offends in no inglorious Cause;
And all his Benefit is your Applause.
For his own Pleasure first these Scenes were made;
If he has pleas'd You too, he's doubly paid.
| The Fatal Constancy | |