 | Love in a Forest |  |
PROLOGUE.
Spoken by Mr. Wilks.
In
Honour to his Name, and this learn'd Age,
Once more your much lov'd Shakespear treads the Stage.
Another Work from that great Hand appears,
His Ore's refin'd, but not impar'd by Years.
Those sacred Truths our Sages coldly tell
In languid Prose; as He describes—we feel.
He looks all Nature thro'; strikes at a Heat
Her various Forms, irregularly Great.
Once more your much lov'd Shakespear treads the Stage.
Another Work from that great Hand appears,
His Ore's refin'd, but not impar'd by Years.
Those sacred Truths our Sages coldly tell
In languid Prose; as He describes—we feel.
He looks all Nature thro'; strikes at a Heat
Her various Forms, irregularly Great.
See the Dictator by the Patriot slain,
And the World's mighty Victor bleed again;
His Romans, Speak and Act like Romans all,
We hear them Thunder in the Capitol:
Quick Cassius raves, and Brutus, sternly good,
Pierces the Father's in the Tyrant's Blood.
And the World's mighty Victor bleed again;
His Romans, Speak and Act like Romans all,
We hear them Thunder in the Capitol:
Quick Cassius raves, and Brutus, sternly good,
Pierces the Father's in the Tyrant's Blood.
In Timon Worldly Friendships we despise,
And View their Flattery with distrusting Eyes.
And View their Flattery with distrusting Eyes.
When Brave Othello's generous Soul is mov'd
By jealous Fraud to murder all he lov'd,
The sympathising Mind his Sorrow feels,
And on the painful, pleasing Image dwells;
We share his Pangs, Aid his imagin'd Grief,
And give the tortur'd Lover vain Relief.
By jealous Fraud to murder all he lov'd,
And on the painful, pleasing Image dwells;
We share his Pangs, Aid his imagin'd Grief,
And give the tortur'd Lover vain Relief.
The Hero, Courtier, Patriot, and the Man,
Form in one Character his pious Dane.
New Miracles each Scene arrest the Sight,
Instruct, and please, give Knowledge and Delight.
If into lower Life his Pencil strays,
Still his unrivall'd Wit demands the Bays;
Superior still, the Comic Force survives
In Fallstaff, Shallow, and the Merry Wives.
Form in one Character his pious Dane.
New Miracles each Scene arrest the Sight,
Instruct, and please, give Knowledge and Delight.
If into lower Life his Pencil strays,
Still his unrivall'd Wit demands the Bays;
Superior still, the Comic Force survives
In Fallstaff, Shallow, and the Merry Wives.
Now,—As you like it, judge the following Play,
And when you view this Work retriev'd to Day;
Forgive our modern Author's Honest Zeal,
He hath attempted boldly, if not well:
Believe, he only does with Pain, and Care,
Presume to weed the beautiful Parterre.
His whole Ambition does, at most, aspire
To tune the sacred Bard's immortal Lyre;
The Scene from Time and Error to restore,
And give the Stage, from Shakespear one Play more.
And when you view this Work retriev'd to Day;
Forgive our modern Author's Honest Zeal,
He hath attempted boldly, if not well:
Believe, he only does with Pain, and Care,
Presume to weed the beautiful Parterre.
His whole Ambition does, at most, aspire
To tune the sacred Bard's immortal Lyre;
The Scene from Time and Error to restore,
And give the Stage, from Shakespear one Play more.
| Love in a Forest | |