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PROLOGUE

TO PHEDRA AND HIPPOLITUS

Spoken by Mr. Wilks.

LONG has a race of heroes fill'd the stage,
That rant by note, and thro' the gamut rage;
In fongs and airs exprefs their martial fire,
Combat in trills, and in a feuge expire;

While lull'd by found, and undisturb'd by wit, 5
Calm and ferene you indolently fit,

And from the dull fatigue of thinking free,
Hear the facetious, fiddles repartee:

Our home-spun authors must forfake the field,
And Shakespeare to the foft Scarletti yield.

To your new taste the poet of this day
Was by a friend advis'd to form his play.
Had Valentini, musically coy,

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Shunn'd Phædra's arms, and scorn'd the proffer'd joy,
It had not mov'd your wonder to have feen
An eunuch fly from an enamour'd queen &
How would it please fhould the in English speak,
And could Hippolitus reply in Greek?
But he, a ftranger to your modifh way,bus
By your old rules must stand or fall to-day,
And hopes you will your foreign taste command
To bear, for once, with what you understand.

* A Tragedy; written by Mr. Edmund Smith. '.

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PROLOGUE

TO THE TENDER HUSBAND.

Spoken by Mr. Wilks.

In the first rife and infancy of farce,

When fools were many, and when plays were scarce,
The raw unpractis'd authors could, with ease,
A young and unexperienc'd audience please:
No single character had e'er been shown,
But the whole herd of fops was all their own:
Rich in originals, they set to view,

In every piece, a coxcomb that was new.

But now our British theatre can boast

Drolls of all kinds, a vast unthinking host!
Fruitful of folly and of vice, it shows

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Cuckolds, and cits, and bawds, and pimps,and beaus;
Rough country knights are found of ev'ry shire,
Of ev'ry fashion gentle fops appear;

And punks of diff'rent characters we meet

As frequent on the stage as in the pit.

Our modern wits are forc'd to pick and cull,
And here and there by chance glean up a fool:
Long ere they find the neceffary spark,

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They fearch the Town, and beat about the Park, 20 To all his most frequented haunts resort,

Oft' dog him to the ring, and oft' to court,

A Comedy, written by Sir Richard Steele.

As love of pleasure or of place invites,

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And sometimes catch him taking snuff at White's.
Howe'er, to do you right, the prefent age
Breeds very hopeful monsters for the stage,
That scorn the paths their dull forefathers trod,
And won't be blockheads in the common road.
Do but furvey this crowded house to-night;
-Here's ftill encouragement for those that write.
Our author, to divert his friends to-day,
Stocks with variety of fools his play,

And that there may be fomething gay and new,
Two ladies-errant has expos'd to view;

The first a damfel travell'd in romance,

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The other more refin'd, the comes from France; Refcue, like courteous knights, the nymph from danger,

And kindly treat,

like well-bred men, the stranger.38

EPILOGUE

TO THE BRITISH ENCHANTERS

WHEN Orpheus tun'd his lyre with pleasing woe, Rivers forgot to run and winds to blow,

While lift'ning forests cover'd, as he play'd,

The foft musician in a moving shade.

That this night's strains the same success may find, s The force of mufic is to mufic join'd;

• A dramatic Poem, written by the Lord Lanfdown.

Where founding ftrings and artful voices fail,
The charming rod and mutter'd spells prevail.
Let fage Urganda wave the circling wand
On barren mountains or a waste of fand,
The defert fmiles, the woods begin to grow,

The birds to warble, and the springs to flow.

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The fame dull fights in the fame landscape mix'd, Scenes of ftill life, and points for ever fix'd, A tedious pleasure on the mind bestow, And pall the sense with one continu'd show: But as our two magicians try their skill, The vifion varies, tho' the place stands still, While the same spot its gaudy form renews, Shifting the prospect to a thousand views. Thus (without unity of place tranfgreft) Th' Enchanter turns the critic to a jest.

But howfoe'er, to please your wand'ring eyes,

Bright objects disappear and brighter rise,
There's none can make amends for loft delight,
While from that circle we divert your fight.

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POEMATA.

HONORATISSIMO VIRO

CAROLO MONTAGU

ARMIGERO,

SCACCHARII CANCELLARIO,

ERARII PREFECTO,

REGI A SECRETIORIBUS CONSILIIS, ETC.

Cum tanta auribus tuis obftrepat vatum nequiffimorum turba, nihil est cur queraris aliquid inufitatum tibi contigiffe, ubi præclarum hoc argumentum meis etiam numeris violatum confpexeris. Quantum virtute bellica præftant Britanni, recens ex rebus geftis teftatur gloria; quam vero in humanioribus Pacis ftudiis non emineamus, indicio funt quos nuper in lucem emifimus verficuli. Quod fi Congrevius ille tuus divino, quo folet, furore correptus materiam hanc non exornasset, vix tanti effet ipfa Pax, ut illa lætaremur tot perditiffimis Poetis tam mifere decantata. At, dum alios infector, mei ipfius oblitus fuiffe videor, qui haud minores forfan ex Latinis tibi moleftias allaturus fum, quam quas illi ex vernaculis fuis carminibus attulerunt; nifi quod inter ipfos cru

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