II. That thy theatre's loud noise III. That no actor's made profane, To debase Gods, to raise thy strain; And people forced, that hear thy Play, Their money and their souls to pay: IV. That thou leav'st affected phrase To the shops to use and praise; And breath'st a noble Courtly vein,Such as may Cæsar entertain, V. When he wearied would lay down VI. These are thy inferior arts, But when thou carriest on the plot, VII. When the scene sticks to every thought, And can to no event be brought; When (thus of old the scene betraid) Poets call'd Gods unto their aid, VIII. Who by power might do the thing, As the Pellean Prince, that broke IX. The perplext and fatal noose, Which his skill could not unloose : Thou dost a nobler art profess; And the coil'd serpent can'st no less Χ. Stretch out from every twisted fold, XI. Th' easy and the even design : A plot, without a God, divine!— Th' surprise of th' Scene is wholly thine. COMMENDATORY VERSES BEFORE THE "“FAITHFUL THERE are no sureties, good friend, will be taken A Scholar that's a Poet; their names strike, Passage with ease and state thro' both sides' press Like would to like, and praise you: but because Renews the Golden Age, and holds through all The holy laws of homely Pastoral, Where flowers, and founts, and nymphs, and semi-gods, And all the Graces, find their old abodes; [These verses are in Dyce's ed., vol. ii. They are omitted in the Mermaid Series edition. See also page 542.] '[Trifles.] Where poets flourish but in endless verse, G. Chapman. COMMENDATORY VERSES BEFORE THE REBELLION. A TRAGEDY [PUBLISHED 1640]. BY T. RAWLINS [1620 P-1670]1 To see a Springot of thy tender age With such a lofty strain to word a Stage; That one so young should know dramatic laws : Or 1[See Dodsley, vol. xiv.] say thus, Robert Chamberlain. "[Should be "wonderstruck ".] THE AMBITIOUS STATESMAN. A TRAGEDY [PUBLISHED AND PRODUCED 1679]. BY JOHN CROWNE [DIED 1703 ?] Vendome, returning from the wars, hears news, that Louize is false to him. Ven. (solus). Where'er I go, I meet a wandering rumour, Louize is the Dauphin's secret mistress. I heard it in the army, but the sound Was then as feeble as the distant murmurs If this be true, Doomsday is near, and all the heavens are falling.- And the foul steps where plunderers have been. Valediction. [Act ii., end.1] Vendome, (to his faithless Mistress). Madam I'm well assured you will not send One poor thought after me, much less a messenger, To know the truth; but if you do, he'll find, In some unfinish'd part of the creation, Where Night and Chaos never were disturb'd, And when night comes, not known from day by darkness, He'll find him stretcht upon a bed of stone, 1[Dram. of the Restoration, ed. Maidment and Logan. Crowne, vol. iii.] 2[Should be "shape ".] Cut from the bowels of some rocky cave, At which the wretch starts up, and walks about Incredulity to Virtue. [Act iv., p. 215.] Vendome. Perhaps there never were such things as Virtues, Or if they once have been, they're now but names But could not live, nor propagate their kind. Faithless Beauty. Louize. Dare you approach me? [Act v.] Vendome. Yes, but with fear, for sure you're not Woman. A Comet glitter'd in the air o' late, And kept some weeks the frighted kingdom waking. Long hair it had, like you; a shining aspect; Its beauty smiled, at the same time it frighten'd; And every horror in it had a grace.1 [Act iii., p. 192.] BELPHEGOR [OR, THE MARRIAGE OF THE DEVIL]. A COMEDY [PUBLISHED 1691: WRITTEN 1690]. BY JOHN WILSON [1627?-1696] Doria Palace described. That thou'd'st been with us at Duke Doria's garden! The pretty contest between art and nature; To see the wilderness, grots, arbours, ponds; 1[For other extracts from Crowne see pages 545, 546-53, 562, 571, 572, 573.] |