OCR Text |
Show PROLOGUE. ALmighty Critiques 1 Whom our Indians here Worfliip, juft as they do tie Devil, for fear. i?t reverence to your Pow'r home this day To oiveyou timely warning of our Play. The"Scenes are old, the Habits are the fame We wore laft Tear, before the Spaniards came. Now, if you ft ay, the Blood that jball be Jhed From this poor Play, be all upon your Head. We neither fromifeyou one Dance, or Show, Then Plot and Language they are wanting too : But you kind Wits, wtH thofe light fruits excufe : Thofe are the common Frailties of the Mufe; Which who obferves he buys his place too dear : For 'tis your bufinefs to.be cozen'd here. Thefe wretched Spies of Wit muft t hen confefs They take more pains to pleafe themfelvesthe lefs. Grant us fuch Judges, Phoebus, we requeft, As ftill mi/take themfelves into a Jeft ; Such eafie Judges, that our Poet may Himfelf admire the fortune of his Play ; And arrogantly, as his fellows do, Think he writes well, becaufe he pleafes you. This he conceives not hard to bring about, If all of you would join to help him out. Would each Man take but what he under ft ands, And leave the reft upon thePoet's hands. EPILOGUE By a Mercury. T O all dndfingtdar in this full Meeting, Ladies and Gallants, ^hoehus fends you Greeting. To all his Sons, by what e'er Title known, Whether of Court, of Coffee-Houfe, or Town : From his moft mighty Sons, whofe Confidence Is plac'd in lofty Sound, and humble Sence, Ev'n to his little Infants of theTime Who write new Songs, and truft inTune and Rhime. Be't known that Phcebus (being daily griev'd To fee good Plays condemn"'d, and bad receiv'd^) Ordains your Judgment upon every Caufe, Henceforth be limited by wholfome Laws. ' ^ He firft thinhfit no Sonnet tier advance His Cenfure, further than the Song or Da;.i Tour Wit-Bur lefque may one ftep higher climb, And in his fphere may judge all Doggrel Rhime : Ah Proves, and Moves,, and Loves, and Honours too : -'ears highS encc, and fcarce is low. Asfor the Coffee-Wits he fays not much, Their proper bus'nefs is to Damn the Dutch. For i he great Dons of Wit . Phoebus gives them full Privilege alone lo Damn all others, and cry up their own. Laft, for the Ladies, 'tis AooWo's Will, They fhould have power to fave, but not to kit: For Love and He long fince have thought it fii Wit live by Beauty, Beauty reign by Wit. t, T H E II I T HE Indian Emperour: OR, T HE CONQJUEST of MEXICO. ACT I. SCENE I. The Scene a Pleafant Indian Country. Enter Covtez, Vafquez, Pizarro, with Spaniards and Indians of their Party. Cort. X^V N what new happy Climate are we thrown, ' / | S o long kept fecret, and fo lately known? \ I As if our old World modeftly withdrew, ^ - " And here, in private, had brought forth a n e w / Vafq. Corn, W i n e and Oil are wanting to this Ground, In which our Countries fruitfully abound: As if this Infant-World, yetunarray'd, Naked and bare, in Nature's Lap were laid. N o ufeful Arts have yet found Footing here; But all untaught and falvage docs appear. Core. Wild and untaught arc Terms which w e alone Invent, for fafhions differing from our o w n : For all their Cuftoms are by Nature wrought, But w e , by Art, unteach what Nature taught. Piz. In Spam our Springs, like Old Men's Children be, Decay'd and wither'd from their Infancy : N o kindly Showers fall on our barren Earth, T o hatch the Seafons in a timely Birth. Our Summer fuch a Ruffet Livery wears, As in a Garment, often dy'd, appears , Cort Here Nature fpreads her fruitful fweetnefs round, breathes on the Air, and broods upon the Ground. Here days and Nights the only Seafons be, The Sun no Climate does fo gladly fee: W h e n fore'd from hence, to view our Parts, he mourns; Takes little Journeys, and makes quick Returns Vafq. Methinks w e walk in Dreams on Fairy Land, Where Golden Ore lies mixt with common Sand, Each Downfal of a Flood the Mountains pour From their rich Bowels rolls a Silver Shower Cort. Heaven from all Ages wifely did provide This Wealth, and for the braveft Nation hide, W h o with four hundred Foot, and forty Horie, Dare boldly go a new-found World to force Piz Our M e n , though Valiant, w e fhould find too few, But Indians join the Indians to fubdue ; Taxallan, {hook by Montvzumas Powers, Has to refill his Forces, call'd an ours. Vafq: Rafhly to arm againft fo great a King, I hold not fafe; nor is it juft to bring A W a r , without a fair defiance made. PiiJiz~. Dejcecliaarrec wwee f nirufit oWuLUr QVu4ca»r^rie,wl':• Then .i.n.v ade. Co7t. My fell, m y King's Embaffadour will g o, Speak, Indian Guide, h o w far to Mexico t ^ J« dian. |