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Show PREFACE. Drake, fo ftrangely aher'd , that there fcarce reraain'd aannyy 1Pl ank of the Timber which firft built it. T o witnefs this I used go no farther than this Play : It was firft Spantfh, and call'd Fl Afiroiogofingido ; then made French by thc younger Cor-neille : and is now tranflated into Englifh, and in Print, under the name of the Fei'in'd Afirologer. What I have perform'd in this, will beft appear , by comparing it witJi thofe: you will fee that I have refeaed fome adventures whicfi I judg'd were not divertifing: that I have heightned thofe which I have J Language„ caufe m y own Invention fas bad as it is) can furnifh m e with nothing fo dull as what is there. Thofe w h o have call'd Virgil, Terence, and Taffo Plagiaries (though they much injur'd them,) had yet a better colour for their accufation; for Virgil has evidently tranflated Theocritus, Hefiod, and Homer, in many places; befides what he has taken from Ennius in his o w n Language. Terence was not only known to tranflate Menander, f which he avows alfo in his Prologues^ but was faid alfo ro be help't in thofe Tranflations by Scipio the African, and Lalius. And Taffo, the moft excellent of modern Poets, and w h o m I reverence next to Virgil, has taken both from Homer many admirable things which were left untouch'd by Vir-gil, and from Virgil himfelf whereHomer cou'd not furnifh him.Yet the bodies ofVirgil's and Taffo's Poems were their o w n : and fo are all the Ornaments of Language and Elocution in them. The fame (if there were any thing commendable in this Play ) I could fay for it. But I will come nearer to our o w n Counti eymen. Moft of Shakeffear's Plays, I mean the ftories of them, are to be found in thc Hecatommtt-thi, or hundred Novels of Cwtbio. I have, m y felf, read in his Italian, that of Romeo, and Juliet, the Moor of Venice, and many others of them. Beaumont and Fletcher had moft of theirs from Spanifh Novels': Witnefs thc Ceanthes, the Spantfh Curate, Rule a Wife, and have a Wife, the Little French Lawyer, and lb many others of them, as compote the greateft part of their Volume in Folio. Ben. Johnfon, indeed, has defign'd his Plots himfelf; but no man has borrow'd fo much from the Ancients a:, he has done: And he did well in it, for he lias -hereby beau-tifi'd our Language. But thefe little Criticks do not well confider what is the work of a PoefI and what the Graces of a Poem; The Story is the leaft part of either: I mean the foundation of it, before it is modell'd by the Art of him w h o writes ft; w h o forms it with morexare, by expofing only flic beautiful parts of it to view, than a Lapidary fets a Jewel. On this foundation of the Storv thc Characters are raifftfc- And, fince no otory can afford Characters enough for the variety ofthe if* Stage, »t follows that it is to be alter'd, and inlarg'd, with new Perfon^ dents and Defigns, which will almoft make it new. When this is done, the form. r K ^ / w 5 an r d.ScTCS,' dlfP°fi^of Aaions and Paflioiis iino thei P S places, and beautifying both with defcriptions, fimilitudes, and propriety oflZ guage, is the principal employment of the Poet; as being the larceftfeld"'Lc v Which is the principal quality requir'd in him : For fo much the V o d implies Judgment indeed, is neceffary in him; but 'tis Fancy that aives the T ifr touches, and the fecret graces to it; especially 'in {erious P1 \Y ^ ^ 2 ^ * W»riHST °f' 2* is "t ** of a ™10us Gunfinith or which ries the value thenrir, I "" '?5,?Wn ; but '^ ire the k » « P*'t of that ^M-Story, wX ^ K ^crt'"- *"'!> W"° «S^^ma&mJvhi^BOw!^d^^^C?^^.m tuning con. miinith needed '^aion; and withal, com heir A i~77",£r ?*" *w;uic m e mth fo Ji"le putation I liave got a n d S e n Ivthel'l °' * t"Y cou,d m™ that '"* « - >ng to eftablifii thei own o to L r ^ P K' V? T ^ W 3 n t b ° t h W l t and Sto- PRO- - " OLOGUE, firft our Poet fet himfelf to write, 1 M toung Bridegroom on his W'edding%nght * He laid about him, Aid did fo beflir him His Mufe could never lye in quiet for him: But now his Hony-moon is gone and paft Tf t rrateful drudgery mull I.if: And he 'is bound, as eiwl Hnslxids do, To ftram himfelf, in compUifance to you: Tv-write in pain, and roTmrerfert-n-Biryr'-- • Like the faint fmacking of an after-Kjfs.' But you, like Wives ill pleas'd, fupply his want; Each Writing Monfieur, is a frefh Gallant: And though, perhaps, 'twas e.oneas well before*, Tet ftill there's fomething in a new Amour. Temrfeverol Poets work with fiveral fools One gets you Wits, another gets you Fools) This p I eafe s you with fome by-ftroke of Wit, jf ' This finds fome cranny that was never lut. But fhould thefe janty Lovers daily come To do your Work, tike your good Man at home, Their fine fmall timber'd Wits would foon decay; Thefe are Gallants but for a Holiday. Others you had who oftner have appear'd Whom, for meer impotence you hav* cafhier'd: Such as at firft came on with Pomp and Glory But, over-firaining, foon fell flat before ye. Their ufe lefs weight, with patience long was born, But at the laft you threw 'em off with fcorn. As for the Poet of this prefent night, i. • Though now he claims in you a Husband's right, £ He will not hinder you of frefh delight. $ He, like a Seaman, feldcem will appear • And means to trouble home but thrice a year : That only time from your Gallants he'll borrow ; Be kind to day, aud Cuckold him to morrow. Dramatis Per/ona. M E N. By Wtldbloud,! ' ^ W o young Englifh Gentlemen. ^Mr. Hart. Bellamy, S X \Mr. Mohun. Maskal, their Servant. Mr. Shattered D o n Alonzo de Ribera, an old Spanifb Gentleman. Mr.Winterfbal. D o n Lopez de Gamhoa, a young Noble Spaniard Mr. Burt. Don Me Ichor de Guzman, A Gentleman of a great Fa- M r .Lydal. mily; but of a decay'd fortune. WOMEN. By Donn*TheoJofia,,D ^ ^on Alonzo. {^'vTr Donna jactntha, i a c Mrs.rJten Guynnr Donna Aurelia, Their Coufin. Mrs. Marfbal.and formerly by Mrs.Quin. Beatrix, W o m a n and Confident to the two Sifters. Mrs.ftjiepp. Camilla, W o m a n to Aurelia. Mrs. Betty Slate. Servants to D o n Lopez,, and D o n Alonzo. The Scene Madrid, in the Year, 1665. The Time, die laft evening ofthe Carnival- AN |
