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Show -Mode M y lofs is fuch as.cannot be t^d And to the wretched, .^e caI} . thy ill Fate, W^ll'havitfo fbuSe/inlhis, I cannot, {^^ ^ h°W AKingmaylervejrou.ihavealllhopCj AntaU 1 "'e Vm li^e1 Sff*S& ** Thofe Hours I have tci live wn yeftaIs: Will make but few, l?°"*&yoa. the reft The greateft part, in Pray rs tor \o , But dare not feem to know^it. ^ ^ Z S w n X X S Adore. {To Palmyra. {Exeunt omnes. E P I L O G UE r r m h n o t my Spoufe and Unformed the Nation, A And led you all tbe way to Reformatio* Not with dull* Morals, gravely writ, like tboje, Which Men of eafie Vhlegme with Care compojc: Your Poets if (Tiff ™rds and limber Senje, Born on tbe confines of Indifference. But by Examples drawn, 1 dare to Jay From moft of you, who bear, and fee the Play. There are more Rhodophlls in this Theatre, More Palamedes, and fome few Wives I fear. But yet too far our Poet would not run ; Tho* 'twas well tffer'd, there was nothing done. He would not quite the Womans frailty bare, Butjript \m to the Wajte, and left 'em there. And tbe Men's Faults are left feverely jhown, For be ccmfuler s that himfelf is one. Strut ftabbitig Wits, to bloudy Satyr bentj Would treat both Sexes with lefs Compliment: Would lay the Scene at home, of # « f * f ' "*» For Wenches, taking up their Wives i tb Mell, And a brisk Bout, which each of them did want, Made by miftake ofMi(irtfs and Gallant. Our Modeft Author thought it was entugb \ To cut you off a Sample ofthe Stuff: \ HeffoPd my Shame,which you,Pm fure would not, \ For you ivere all for driving on the Plot: Youfigb^d when I came in to break the fport, And fet your Teeth when each D>fign fell fhort. To Wives and Servants all good Wishes lend, But the poor Cuckold feldom finds a Friend. Since therefore Court and Town will take no pity^ I Humbly caft my felf upon the City. FINIS. .-- Jjj To My Moft Honour'd Friend Sir Charles Sedley, Baronet. SIR, 1-^UE Defign of Dedicating flays, is as common and uniuft as thaf nCA.r • e in a Duet. 'Tis engaging our friends (k m a b e ) n a enfeleG C w l T ^ they have much to venture, without any Concernment o f t h e l o w n ' . T clar'd thus much beforehand, to prevent you from SufiSn S, , I I-have J de" Intereft either your judgment or your Kindnefc, in defending°Se fiSSJof h? r " ^ ? ucceeded ill in the Reprefentation, againft the Opinion o f n ^ ^ M j l ^ ^ ^ to whom you know I read it, e're it was prefented Publicklv Whether <Z% i our.ASe> Play it felf or in the lamenefs of the Aaion, or V T S ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ 1 ^ refolv'd to damn it for the Title, I will not now difpute: That wou'dbeti i^i ? T Satisfaaion which an unlucky Gamefler finds in the Relation o f ^ c i h . ! ^ £ ^ to lole his Money. I have had formerly fo much fuccefs" S a t T S S thllT was only m y giving Fortune her Revenge : I ow'd it her • and L « « i"/f * th,,S Plty exaded not the Payment long before. I will therefore deal more S ^ l ^ ^ ^ any Poet has ever done with any Patron : I donotfo much as oblige vou for m ^ r i pafs two ill Hours in reading of m y Play. Think, if you pleafe ffiffl! Y C.° an occafion I have takento domyfe/the greateft l ^ S ^ £ ^ S ^ u . ° ^ is, to be recorded in the Number of thofe M e n whom you have f a v o u r ' d S l ! ? y 'A%* and Efteem. For, I am well aftur'd, that befides the prefent s S ^ T h a T i f w S me thc greateft part of m y ^ ><•;"« ••"-i- -<"•-- A „„ felf on your Kindnefs to m I have none to doubt of you remember m e in this Epijlle. This was the Courfe which has formerly been pracfis'd by the Poets of rfut M«i u were Mailers of the Univerfe. Horace and CW,Pvvho had ifttle reafon to diftS hdrTm mortality ; yet took occafion to fpeak with Honour of Virgil, Sarins, TdmOm and V S their Contemporaries: as ifthey fought in the TeftimonyVf their P n ^ f i ^ T ^ denes ot their Fame. For m y own part, I, who am the leaft amongft the Poets S c vet the fortune to be honour'd with the beft Patron, and the beft Friend : For, (to omit fome Great Perfons of our Court, to whom I am many ways oblig'd, and who have taT n ca e oi me, even amidft the Exigences of a War j I can make my boaft to have found a better ^rT,m I!l in.°f « ? Lord Treafurer C / # ^ , and a more Elegant Tihdtm in th of Sir Charles Sedky. I have chofen that Poet, to whom I would relemble you, not ™ v he caufe I think h.m at leaft Equal, if not Superior to Ovid in his EUgiet; nor oecaufTof hi Quality for he was (-you know) a Roman Knight, as well as Ovid: ButTor his Candor h Wealth, his way of Living and particularly becaufe of this Teftimony which is gutnh^n by Horace, which 1 have a Thoufand times in my mind apply'd to you * NoH tu Corpus eras five petlore • Dii tibi formam. T>ii tibi divittas dederant, artemj; fruevdt. Quid voveat dulci Nutricula may us Alumno Quam fapere, & fari feffit qu<e fentiat, & mi • Gratia, forma, valctudo contingat abunde I Et mundus vidus, non dfictente emmttta ? oiSTnnel^V°%^ - A? Kfl mUdl ft**** in the Converfation and Friendfhip fnnffvJrSTS V X I ' u ^ t h e b f w a \ 0 f - L , V i n S ' which was to purfue an inocent and noffenfive Pleafure} that which one of the Ancients called EruJitam wlnptatem W e have like them, our Genial Nights; where our Difcourfe is neither too ferious, nor too light ; but always pleafant, and, for the moft part, inftrudive: the Raillery neither too fliarp upon the Prefent nor too cenfonous on the Abfent; and the Cups only fuch as will raile the Converfation ot theNight, without difturb.ng the Bufinefs ofthe Morovv. A n d thus far not only thePhilofonhers* but the bathers ot the Church have gone, without lelfening theft Reputation of good Manners or Piety for this reafon I have often laugh'd at the ignorant and ridiculous Defcriptions which tome Pedants have given ol the W b ( as they are pleas'd to call them: ; whicii area Generation ol M e n as unknown to them, as the People of Tartar*, or the Terra Aujtralii are to us A n d therefore as w e draw Giants and Antbropophgi in thofe Vacancies of our Ahps, whei- w e have riot Travclld to difcover better; fo thofe Wretches Paint Tewdnefs, Atheifm, Folly ill- Reafoning, and all manner of Extravagances amongft us, for want of Underftanding wha* w e are. Oftentimes it fo tails out, that they have a particular Picque to form on- among!*' us j and then they immediately intereft Heaven in their Quarrel; as 'tis an ufual Trick in Court" • when one dcligns the mine of his Enemy, to difguife his Malic* With" fome Concernment of the King's; and to revenge his o w n Caufe, with Pretence of vindicating the Honour of his Mafter. Such Wits as they defcribe, 1 have never been fb unf to n-et id your C o m pany .• But have often heard myeh better Rcafbhingat ftmtTMt) iHtti 1 b* tater'd V u a i jrf |