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Show 215 The PREFACE. fome bold Knight-Errants) it rally'd ; the third it ad-vanc'd $ the fourth it gave a vigorous Attack ; and the fifth put all the Feathers in T o w n to the fcamper, purfu. ing them on to ihe fourteenth, and then they cry'd out Quarter. 'Tis not reafonable to exped Efop fhould gain fo great a Victory here, fince 'tis poffible by fooling with his Sword, I m a y have turn'd the Edge on't. For I confefs in the Tranflation I have not at all ftuck to the Original• nay, I have gone farther, I have wholly added the fifth A d , and crowded a Country Gentleman into the fourth, for which I ask Monfieur Bourfaut's pardon with all my heart, but doubt 1 never fhall obtain it for bringing him into fuch Company. Tho after all, had I been fo complaifant to have waited on his Play word for word, 'tis poftible even that might not have enfur'd the Succefs of it: For tho it fwam in France, it might have funk in, England: Their Country abounds in Cork, ours in Lead. m¥W PRO-C 217) A**; - \»«Xrv^ rascesase P R O L O G U E. \Allants, zve never yet produ,'d a Phy With greater Fears than this we af?'0.day . Barren of all the Graces of the Stare * * Barren of all that entertains this Ate No Hero, no Romance, no Plot, no Show ' No Rape, no Bawdy, no Intrigue, no Beau • There snothmg m\t with which we ufe to pleafe ye - With downright dull lnflruclion w'are to teafe Z ' The Stage turns Pulpit, and the World's fo fichle The PlayHoufe in a Whim turns Conventicle. But Preaching here muft prove a hungry Trade The Patentees will find fo, I'm afraid : ' For tho with Heavenly Zeal yon all abound Js by your Lives and Morals may be found • Tho every Female here overflows with Grace And chafte Diana'; written in her Face • Tho Maids renounce the Sweets of Fornication And one lewd Wife's not left in all the Nation • Tho Men grow true, and the foul Fiend defy* Tho Tradefmen cheat no more, nor Lawyers lye - Tho not one Spot be found on Levi'i Tribe ? Xorone foft Courtier that will touch a Bribe i Mm the midflof fuch religious Days, wmons have never borne the Price of Plays. Dramatis |