PROLOGUE
TO SOUTHERNE'S SPARTAN DAME.
When realms are ravag'd with invasive foes,
Each bosom with heroic ardour glows;
Old chiefs, reflecting on their former deeds,
Disdain to rust with batter'd invalids,
But active in the foremost ranks appear, 5
And leave young smock-fac'd beaus to guard the rear.
So, to repel the Vandals of the stage,
Qur vet'ran bard resumes his tragic rage:
He throws the gauntlet Otway us'd to wield,
And calls for Englishmen to judge the field. 10
Thus arm'd, to rescue Nature from disgrace,
Messieurs! lay down your minstrels and grimace:
The brawniest youths of Troy the combat fear'd
When old Etellus in the lists appear'd.
Yet what avails the champion's giant size, 15
When pigmies are made umpires of the prize?
Your fathers (men of sense, and honest bowlers)
Disdain'd the mummery of foreign strollers:
By their examples would you form your taste,
The present age might emulate the past. 20
We hop'd that art and genius had secur'd you,
But soon facetious Harlequin allur'd you:
The Muses blush'd to see their friends exalting
Those elegant delights of jig and vaulting.
Each bosom with heroic ardour glows;
Old chiefs, reflecting on their former deeds,
Disdain to rust with batter'd invalids,
But active in the foremost ranks appear, 5
And leave young smock-fac'd beaus to guard the rear.
So, to repel the Vandals of the stage,
Qur vet'ran bard resumes his tragic rage:
He throws the gauntlet Otway us'd to wield,
And calls for Englishmen to judge the field. 10
Thus arm'd, to rescue Nature from disgrace,
Messieurs! lay down your minstrels and grimace:
The brawniest youths of Troy the combat fear'd
When old Etellus in the lists appear'd.
Yet what avails the champion's giant size, 15
When pigmies are made umpires of the prize?
Your fathers (men of sense, and honest bowlers)
Disdain'd the mummery of foreign strollers:
By their examples would you form your taste,
The present age might emulate the past. 20
We hop'd that art and genius had secur'd you,
But soon facetious Harlequin allur'd you:
The Muses blush'd to see their friends exalting
Those elegant delights of jig and vaulting.
