{"product_id":"9781517290085","title":"The Lame Lover A Comedy In Three Acts","description":"PROLOGUE\u003cbr\u003e Written and Spoken by Mr. GENTLEMAN.\u003cbr\u003e Prologues, like cards of compliment, we find,\u003cbr\u003e Most as unmeaning as politely kind;\u003cbr\u003e To beg a favour, or to plead excuse,\u003cbr\u003e Of both appears to be the gen'ral use.\u003cbr\u003e Shall my words, tipt with flattery, prepare\u003cbr\u003e A kind exertion of your tend'rest care?\u003cbr\u003e Shall I present our Author to your sight,\u003cbr\u003e All pale and trembling for his fate this night?\u003cbr\u003e Shall I sollicit the most pow'rful arms\u003cbr\u003e To aid his cause-the force of beauty's charms?\u003cbr\u003e Or tell each critic, his approving taste\u003cbr\u003e Must give the sterling stamp, wherever plac'd?\u003cbr\u003e This might be done-but so to seek applause\u003cbr\u003e Argues a conscious weakness in the cause.\u003cbr\u003e No-let the Muse in simple truth appear,\u003cbr\u003e Reason and Nature are the judges here:\u003cbr\u003e If by their strict and self-describing laws,\u003cbr\u003e The sev'ral characters to-night she draws;\u003cbr\u003e If from the whole a pleasing piece is made,\u003cbr\u003e On the true principles of light and shade;\u003cbr\u003e Struck with the harmony of just design,\u003cbr\u003e Your eyes-your ears-your hearts, will all combine\u003cbr\u003e To grant applause:-but if an erring hand\u003cbr\u003e Gross disproportion marks in motley band,\u003cbr\u003e If the group'd figures false connexions show,\u003cbr\u003e And glaring colours without meaning glow,\u003cbr\u003e Your wounded feelings, turn'd a diff'rent way,\u003cbr\u003e Will justly damn-th' abortion of a play.\u003cbr\u003e As Farquhar has observ'd, our English law,\u003cbr\u003e Like a fair spreading oak, the Muse should draw,\u003cbr\u003e By Providence design'd, and wisdom made\u003cbr\u003e For honesty to thrive beneath its shade;\u003cbr\u003e Yet from its boughs some insects shelter find,\u003cbr\u003e Dead to each nobler feeling of the mind,\u003cbr\u003e Who thrive, alas! too well, and never cease\u003cbr\u003e To prey on justice, property, and peace.\u003cbr\u003e At such to-night, with other legal game,\u003cbr\u003e Our vent'rous author takes satiric aim;\u003cbr\u003e And brings, he hopes, originals to view,\u003cbr\u003e Nor pilfers from th' Old Magpie, nor the New1.\u003cbr\u003e But will to Candour chearfully submit;\u003cbr\u003e She reigns in boxes, galleries, and pit.\u003cbr\u003e 1. Alluding to Mr. Garrick's Prologue to the Jubilee.","brand":"CreateSpace Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48531771883761,"sku":"9781517290085","price":6.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0674\/5433\/7265\/files\/9781517290085_p0.jpg?v=1786309601","url":"https:\/\/shop.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9781517290085","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble","version":"1.0","type":"link"}