PROLOGUE. NIL DICTU FŒDUM VISUQUE HÆC LIMINA TANGAT. JUVEN. LONG since indignant Learning hath complain'd Should come the beasts from Exeter Exchange, Did I the kingdoms of Thalia rule, Than moral monsters from the German school: -Right trusty tutors, a who, when sent t' expound Break through the rules, which vulgar souls restrain, Shame! shame! to teach the age, that matrons wh-'d a See Lovers Vows. b See Translations from German Plays in general. c See the Stranger. And at each parent's neck suspend a child, As Harlequin's slight wand before our eyes -'Tis fiction all-But no one to the truth Is blinded by the party-colour'd youth, None yet e'er thought, that woods at his command. Would rear their heads in air from rocks and sand; Not innocent like this the authors cheat, Where vanity assists the foul deceit ; And Flavia, while the glass reflects her charms, d -See Charles (his fortune spent or sunk in play), Insensible to shame-in ruin gay; Who sends his purse to one he scarcely knows, But will not pay a tradesman what he owes; d School for Scandal. Who impudently boasts, your praise to gain, And tells you, if a married dame should choose E'en were the man, 'gainst whom he must offend, "Tis true, while gazing on Maria's eyes, Makes haste to wish, he virtue's path may tread, Alarm'd, lest from his speech its fall should take Six lines, and he at last be left a rake. Soon rule the tyrant passions o'er the mind; e Charles. Be just before you are generous;'-why so I would, if I could; but justice is an old, lame, hobbling beldam, and I can't get her to keep pace with generosity for the soul of me.'-School for Scandal, act iv. scene 1. f See dialogue between Charles and Joseph Surface, School for Scandal, act iv. |