"Love's Kingdom."—P. [437].
This was a play of Flecknoe's. The full title is, "Love's Kingdom, a Pastoral Tragi-Comedy; not as it was acted at the theatre, near Lincoln's-Inn, but as it was written, and since corrected by Richard Flecknoe; with a short treatise of the English stage, &c. by the same author. London, printed by R. Wood for the author, 1664."
The author's account of this piece, in the advertisement, is, "For the plot, it is neat and handsome, and the language soft and gentle, suitable to the persons who speak; neither on the ground, nor in the clouds, but just like the stage, somewhat elevated above the common. In neither no stiffness, and, I hope, no impertinence nor extravagance, into which your young writers are too apt to run, who, whilst they know not well what to do, and are anxious to do enough, most commonly overdo."
THE PROLOGUE.
Spoken by Venus from the Clouds.
If ever you have heard of Venus' name,
Goddess of beauty, I that Venus am;
Who have to day descended from my sphere,
To welcome you unto "Love's Kingdom" here;
Or rather to my sphere am come, since I