[296] The Prologue is a short conversation between a Critic and the Author, which contains the following hit, perhaps at Ben Jonson:—
"Critic. Are you the author of this play?
Author. What then?
Critic. Out o' this poetry! I wonder what
You do with this disease, a seed of vipers
Spawn'd in Parnassus' pool; whom the world frowns on,
And here you vent your poison on the stage.
Author. What say you, sir?
Critic. Oh, you are deaf to all
Sounds but a plaudite; and yet you may
Remember, if you please, what entertainment
Some of your tribe have had, that have took pains
To be contemn'd and laugh'd at by the vulgar,
And then ascrib'd it to their ignorance.
I should be loath to see you move their spleens
With no better success, and then with some
Commendatory epistles, fly to the press
To vindicate your credit.
Author. What if I do?
Critic. By my consent, I'll have you
Banish'd the stage, proscrib'd and interdicted
Castalian water, and poetical fire."
—Collier.
[297] [In a copy now before me, which, a note on the fly-leaf says, sold at Sotheby's, in 1817, for £6. 16s. 6d., the date 1637 on the engraved title has been altered with the pen, the "7" being changed into "8." There is only one edition in 4o; but this circumstance has led to the mistaken notion that there were impressions in 1637 and 1638.]