An Answer to Mr. Ben Jonson’s Ode,
To Persuade him not to Leave the Stage.

I.

Ben, do not leave the stage

Cause ’tis a loathsome age:

For pride and impudence will grow too bold,

When they shall hear it told

They frighted thee; Stand high, as is thy cause;

Their hiss is thy applause:

More just were thy disdain,

Had they approved thy vein: