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<div style="background:#fff;border:#bbb dashed 1px;padding:5px"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512674" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none"><div style="margin:10px 0"><strong>Drury-lane Prologue Spoken by Mr. Garrick</strong></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512674" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">1 When Learning's triumph o'er her barb'rous foes<br>2 First rear'd the stage, immortal Shakespear rose;<br>3 Each change of many-colour'd life he drew,<br>4 Exhausted worlds, and then imagin'd new:<br>5 Existence saw him spurn her bounded reign,<br>6 And panting Time toil'd after him in vain:<br>7 His pow'rful strokes presiding Truth impress'd,<br>8 And unresisted Passion storm'd the breast.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512674" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">9 Then Jonson came, instructed from the school,<br>10 To please in method, and invent by rule;<br>11 His studious patience, and laborious art,<br>12 By regular approach essay'd the heart;<br>13 Cold Approbation gave the ling'ring bays,<br>14 For those who durst not censure, scarce could praise.<br>15 A mortal born he met the general doom,<br>16 But left, like Egypt's kings, a lasting tomb.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512674" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">17 The Wits of Charles found easier ways to fame,<br>18 Nor wish'd for Jonson's art, or Shakespear's flame,<br>19 Themselves they studied, as they felt, they writ,<br>20 Intrigue was plot, obscenity was wit.<br>21 Vice always found a sympathetic friend;<br>22 They pleas'd their age, and did not aim to mend.<br>23 Yet bards like these aspir'd to lasting praise,<br>24 And proudly hop'd to pimp in future days.<br>25 Their cause was gen'ral, their supports were strong,<br>26 Their slaves were willing, and their reign was long;<br>27 Till Shame regain'd the post that Sense betray'd,<br>28 And Virtue call'd Oblivion to her aid.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512674" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">29 Then crush'd by rules, and weaken'd as refin'd,<br>30 For years the pow'r of tragedy declin'd;<br>31 From bard, to bard, the frigid caution crept,<br>32 Till Declamation roar'd, while Passion slept.<br>33 Yet still did Virtue deign the stage to tread,<br>34 Philosophy remain'd, though Nature fled.<br>35 But forc'd at length her ancient reign to quit,<br>36 She saw great Faustus lay the ghost of wit:<br>37 Exulting Folly hail'd the joyful day,<br>38 And pantomime, and song, confirm'd her sway.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512674" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">39 But who the coming changes can presage,<br>40 And mark the future periods of the stage?--</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512674" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">41 Perhaps if skill could distant times explore,<br>42 New Behns, new Durfoys, yet remain in store.<br>43 Perhaps, where Lear has rav'd, and Hamlet died,<br>44 On flying cars new sorcerers may ride.<br>45 Perhaps, for who can guess th' effects of chance?<br>46 Here Hunt may box, or Mahomet may dance.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512674" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">47 Hard is his lot, that here by Fortune plac'd,<br>48 Must watch the wild vicissitudes of taste;<br>49 With ev'ry meteor of caprice must play,<br>50 And chase the new-blown bubbles of the day.<br>51 Ah! let not censure term our fate our choice,<br>52 The stage but echoes back the public voice.<br>53 The drama's laws the drama's patrons give,<br>54 For we that live to please, must please to live.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><a href="http://www.citatepedia.com/comments.php?id=512674" style="color:#000;text-decoration:none">55 Then prompt no more the follies you decry,<br>56 As tyrants doom their tools of guilt to die;<br>57 'Tis yours this night to bid the reign commence<br>58 Of rescu'd Nature, and reviving Sense;<br>59 To chase the charms of Sound, the pomp of Show,<br>60 For useful Mirth, and salutary Woe;<br>61 Bid scenic Virtue form the rising age,<br>62 And Truth diffuse her radiance from the stage.</a></div><div style="margin:10px 0"><br /></a><a href="http://poems.citatepedia.com/">poem</a> by <strong><a rel="author" href="http://authors.citatepedia.com/by.php?a=Samuel+Johnson">Samuel Johnson</a></strong></div>