Author: Colley Cibber
Publisher: Forgotten Books
Published: 2015-07-04
Total Pages: 100
ISBN-13: 9781330710845
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Excerpt from The Refusal; Or the Ladies Philosophy, a Comedy: Distinguishing Also the Variations of the Theatre Spoken by the Author. Gallants ! behold before your eyes the wight, Whose actions stand accountable to-night, For all your dividends of profit or delight. New plays resemble bubbles, we must own, But their intrinsic value soon is known, There's no imposing pleasure on a town. And when they fail, count o'er his pains and trouble, His doubts, his fears, the poet is a bubble. As heroes by the tragic muse are sung; So to the comic, knaves and fools belong: Follies, to-night, of various kinds we paint, One, in a female philosophic saint, That wou'd by learning nature's laws repeal, Warm all her sex's bosoms to rebel, And only with Platonic raptures swell. Long she resists the proper use of beauty, But flesh and blood reduce the dame to duty. A coxcomb too of modern stamp we show, A wit - but impudent - a South-Sea beau. Nay, more - our muses fire (but, pray, protect her) Roasts, to your taste, a whole South-Sea director. But let none think we bring him here in spite, For all their actions, sure, will bear the light; Besides, he's painted here in height of power, Long ere we laid such ruin at his door: When he was levee'd, like a statesman, by the town, And thought his heap'd-up millions all his own. No, no; stock's always at a thousand here' He'll almost honest on the stage appear. Such is our fare, to feed the mind our aim, But poets stand, like warriors, in their fame; One ill day's work brings all their past to shame. Thus having tasted of your former favour, The chance seems now for deeper stakes than ever. As after runs of luck, we're most accurst, To lose our winnings, than have lost at first; A first stake lost has often sav'd from ruin, But on one cast to lose the tout - is hard undoing. But be it as it may - the dye is thrown, Fear now were folly - Pass the Rubicon. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
