Glen Collection of printed music > Printed text > Composite volume > Mary, Queen of Scots, a tragedy

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EPILOGUE,
Written by the AUTHOR,
And fpoken by Mrs. S I D D O N S.
ERE you not told, before the play began.
Our Author ventur'd on a daring plan?
A tale of woe, a deep hifloric Play
Giv'n in an age fo debonnair and gay.
Was this a place to fet up a defence.
And talk of injur'd Mary's innocence ? —
Of late difcoveries, drawn from dates and words,
Old rotten parchments, mufty, dull records ?
No — all is now for tinfel, fliow ! — this age
Turns a deaf ear — but keenly views the Hage
The Tragic Mufe, nay, all the fillers nine,
Are now eclips'd — Aladin's lamp doth fhine !
Exulting o'er their tomb — now boxers fpar !
And beaux, in raptures, envy every fear !
Learning and wit were once eileem'd, and then
The ftage produced Ben Johnfon — mix.', Big Ben !
Shakefpeare make room for Humphries ! — that's the w^y*
To bring the men of failiion to the play !
But to our Bard — How fluall we judge his cafe?
Who fcorns the unities of time and place.
Critics, what fay ye? — Muft he fue for peace
To wits of modern France or ancient Greece ?
The great Voltaire has told us, that a play
Should be within one houfe, and in one day — '
But in one evening, how can it be right.
To reprefent the morning, noon, and night?
To hail Aurora, fwear the fun-beam glows.
While thefe vile lamps fllll flare beneath my nofe*
And