PROLOGUES.
PROLOGUE.
TO THE SHE-GALLANTS:
OR, ONCE A LOVER AND ALWAYS A LOVER.
As quiet monarchs, that on peaceful thrones,
In ſports and revels, long had reign’d like drones,
Rouſing at length, reflect, with guilt and ſhame,
That not one ſtroke had yet been giv’n for fame;
Wars they denounce, and, to redeem the paſt,5
To bold attempts and rugged labours haſte:
Our poet ſo, with like concern, reviews
The youthful follies of a love-ſick Muſe:
To am’rous toils, and to the ſilent grove,
To Beauty’s ſnares, and to deceitful Love,10
He bids farewell; his ſhield and lance prepares,
And mounts the ſtage to bid immortal wars.
Vice, like ſome monſter, ſuff’ring none t’ eſcape,
Has ſeiz’d the Town, and varies ſtill her ſhape.
Here, like ſome general, ſhe ſtruts in ſtate,15
While crowds in red and blue her orders wait:
There, like ſome penſive ſtateſman, treads demure,
And ſmiles, and hugs, to make deſtruction ſure:
Now under high commodes, with looks erect,
Barefac’d devours, in gaudy colours deck’d;20
