PROLOGUE
TO
THE
PLAY
OF
KING
JOHN
,
ACTED
AT
MR.
NEWCOMB'S
,
AT
HACKNEY
,
IN
MARCH
MDCCLXIX
.
BY
THE
SAME
.
THE
Bard
whose
scenes
this
night
your
thoughts
engage
,
Has
somewhere
told
us
,
All
the
world's
a
stage
,
Where
all
in
one
great
farce
their
talents
try
,
Are
born
,
love
,
wed
,
grow
covetous
,
—
and
die
.
From
hence
I
think
we
fairly
may
infer
,
That
NATURE
is
,
or
should
be
manager
;
And
yet
in
NATURE's
spite
,
we
every
day
Cast
cur
own
parts
ourselves
,
and
spoil
her
play
;
Some
vain
conceit
disturbs
her
sober
plan
,
And
ART
debauches
that
strange
creature
,
man
:
Hence
,
ere
Life's
curtain
drops
,
this
truth
is
plain
,
That
few
,
the
characters
they
take
,
sustain
.
See
,
CATO-like
,
in
Freedom's
boasted
cause
The
maddening
PATRIOT
raves
of
dying
Laws
;
With
ready
lash
pursues
the
venal
tribe
:
But
what's
the
sequel
?
—
Exit
with
a
bribe
.
—
Not
less
a
Player
the
METHODIST
appears
:
In
some
hir'd
barn
his
casual
stage
he
rears
;
Prophane
,
loquacious
,
insolent
,
and
loud
,
The
grave
Jack-Pudding
of
a
sniveling
crowd
,
Who
promis'd
heaven
in
change
for
pence
receive
;
For
those
who
teach
to
die
,
know
how
to
live
.
The
PRUDE
austere
,
who
shuns
each
forward
spark
,
Meets
less
reserv'd
her
footman
in
the
dark
;
The
gay
COQUET
,
the
COXCOMB
,
and
the
WIT
,
Across
Life's
stage
like
airy
phantoms
flit
,
Applause
nor
pity
sure
their
parts
command
:
The
mark
of
scorn
let
Affectation
stand
!
If
,
then
,
the
finish'd
man
can
sometimes
err
,
And
make
mistakes
on
the
World's
Theatre
,
Desert
himself
,
as
various
passions
call
,
And
prove
at
last
no
character
at
all
;
We
ask
your
candour
,
if
in
us
appears
Th'
imperfect
growth
of
unexperienc'd
years
;
Tho'
buds
,
yet
Learning
like
the
sun
has
power
To
rear
the
stem
,
and
paint
the
future
flower
!
If
JOHN
should
not
each
stroke
of
guilt
impart
,
Nor
CONSTANCE
triumph
o'er
the
feeling
heart
,
Think
,
in
Life's
happy
morn
we
cannot
know
The
sad
extent
of
baseness
or
of
woe
!
Boys
as
we
are
,
to
us
each
scene
is
new
,
If
sometimes
wrong
,
e'en
there
we
copy
you
:
To
bold
attempts
be
then
indulgence
shewn
,
And
learn
to
pity
faults
so
like
your
own
.