As to report which envious men have spread
That he has ransackt many Grecian plays,
While he composes some few Latin ones, —
That he denies not he has done; nor does
Repent he did it; means to do it still;
Safe in the warrant and authority
Of great bards who did long since do the same.
Then for the charge that his arch-enemy
Maliciously reproaches him withal;
That he but lately hath applied himself
To music, with the genius of his friends,
Rather than natural talents fraught; how true
Your judgment, your opinion, must decide!
I would entreat you therefore not to lean
To tales of slander rather than of candour.
Be favourable; nurse with growing hopes
The bards who give you pleasing novelties;
Pleasing I say, not such as his I mean,
Who lately introduced a breathless slave
Making the crowd give way: — But wherefore trace
A dunce's faults? which shall be shown at large,
When more he writes, unless he cease to rail.
Attend impartially! and let me once
Without annoyance act an easy part;
Lest your old servant be o'erlaboured still
With toilsome characters — the running slave,
The eating parasite, enraged old man,
The bold-faced sharper, covetous procurer;
Parts that ask powers of voice and iron sides.
Deign then, for my sake, to accept this plea,
And grant me some remission from my labour!
For they who now produce new comedies
Spare not my age: if there is aught laborious
They run to me; but if of little weight
Away to others! In our piece to-day
The style is pure: now try my talents then
In either character. If I for gain
Never o'errated my abilities;
If I have held it still my chief reward
To be subservient to your pleasure; fix
In me a fair example, that our youth
May seek to please you, rather than themselves.