Essays on the Stage - Preface to the Campaigners (1689) and Preface to the Translation of Bossuet's Maxims and Reflections on Plays (1699) by Thomas D'Urfey
page 31 of 76 (40%)
page 31 of 76 (40%)
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in't? Oh fie, no; what, the _Moralist_! _Reformer_ of _Vices_! Speak
_Blasphemy_! Impossible! he can't sure! Yes, yes, he may, when he thinks no body can find him out: and faith, to my sence now, this smells as rank of _Pandemonium_, of fire and brimstone, to the full, if not worse, than Mr. _Dryden_'s Verse, _Whether inspir'd with a Diviner Lust his father got him_, &c. [Footnote: Absalom _and_ Achit.] which is spoken only in the figurative Person of _David_; yet he says 'tis _downright defiance of the Living God, and the very Essence and Spirit of Blasphemy_. [Footnote: Collier _p. 184._] And here now his Stomach wambled more terribly than before; so that if his Friend were by, he must of necessity hold the Bason. Oh me! he reaches and reaches, and first up comes--egh--_I question whether_--egh--_the torments and despair of the Damn'd_--egh--_dare venture at such flights as these_. And now the Head being held by the same hand, at two reaches more it comes all up, mix'd with a Tincture of old _Bonner_ again--egh-- _I can't forbear saying, that the next bad thing to writing these Impieties_--egh--_is to suffer them_. And now the Fit's over, leaving us to imagine what rare Church Discipline we should have, if this Gentleman, and his Cat with nine Tails, were in Power; I think a Couplet or two here, by way of Advice to him, is not improper. Your Tribe should all be in Opinion steady, Not turn or wind for Power or for Place, Nor covet Wealth but in Spiritual Grace. The Gifts of _Mammon_ you should ne'r implore, Nor wish for Gold, unless to give the Poor; It makes your Art contemptible appear, Less follow'd too, and look'd into more near; For if all those that preach up Paradise, Will have their shares of every human Vice, |
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