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A long, exact, and serious comedy;
In every scene some moral let it teach,
And, if it read more
A long, exact, and serious comedy;
In every scene some moral let it teach,
And, if it can, at once both please and preach.
If it be true that good wine needs no bush, 'tis true that a good
play needs no epilogue.
If it be true that good wine needs no bush, 'tis true that a good
play needs no epilogue.
You need three things in the theatre--the play, the actors and the audience,--and each must give something.
You need three things in the theatre--the play, the actors and the audience,--and each must give something.
See, how these rascals use me! They will not let my play run;
and yet they steal my thunder.
See, how these rascals use me! They will not let my play run;
and yet they steal my thunder.
My only regret in the theatre is that I could never sit out front
and watch me.
My only regret in the theatre is that I could never sit out front
and watch me.
The play bill which is said to have announced the tragedy of
Hamlet, the character of the Prince of read more
The play bill which is said to have announced the tragedy of
Hamlet, the character of the Prince of Denmark being left out.
Like hungry guests, a sitting audience looks;
Plays are like suppers; poets are the cooks.
The founder's read more
Like hungry guests, a sitting audience looks;
Plays are like suppers; poets are the cooks.
The founder's you: the table is the place:
The carvers we: the prologue is the grace.
Each act, a course, each scene, a different dish,
Though we're in Lent, I doubt you're still for flesh.
Satire's the sauce, high-season'd, sharp and rough.
Kind masks and beaux, I hope you're pepperproof?
Wit is the wine; but 'tis so scarce the true
Poets, like vintners, balderdash and brew.
Your surly scenes, where rant and bloodshed join.
Are butcher's meat, a battle's sirloin:
Your scenes of love, so flowing, soft and chaste,
Are water-gruel without salt or taste.
This is the Jew that Shakespeare drew.
This is the Jew that Shakespeare drew.
