Chapter LV: Prologue: TO

ALBUMAZAR.

_The old Play, to which this prologue was prefixed upon its
revival, was originally acted in_ 1634, _three or four years after
the appearance of Jonson's_ "_Alchemist;_" _to which, therefore,
it could not possibly afford any hint. Dryden, observing the
resemblance between the plays, took the plagiarism for granted,
because the style of "Albumazar" is certainly the most antiquated.
This appearance of antiquity is, however, only a consequence of
the vein of pedantry which runs through the whole piece. It was
written by ---- Tomkins, a scholar of Trinity College, and acted
before King James VI. by the gentlemen of that house, 9th March_,
1614. _It is, upon the whole, a very excellent play; yet the author,
whether consulting his own taste, or that of our British Solomon,
before whom it was to be represented, has contrived to give it an
air of such learned stiffness, that it much more resembles the
translation of a play from Terence or Plautus, than an original
English composition. By this pedantic affectation, the humour of
the play is completely smothered; and although there are several
very excellent comic situations in the action_, _yet neither the
attempt to revive it in Dryden's time_, _nor those which followed
in_ 1748 _and_ 1773, _met with any success_.

_As Dryden had imputed, very rashly, however, and groundlessly,
the guilt of plagiarism to Jonson, he made this supposed crime
the introduction to a similar slur on Shadwell, who at that
time seems to have been possessed of the laurel; a circumstance
which ascertains the date of the prologue to be posterior to the
Revolution._

To say this comedy pleased long ago,
Is not enough to make it pass you now.
Yet, gentlemen, your ancestors had wit,
When few men censured, and when fewer writ.
And Jonson, of those few the best, chose this,
As the best model of his master-piece:
Subtle was got by our Albumazar,
That Alchymist by this Astrologer;
Here he was fashioned, and we may suppose,
He liked the fashion well, who wore the clothes.
But Ben made nobly his what he did mould;
What was another's lead, becomes his gold:
Like an unrighteous conqueror he reigns,
Yet rules that well, which he unjustly gains.
But this our age such authors does afford,
As make whole plays, and yet scarce write one word;
Who, in this anarchy of wit, rob all,
And what's their plunder, their possession call;
Who, like bold padders, scorn by night to prey,
But rob by sun-shine, in the face of day:
Nay, scarce the common ceremony use
Of, "Stand, Sir, and deliver up your Muse;"
But knock the poet down, and, with a grace,
Mount Pegasus before the owner's face.
Faith, if you have such country Toms abroad,[406]
'Tis time for all true men to leave that road.
Yet it were modest, could it but be said,
They strip the living, but these rob the dead;
Dare with the mummies of the Muses play,
And make love to them the Egyptian way;
Or, as a rhiming author would have said,
Join the dead living to the living dead.
Such men in poetry may claim some part,
They have the license, though they want the art;
And might, where theft was praised, for laureats stand;[407]
Poets, not of the head, but of the hand.
They make the benefits of others studying,
Much like the meals of politic Jack-Pudding,
Whose dish to challenge no man has the courage;
'Tis all his own, when once he has spit i'the porridge.
But, gentlemen, you're all concerned in this;
You are in fault for what they do amiss;
For they their thefts still undiscovered think,
And durst not steal, unless you please to wink.
Perhaps, you may award by your decree,
They should refund,--but that can never be;
For, should you letters of reprisal seal,
These men write that which no man else would steal.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 406: This seems to have been a cant name for highwaymen. Shadwell's christian name was Thomas.]

[Footnote 407: Shadwell succeeded to our author's post of laureat, after the Revolution. I am not able to discover, if Shadwell had given any very recent cause for this charge of plagiarism. In the "Libertine," "The Miser," "Bury-fair," and "The Sullen Lovers," he has borrowed, or rather translated, from Moliere. The "Squire of Alsatia" contains some imitations of Terence's "Adelphi." "Psyche" is taken from the French, and "Timon of Athens" from Shakespeare, although Shadwell has the assurance to claim the merit of having made it into a play. He was also under obligations to his contemporaries. The "Royal Shepherdess" was originally written by one Mr Fountain of Devonshire. Dryden, in "Mac-Flecnoe," intimates, that Sedley "larded with wit" his play of "Epsom Wells;" and in the Dedication to the "True Widow," Shadwell himself acknowledges obligations to that gentleman's revision of some of his pieces. Langbaine, who hated Dryden, and professed an esteem for Shadwell, expresses himself thus, on the latter's claim to originality:

"But I am willing to say the less of Mr Shadwell, because I have publicly professed a friendship for him; and though it be not of so long date as some former intimacy with others, so neither is it blemished with some unhandsome dealings I have met with from persons where I least expected it. I shall therefore speak of him with the impartiality that becomes a critic, and own I like his comedies better than Mr Dryden's, as having more variety of characters, and those drawn from the life; I mean men's converse and manners, and not from other men's ideas, copied out of their public writings: though indeed I cannot wholly acquit our present laureat from borrowing; his plagiaries being in some places too bold and open to be disguised, of which I shall take notice, as I go along; though with this remark, that several of them are observed to my hand, and in great measure excused by himself, in the public acknowledgment he makes in his several prefaces, to the persons to whom he was obliged for what he borrowed."

Shadwell in the following lines, which occur in the prologue to the "Scowerers," seems to retort on Dryden the accusation here brought against him:

You have been kind to many of his plays,
And should not leave him in his latter days.
Though loyal writers of the last two reigns,}
Who tired their pens for Popery and chains, }
Grumble at the reward of all his pains; }
They would, like some, the benefit enjoy
Of what they vilely laboured to destroy.
They cry him down as for his place unfit, }
Since they have all the humour and the wit; }
They must write better e'er he fears them yet.}
'Till they have shewn you more variety }
Of natural, unstolen comedy than he, }
By you at least he should protected be.}
'Till then, may he that mark of bounty have,}
Which his renowned and royal master gave, }
Who loves a subject, and contemns a slave; }
Whom heaven, in spite of hellish plots, designed
To humble tyrants, and exalt mankind.
]

AN