THE PROLOGUE.
Old Plays like Mistresses, long since enjoy'd,
Long after please, whom they before had cloy'd;
For Fancy chews the Cudd on past delight,
And cheats it self to a new Appetite.
But then this second Fit comes not so strong,
Like second Agues, neither fierce nor long:
What you have known before, grows sooner stale,
And less provokes you, than an untold Tale.
That but refreshes what before you knew,
But this discovers something that is new;
Hence 'tis, that at new Plays you come so soon,
Like Bride-grooms, hot to go to Bed ere noon!
Or, if you are detain'd some little space,
The stinking Footman's sent to keep your place.
But, when a Play's reviv'd, you stay and dine,
And drink till three, and then come dropping in;
As Husband after absence, wait all day,
And decently for Spouse, till Bed-time stay!
So, ere the Brethren's liberal Fit was spent,
The first wise Nonconformist, underwent
With ease, and batten'd in Imprisonment.
For greater gains, his zeal refus'd the less;
Each day to him was worth a Diocess.
But he who now, in hopes of equal gain,
Will needs be Pris'ner, tryes the Trick in vain;
He melts in durance half his Grease away,
To get, like us, poor twenty Pounds a day.

Drammatis. SCENE. Luds-Town, alias London.
Cymbeline, King of Britain. Ursaces, noble Gentleman married to the Princess Eugenia. Pisanio, Confident and Friend to Ursaces. Cloten, A Fool, Son to the Queen by a former Husband. Jachimo [Iachimo], A roaring drunken Lord, his Companion. Silvio, Another Companion. Shattillion, An opinionated Frenchman. Beaupre, His Friend. Don Michael, His Friend. Bellarius [Belarius], An old Courtier banish'd by Cymbeline. Palladour [Guiderius], Young Prince, Son to Cymbeline, bred up by Bellarius in a Cave as his own. Arviragus, Young Prince, Son to Cymbeline, bred up by Bellarius in a Cave as his own. Lucius [Caius Lucius], General to Augustus Cæsar.