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TO MY FRIEND WILL: D' AVENANT.
I Crowded 'mongst the first, to see the Stage
(Inspir'd by thee) strike wonder in our age,
By thy bright fancie dazled; Where each Scene
Wrought like a charm, and forc't the audience lean
To'th' passion of thy Pen; thence Ladies went
(Whose absence Lovers sigh'd for) to repent
Their unkind scorn; And Courtiers, who by art
Made love before, with a converted heart,
To wed those Virgins, whom they woo'd t'abuse;
Both rendred Hymen's pros'lits by thy Muse.
But others who were proof 'gainst Love, did sit
To learn the subtle Dictats of thy Wit;
And as each profited, took his degree,
Master, or Batchelor, in Comedy.
Wee, of th'adult'rate mixture not complain,
But thence more Characters of Vertue gain;
More pregnant Patterns of transcendent Worth,
Than barren and insipid Frute brings forth:
So, oft the Bastard nobler fortune meets,
Than the dull Issue of the lawfull sheere.