The wild gallant a comedy : as it was acted at the Theater-Royal by His Majesties servants / written by John Dryden, esq.

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Title
The wild gallant a comedy : as it was acted at the Theater-Royal by His Majesties servants / written by John Dryden, esq.
Author
Dryden, John, 1631-1700.
Publication
[London] In the Savoy :: Printed by Tho. Newcomb for H. Herringman ...,
1669.
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http://name.umdl.umich.edu/A36713.0001.001
Cite this Item
"The wild gallant a comedy : as it was acted at the Theater-Royal by His Majesties servants / written by John Dryden, esq." In the digital collection Early English Books Online. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/A36713.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed May 22, 2025.

Pages

Page [unnumbered]

PROLOGUE to the WILD-GALLANT Reviv'd.

AS some raw Squire, by tender Mother bred, Till one and Twenty keeps his Maidenhead, (Pleas'd with some Sport, which he alone does find, And thinks a secret to all Humane kind;) Till mightily in love, yet halfe afraid, He first attempts the gentle Dairymaid. Succeeding there, and led by the renown Of Whetstones Park, he comes at length to Town, Where enter'd, by some School-fellow or Friend, He grows to break Glass-Windows in the end: His valour too, which with the Watch began, Proceeds to duell, and he kills his Man. By such degrees, while knowledge he did want, Our unfletch'd Author, writ a Wild Gallant. He thought him monstrous leud (I'll lay my life) Because suspected with his Landlords Wife: But since his knowledge of the Town began, He thinks him now a very civil man: And, much asham'd of what he was before, Has fairly play'd him at three Wenches more. 'Tis some amends his frailties to confess; Pray pardon him his want of wickedness: He's towardly, and will come on apace; His franck confession shows he has some grace. You balk'd him when he was a young beginner, And almost spoyl'd a very hopeful sinner: But, if once more you slight his weak indeavour; For ought I know, he may turn taile for ever.
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