Читать книгу The Follies of a Day; or, The Marriage of Figaro - Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais - Страница 4
PROLOGUE,
ОглавлениеSpoken by Mr. DAVIES.
To-night, a Child of Chance is hither brought,
Who could be neither borrow’d, begg’d, nor bought;
Nay, so alert was said to be the Droll,
’Twas well affirm’d he was not to be stole;
But hence dispatch’d, back’d by Apollo’s warrant,
A messenger has kidnapp’d this Wag-errant;
Poetic Fugitive, has hither dragg’d him,
And, safely here arriv’d, has now ungagg’d him,
To plead before this Court, his whole amenance;
Where, should you sentence him to public Penance,
Oh, sad reverse! how would he foam and fret,
And sigh for Paris and his sweet Soubrette!
Where twice ten thousand tongues are proud to greet him,
And wing’d Applause, on tip-toe, stands to meet him;
Where the grim Guard, in nightly rapture, stands,
And grounds his musquet to get at his hands;
Where the retentive Pitt, all prone t’adore him,
Repeat his Bon mots half a bar before him;
While every Bel-Esprit, at every hit,
Grows fifty-fold more conscious of his Wit.
If far fetch’d and dear bought give Trifles worth,
Sure you’ll applaud our Figaro’s second birth.
Nought of his present merit must we say;
Bear but in mind, OUR Day’s a Spanish Day.
Cupid, in warmer Climes, urg’d by the Grape,
Calls not each petty violence a Rape!
But oft his Votaries leaves intoxicate,
Hence Figaro himself is illegitimate.
Sanction’d by you, howe’er, this little Blot,
So much in fashion, will be soon forgot;
That Signature which each kind hand bestows,
Shall make him well receiv’d where’er he goes!
