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 Sceane
Wrought like a charme, and forc't the audience Ieane
To th'passion of thy Pen, thence Ladyes went
(Whose absence Lovers sigh'd for) to repent
Their unkind scorne; And Courtiers, who by are
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 proofe 'gainst Love, did sit
To learne the subtle Dictats of thy Wit;
And as each profited, tooke his degree,
Master, or Batchelor, in Comedie.
Wee, of th'adult'rate mixture not complaine,
But thence more Characters of Vertue gaine;
More pregnant Patternes, of transcendent Worth,
Than barren and insipid Truth brings forth:
So, oft the Bastard nobler fortune meets,
Than the dull Issus of the lawfull sheets.